Created by the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, “Development of a Rocket Power Plant” shows the development of an early JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) rocket bottle system for use with the B-29 aircraft. In this configuration, known as RATO (Rocket Assisted Take Off) the bottles use liquid fuel that included Nitrite acid and gasoline, a far more dangerous design than later, solid-fuel models. As seen in the film, the bottles allow a 148,000 pound gross weight B-29 bomber to take off from a runway at Muroc, now known as Edwards Air Force Base, a whopping 3000 feet less than without the rockets. Aerojet was the primary contractor on this effort.
JATO stands for ‘Jet-assisted takeoff’ (and the similar RATO for ‘Rocket-assisted takeoff’). In the JATO and RATO systems, additional engines are mounted on the airframe which are used only during takeoff. After that the engines are usually jettisoned, or else they just add to the parasitic weight and drag of the aircraft. However, some aircraft such as the Avro Shackleton MR.3 Phase 2, had permanently attached JATO engines. The four J-47 turbojet engines on the B-36 were not considered JATO systems; they were an integral part of the aircraft’s powerplants, and were used during takeoff, climb, and cruise at altitude.
During WW2 the German Arado 234 and the Messerschmitt 323 “Gigant” used rocket units beneath the wings for assisted takeoff. Such systems were popular during the 1950s, when heavy bombers started to require two or more miles of runway to take off fully laden. This was exacerbated by the relatively low power available from jet engines at the time — for example the B-52 Stratofortress required eight turbojet engines to yield the required performance, and still needed RATO for very heavy payloads (a proposed update of the B-52 replaces these with half the number of much more powerful engines). In a Cold War context, RATO and JATO bottles were seen as a way for fighter aircraft to utilize the undamaged sections of runways of airfields which had been attacked.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
