Customer Reviews

Retro Rockets: Experimental Rockets 1926-1941

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Unlike his first book Rockets of the World, Retro Rockets is not principally about scaling data for modellers. In this book he covers in great detail the pioneers of liquid fuel rockets with emphasis on Robert Goddard, a man whose achievements have not received anything like the recognition they deserve. But he also outlines the German and Russian rocket societies that flourished between the world wars, and spends a little time on the development of the first ballistic missile, the A4 (V2).

Some might find the detailed descriptions of the versions these early rockets went through a bit tedious, but for any rocketry buff or student of technical history Retro Rockets should be a must read.

Owning all of Mr. Alway's books, I must admit that this is the only one I've actually read each and every word, cover to cover, three times. Not only is the scale data of the same quality as Alway's "Rockets of the World" (ROTW), the historical text concerning each rocket and its designer is exceptional. Especially if you are a fan of Dr. Robert Goddard, to whom a large part of the book is devoted. A lot of the rockets presented represent the infancy of modern rocketry and are a little harder to make scale models of than most of those in ROTW...but then that's why we modellers bought it!

"Rockets of the World" would be hard act to top, but Alway comes close with this excellent "prequel". Retro Rockets describes the work of early rocket pioneers such as Goddard and Von Braun, and provides the same fine detail drawings that has made his previous works so popular with scale modelers and rocket enthusiasts. Starting with a brief nod to some antecedent solid fuel advancements by such notables as Maul and Tiling, Retro Rockets concentrates mainly on liquid fuel development in the US, Germany and Russia. A must-have for all rocket scale modelers.