The Jetex motor is a miniature solid-fuel rocket motor produced for use as a powerplant for

flying model aircraft A model aircraft is a small unmanned aircraft. Many are replicas of real aircraft. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed static, display, or shelf models. Aircraft manufactur ...

. Its production led to a number of imitators and, after its demise, successors of similar type. __FORCETOC__

Original Jetex motors

Jetex was developed in 1947, by Wilmot, Mansour & Company Ltd of Southampton, which had started operations in a decommissioned hangar at RAF Beaulieu. The first motor was demonstrated in early 1948 and was available to the public in June 1948, when ''Aeromodeller'' magazine featured Jetex power on its front cover. The first motors were the Jetex 100 and 200, with the more powerful Jetex 350 following in November 1948. The most popular motor, the Jetex 50, was introduced in May 1949, along with kits for a model plane and model car using Jetex power. The subsequent popularity of Jetex led to the manufacture of numerous kits by third-party companies such as KeilKraft and Skyleada. Jetex motors are powered by a solid pellet consisting mainly of guanidine nitrate, which burns to release an exhaust gas in large volume, leaving little solid residue. Thrust developed is modest and sustained, making it suitable for aerodynamically lifted flying models. The exhaust gas is not excessively hot, which confers a safety advantage. Motors are loaded with one or more solid fuel pellets and a combustible 'wick' is led through the exhaust nozzle to ignite the fuel. Fuel and wick were manufactured by

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

(ICI). The engine casing of the early motors is made of an aluminium alloy. On introduction, fuel pellets and wick could be purchased separately, meaning that the system is reusable. Jetex power made a big impact in the late 1940s and early 1950s, allowing new sorts of models, scale and duration, to be designed. During the 1960s, Jetex propellant pellets found another use by AP Films/Century 21, in their '

Supermarionation Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and " animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet T ...

' TV series, when they were fitted to the undersides of miniature ground vehicles to emit jets of gas resembling dust trails. Jetex went through a change of ownership in the mid 1950s. Gradually its