Confederate Rocket. As the myth goes, around 1865, the confederate army was rumored to have themselves a two-stage rocket capable of flying some 100 miles, from Richmond, Virginia to Washington, DC. Who better to tell us if it’s true or not than Adam and Jamie (and the build team)?
As it turns out, it’s probably not true, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some truth to the claim. No one has actually seen one of these rockets for 80 years or so, and Adam and Jamie determine it likely that it was in fact a compound rocket, where the stages burn through one another, and not a true two-stage model.
They then combined liquid nitrous oxide with gun cotton into a viable fuel source, and used a naval cannon as a model for a blast chamber, and that created a real, live, rocket that did a fine job – but it probably wouldn’t have gone 100 miles, certainly not accurately. This model went about 500 yards. Busted, especially when you consider the alleged distance involved. But if you consider the mere possibility of a confederate rocket, it is definitely a possibility, albeit an unlikely one.
As an interesting side note, this is the first time (but not the last) that parts of the episode were bleeped not for questionable content, but because if they tell you how to do it, they might get in trouble. There are also some bleeps for content, and even some blurred emblems on clothing, but the bleep I’m talking about is so you don’t blow yourself up and sue the show, the channel or anyone else because you blame them for telling you how to do it.
