From: Chuck Kuecker (ckuecker@ckent.org)
Date: Mon Nov 19 2001 - 18:51:19 MST
At 08:51 AM 11/19/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Problem is, when I got out of the USAF, they grabbed a bunch of my stuff
>because I couldn't prove that it was 'mine' rather than just stolen from
>their salvage yard (the utter lack of federal stock numbers
>notwithstanding), furthermore a lot of my writing prior to 1995 was
>destroyed in a flood. You might talk to Chuck Kuecker and freinds,
>though. They like to play with HERF and other fun technologies today. I
>could probably reconstruct the plans if there was money in it for me.
My buddy has built HERF guns from WWII search radar magnetrons found at
Fair Radio Sales in Lima, Ohio. Unfortunately, what was almost literally a
dime a dozen twenty years ago is very rare today. He cleaned them out of
all their stock. What they had was stripped of the original magnets - a
good thing, as modern permanent magnets are lots smaller than the Alnico
ones originally used.
We have also made "baby" versions from microwave oven maggies - good for
upwards of 2 KW pulsed power. The search radar parts were good for almost a
megawatt (pulsed).
All of these can fit in a medium sized plastic Sears mechanic's toolbox,
along with twenty minute's worth of batteries. Not exactly a stealthy
thing, but at least portable.
>You can get plans for the ionocraft of de Seversky by looking his
>patents up in the US patent database. The plans for the power supply can
>be made from those found in books by Information Ulimited of Amherst,
>NH.
Do you mean the Igor Sikorsky design that was in Popular Mechanics back in
the 1960's? I built a few models, but was never able to get enough thrust
to get them airborne. Pretty good airflow, though, if you don't mind a bit
of ozone...
Chuck Kuecker
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