ROYAL NAVY RETRO-ROCKET EXPERIMENTS [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: ROYAL NAVY RETRO-ROCKET EXPERIMENTS [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ADM 1093-4
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: A record of the testing of a retro-rocket code-named 'Hajile' by the Admiralty's Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD) in 1944.
  • Description:
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Admiralty (Production sponsor) Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Military Aviation (theme) Royal Air Force 1939-1945, Bomber Command (theme) Royal Navy 1939-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 90 ft; Running time: 1 min
  • HD Media:
  • Notes: Summary: 'Hajile' was a deceleration device developed by the British Admiralty's Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD) at the request of the Army which was looking for a method of dropping heavy equipment from aircraft at high speed. This requirement ruled out parachutes, so the DMWD came up with the idea of using cordite-fuelled retro-rockets which would ignite at the last moment to slow the final rate of descent. The initial test produced the project's codename 'Hajile'. The plume of smoke and fire made by the retro-rockets caused one officer who witnessed it to exclaim, "Look at it! It's Elijah in reverse", referring to the biblical prophet's ascension to Heaven in like fashion. 'Hajile' was probably the world's first retro-rocket but, for a variety of reasons, the project was a failure.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ADM 1093-4

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    ADM 1093-5 (ROYAL NAVY RETRO-ROCKET EXPERIMENTS [Allocated Title])
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