Letter to the Editor

Working V1 Rocket Engine of Survival Research Laboratories (SRL), San Francisco

Re.: G. Rudolf, “The Moon Landing: Fact or Fiction,” TR, 1(1) (2003), pp. 75-81.

Dear Editor:

In The Revisionist #1 you have an article which includes a tidbit about V1 rockets:

In San Francisco is a machine performance art group, Survival Research Laboratories (SRL), who has made a working mockup of the V1 rocket motor (sans glider) and uses it in some of their shows of the last 15 years, including Europe (the prodigal rocket returns.) Their mockup is powered by a large turbine turned by a V-8 engine and rides on the ground on a pullcart-like system driven by what looks like a detached forklift truck. Also attached is a 70 or so gallon tank of gasoline that fuels the rocket motor.

The last (?) show that they used the V1 for was in March 1997 in Austin, Texas: http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/

Some photos of the V1 in Austin:

• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/preshow/austinpre37.html
• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/preshow/austinpre38.html
• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/show/v1-5.JPEG
• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/show/v1causeway2.JPEG
• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/show/v1subjugator.JPEG
• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/show/v1bigarmswave.JPEG
• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/show/v1towerfb.JPEG
• http://www.srl.org/shows/austin/show/v1larmbubbacrane.JPEG

Another recent use of the V1 was on the street in front of a movie theater’s premiere of an SRL video in October 1996 in their hometown of San Francisco (this was one of their guerilla performances: SRL didn’t forewarn anyone, including the police, about it):

http://www.srl.org/shows/sf_minna96/roxiepics.html

In a few of SRL’s recent email newsletters they have mentioned that they have been working on and have replaced their V1’s old flimsy valve bank with an entirely new “solid state” (my phrase) one that should prevent any burned out “flaps” (my phrase) that caused occasional breakdown in the past. (Of course, when the Germans were using the original V1 they were made for a single flight, not repeated use, so burned out “flaps” were not an issue back then.) The next time SRL uses it’s V1 should be in November 2003 in Berkeley, California.

I’ve seen SRL shows for about ten years now and have seen most of the videos of their earlier shows and none of the newer machines that they have made has outdone the spectacle that the V1 provides.

Sincerely, G.M., San Mateo, Calif.