Rocket Post (Gerhard Zucker; Scarp; 1934)

[almond13]

Scarp - Rocket Post
The tiny island of Scarp now lies uninhabited just off the coast of the Isle of Harris in one of the most remote corners of Great Britain. But at the beginning of the 1900s Scarp had a thriving population who made a living crofting the land and fishing the local seas. In January 1934 Scarp hit the headlines when a young mother couldn't get a message to her doctor on the mainland and ended up giving birth to twin daughters on separate islands and two days apart.
When news of the twins' dramatic birth reached the ears of a German rocket inventor, Gerhard Zucker, he travelled to Scarp intent on solving the island's communication problems. His solution was air mail – delivered not by aircraft but by rocket. In July 1934 Zucker made two unsuccessful attempts at firing his rocket mail between Scarp and Harris. Neil Oliver and Mark Horton joins two modern rocketeers and take up where Zucker left off.

heritage.scotsman.com/ingenuity. ... 1944162005

This link is dead. The article can be accessed via the Wayback Machine at:

https://web.archive.org/web/20061026124326/http://heritage.scotsman.com/ingenuity.cfm?id=1944162005

http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/programmes/0 ... land.shtml

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/zucocket.htm :shock:

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

This has actually been tested by Mythbusters or some other sciencey type show. I remember the episode. Turns out the rocket worked but burnt most of the mail in the process.

 

[almond13]

This has actually been tested by Mythbusters or some other sciencey type show. I remember the episode. Turns out the rocket worked but burnt most of the mail in the process.

I saw it on the History Cannel.
It seems that he couldn’t get the right fuel and used gunpowder or some such and as you say it blew up. When he returned to Germany he was put in the slammer for giving away military secrets.

 

[filcee]

Doesn't the idea of a transatlantic rocket mail get a mention in Quatermass? One of the aging scientific types made his name working on the project after the end of the war...

 

[almond13]

Doesn't the idea of a transatlantic rocket mail get a mention in Quatermass?

Can’t remember that, but I did see the original on TV.

 

[EnolaGaia]

The Wikipedia article on Gerhard Zucker:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Zucker

... gives the impression he was either a starry-eyed dreamer, a notably unlucky inventor, or an outright fraud (at various times, in various proportions).

For example, his catastrophic 1964 experiment resulted in 3 deaths and a legal ban on civilian rocketry in Germany.

 

[EnolaGaia]

This webpage about Zucker and his rocket mail obsession:

https://www.flyingcarsandfoodpills.com/science-fiction-gerhard-zucker

... describes him as an outright fraud who staged pseudo-rocket demonstrations in which he made money by selling 'postage' for, and mementos of, his various failed flights.