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Imagine that Dr. Seuss puts a hat and a mustache on Hoagy Carmichael (photo right) and compare the result to Salvador Dali (photo left).
Is the resemblence merely a coincidence? WE DON'T THINK SO! The Salvador Dali Commemorative Collection of Peculiar Rocket Names
We are proud to dedicate this page to Salvador Dali, the Spanish surrealist painter.
This man gave his paintings some very peculiar names, such as the "Disintegration of the Persistance of Memory" or "Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon" .
We believe Mr. Dali would have deeply appreciated this humble collection, even though none of the rocket names below currently contains any reference to breakfast meat.
Back in the late 1940’s, jazz musician Hoagy Carmichael recorded a song with the following title:
"I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-o, Beat-o, Flat on My Seat-o, Hirohito Blues".
This title was long enough to land the song in the Guinness Book of Records. (and the fact that I'm able to remember this piece of trivia actually has me a little startled...).
RTV applies the same standard to rocket names that Salvador did to paintings and Hoagy did to songs: If it can’t be clever, then it may as well be long.
Admittedly, this is a pretty strong indication of how quirky the Vatsaas boys really are -- but that's only a small part of why we are so gosh-darned adorable. And it also puts us in good company. Read how famous author Lewis Carroll explains the import of odd and unusual names for rockets...
We'll be happy to consider any additions you would like to nominate - if you have any to submit, send them here. (Generally, a rocket name falls under the category of 'peculiar' when it indicates the author may be hiding a socially abhorrent personality disorder).
Favorite Peculiar Rocket Names -- Non-RTV
| Peculiar Name |
Factoids |
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Battlescar Prophylactica
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Heard over the loudspeakers at an SSS launch sometime in 2000, owned by Bruce Georgeson, who was king of the nutty names...
BSP was an Estes Broadsword, 'glassed and flew on Kosdon K's (thanks to Ron Zeppin for sending us the email that finally gave this clever rocketeer proper credit).
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Mid-Life Crisis
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An M-powered level 3 attempt. This Peculiar Rocket Name anonymously occupied this space on our list of favorites until it was finally claimed by Claude Paquin - and he proudly added that the certification was successfull! Click [HERE!] for photo.
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Spencer Tracy
Jane Russell
Greta Garbo, etc.
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I once read a launch report wherein a fellow, without explanation, had named all of his rockets after old film stars. It was out-of-the-ordinary, so of course I liked it.
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Cindy Brady Streetseeker
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One of Rick's compadres, Mark Poston, for reasons known only to himself named his Custom Rockets Aztec "Cindy Brady". After several flights which each shown the rocket's affinity for landing on pavement, the modifier "Streetseeker" was added. It conjures up images of a desperate and rather seedy-looking Cindy prowling the streetcorners of Hollywood Boulevard.
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Dr. Strangeglove's Reversion to Childhood
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Also a Mark Poston rocket. If the name has a history, it's his secret.
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Stark Fist of Removal
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This rocket was named by Russ Durkee, who flies at MASA launches with Rick.
The Stark Fist of Removal the name of a newspaper associated with the Church of the Subgenius
-- a mutant offshoot of Discordianism launched in 1981 as a grating (and largely uninformed) satire of fundamentalist Christianity.
Nonetheless, its bizarre imagery yielded an amusing name for a rocket.
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Accusatory Finger of Suspicion
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Rick found this rocket name while browsing rocket launch reports. This rocket hails from a club in the UK, North Star Rocketry. We're not sure what the name means, but it sounds like the sister ship to the Stark Fist of Removal.
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"Separation Anxiety" - 'nuff said.
"Why two, Kay?"
"IDSS" - Inverted Dynamic Soil Sampler (flown by a geologist with separation anxiety)
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These were submitted via email by Dave Williams, one of our web site visitors, having seen at the Monroe Spaceport in western Washington over the past couple of years.
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Pull My Finger
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Flown by Tony Alcocer at Springfest 2002 on a Ratt Works hybrid I80 and reported in the May-June 2002 issue of Extreme Rocketry Magazine. (I really wish I'd thought of that one....)
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Needs Viagra
The Great Googly Moogly
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This came from Dick Stafford's web site:
The first flight [of this rocket] was on an I211-S under the name 'So-So Fat', and was quite underpowered. The rocket rose to only a few hundred feet and the NC drag separated. The motor ejection charge fired shortly afterwards. Recovery was nevertheless perfect - but everyone laughed at how underpowered the flight was. This prompted me to rename the rocket 'Needs Viagra'. [Then,] while planning my trip to LDRS and my Level-2 attempt, I picked up a copy of an old Frank Zappa album (Apostrophe) on CD. This in turn prompted me to rename the rocket 'Great Googly Moogly'.
