Talk:Bell Rocket Belt

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Maximum speed

Latest comment: 15 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

In the specification section it says that the maximum speed is 60 mph (100 km/h), yet in the 'use' section above it says that "reached a speed of 11 to 16 km/h.". With the speed of 100km/h and a flight time of about 30 seconds this would give a range of 833m and with 16 km/h for the same time would give a range of 133m. Can someone please delete whichever of these is wrong? Thanks Matthew Rollings (talk) 15:46, 7 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Untitled

Hello,

I love the Wik but I'm afraid you've made a slight error on the Bell Rocket Pack. It was NOT in the classic film 'The Ghost and Mr Chicken'. You may also want to expand your article on the piece by consulting the book Forgotten Fads and Fabulous Flops written by Paul Kirchner. In it he mentions schemes in the late 's for Bell to sell the pack to the public as recreatioal gear like jetskies or a snowmobile. I remember the adverts for it in the 60's. I recall from reading the Dec 1965 Popular Mechanics article on the piece that covered the release of 'Thunderball' that it only had a limited amount of fuel and was tricky to land that would have been fatal in the John Q Public's hands.

This is my first letter to the Wik. For qualification I've been a lifelong fan of the jet or rocket pack since my early childhood watching 'Commando Cody' and other 'Rocket Man' serials on TV, then seeing 'Thunderball' on Christmas Eve (funny enough I've seen it on the big screen on Xmas Eve in different years in America, South Africa, and Australia). I had the thrill to see and hear it for real (it sounded more like an atomic ultra loud vacumn cleaner rther that the 'Fireball XL-5' sound effet of the film) at the Royal Easter Show in Australia.

I've also had the pleasure to have seen 'The Ghost And Mr Chicken' many times sine it's first time release and assure you there is no jet pack in the film! (nor is there a place for it)

You may want to mention the Buck Rogers strips, Republic serials and 'Rocketeer' comic as fictional versions before the real thing.

Thanks for minding a crank

James Peter Young Junior Rocket Belt Ranger

RB2000 Source Quality

The first reference, www.rocketbelt.nl, doesn't seem like a terribly reputable source. Read the site's article on the RB2000, on which this wiki article's RB2000 section appears to be based. At the very least, I think a more institutional source should be used. 17:27, 23 March 2007 (UTC)