Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 10in. x 11in. x 10ft 4 1/2in. x 6in. (25.4 x 27.94 x 316.23 x 15.24cm)
Materials:
Blast tube, nonferrous metal; rear sections, steel; spark plug, steel, partly with a ceramic coating
The "resojet," made by Reaction Motors, Incorporated (RMI) in 1944 to attempt to duplicate the pulsejet engine of the German V-1 cruise missile, was not a rocket, but an air-breathing, reaction-propulsion motor. The project began in July 1944 when RMI engineers were summoned by the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington, D.C. for consultations on the V-1. The Navy was primarily interested in a potential motor for its own ship-borne missile. The RMI engineers were provided with very sketchy details and were asked to construct and test a duplicate. Work on this development started in mid-July and was completed in early August. Tests were undertaken until September. RMI succeeded in improving the device, but the U.S. armed forces chose to copy the V-1 pulsejet along with the missile, so the resojet was abandoned.
Thiokol Chemical Corporation, which acquired RMI in 1958, gave this motor to the Smithsonian in 1975.
Gift of Thiokol Chemical Corporation
