The Unrecovery of Dudley

Well, last week, Dudley landed in the branches of the only tree within a quarter mile of his launch. Too high to reach.

Passing the tree today, I looked up, curious if he was still stuck up there.



Sort of. He was still in the tree, but heavy weather had demoted him to the lowest branch. I pulled my car up under, and climbed on the roof and recovered him.

Well, in a way. He was remarkably rigid for a paper tube with balsa fins glued on that's been out in the elements all week, including some intensely heavy rains.

I even thought that maybe he'd fly again, once he'd dried out.



But to dry him out, I had to get this spent engine out of him, because it was so clearly waterlogged and there's so many layers tot he cardboard tube of a rocket motor, it'd never just air dry. Or when it had, it'd be laminated to the tub that's supposed to hold the motor.



The motor came out very easily, but regrettably, it brought the motor mount with it. No good way to reglue that, so Dudley is home but he isn't exactly in the fleet anymore.