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Lusty Corn Maiden
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Kevin Trojanowski is a Nebraska rocket enthusiast. The name originated from a discussion with fellow club members regarding launch sites surrounded by corn fields - where there were "lusty cornmaidens lying in wait in the fields, ready to pounce on and waylay unsuspecting rocketeers who ventured forth to recover their rockets." Dream on.
The original Lusty Corn Maiden was constructed from an actual corn cob and a ring fin. The upscale has a 5.5" airframe and is decorated to resemble a giant cob emerging from a can of corn. You can see it at www.lustycornmaiden.com
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Dangerous Dirty Daddy of Disturbing Dietary Disaster
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An Estes Big Daddy fitted with a 54 mm motor mount, built and flown by Claude Paquin. It flew on a K185 and was fully recovered. Keep in mind this is not an upscale; it is a real Estes kit modified and reinforced!!!
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Fabulous Flying Funnel of Forbidden Financial Freedom
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Another Claude Paquin creation (Claude appears to share the same social dysfunction that drives the Vatsaas brothers when they name their rockets). This one is a scratch-built rocket that was made from an oil funnel purchased at Autozone. Click [HERE!] for photo.
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Moss Covered 3-Handled Family Credenza
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This one showed up in the March launch report of The Music City Missile Club The meaning is delightfully obscure.
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Favorite Peculiar Rocket Names -- RTV
| Peculiar Name |
Factoids |
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I'm Too Sexy For My Cert
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Cory McCormick's level one certification rocket, which happened to be an H-powered tetrahedron. We have great video of this rocket doing a power prang into the desert floor - and we took the footage before we even knew him.
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The Peppermint Stick Suppository of Righteous Indigestion
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Aside from the red-and-white spiral paint job, I'm not aware af any particular significance to the name Mark chose for this rocket. It was built for an RTV drag race held in Phoenix in 2001.
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Running With Scissors
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Brad's contribution to the RTV drag race mentioned above. The title captures his cavalier, full-throttle, laughing-at-danger, reckless abandon approach to life. (gag - cough - spit) Remember that Brad is an accountant.
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Kidd Plasma's Flaming Atomic Meteor of Justice
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This is a kit bash of an Estes Silver Comet kit, modified to fit Rick's conceptions of what a 50's TV-serial rocket should look like. So, he invented a comic book character to serve as a muse, Capt. Kidd Plasma - a precocious interplanetary do-gooder of some valiant space-crime fighting organization.
Click HERE to view the design and construction details.
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The Evil Dr. Manchu's Avenging Projectile of Doom
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The interstellar ballistic weapon wielded by Kid Plasma's malevolent space nemesis, Dr. Manchu. Actually, this is a a 3FNC rocket Brad built for his level one certification.
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Grandma Lucy's Semi-Annual Memorial-Day Prickley-Heat Telethon-of-Love
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Another 3FNC rocket built by Brad, this time for his level two certification. The only thing wierd about this rocket is its name. Brad calls it the Jumbo Sizzler for short.
Click HERE to view the design and construction details.
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The Happy Birthday Party Napkin Rocket of the Apocalypse
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This rocket is scaled up from a picture lifted from a napkin left over from nephew John Schubert's birthday party.
Click HERE to view the design and construction details.
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I Only Have "I's" For You
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There's an explanation, but it isn't as amusing as the name. Cory has an abundant stockpile of I motors - Brad suggested he design a rocket specifically to accomodate a cluster of I's - and now the I's have it. (OOF! - groan...)
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The Rocket Formerly Known As Black
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An epoch saga lies behind this rocket name (well, a symbol, really; ç is not a name). Click [HERE!] if you've got some time to kill....
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Commander Kip Quasar's
Galactic Zephyr
and the Journey to the Planet of Intoxicated Sorority Girls
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Just like this rocket project, the name continued to get bigger over time. Since the rocket is designed to look like a 1950's science fiction movie, the name of the rocket became like one, too. This is Brad's Level 3 project. Click [HERE!] for details
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Pagan Vegan Draggin' Wagon
Ain't Got No Body
Skullduggery
Peter Piper's Poorly Painted Perchlorate Powered Pumpkin Poopchute Projectile
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Just some of the more unusual rocket names from our 2004 Annual Drag Race.
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