Harmon Rocket II is beyond total performance.John Harmon’s conversion kit for the RV-4 is the ultimate
aviation experience for recreation and sport flying.From winning awards at Oshkosh to EAA fly-ins and air shows this
aircraft should be the choice for RV builders of kit plane plans or individuals
interested in avionics for homebuilt aircraft. The
HR2 is not a quickbuild kit as many builders of the Rocket prefer to be
more involved in the aircraft building process and express a preference of
some minor fitting and trimming. If you are looking for a
home built experimental aircraft consider the flexibility and performance of the Harmon
Rocket
FOR SALE !
John's Harmon Rocket III
Asking ONLY $ 145,000.00
Open for breakfast M-F 5AM, S-S 6AM and are
open all day for breakfast, lunch, happy hour (3-6 pm-f) and dinner.
View our slide
show!
Progress and construction of the ROCKET SHOP CAFE !
(WILL OPEN IN
A NEW WINDOW-- CLOSE WINDOW TO RETURN HERE PLEASE)
ROCKET
SHOP CAFE -
"We are trying to bring something to this side of town," John Harmon said. "We are going
full-steam, and going to hire 30 people from this area to work at the Cafe."
Bakersfield has needed this project for a long time now.
We are very excited about the restaurant opening of the NEW Rocket Shop Cafe.
Ron Paulk and the staff at CSI contractors are building the new Cafe and are
excited to be a part in the airport history. The old building and retail store
had been in this same location for over 60 years. Everyone who has lived in
Bakersfield or has traveled through this part of the OLD 99 freeway as it was
once called knows that this is huge step in progress for Bakersfield and the
entire aviation community. Pilots from all over the United States are Harmon
Rocket builders and are excited to be able to once again fly into L45 for the
best "ROCKET" burger.
Located at the Bakersfield Municipal Airport, the Rocket Shop Cafe will feature
good old fashioned cooking, just like gramma use to make. Biscuits & gravy,
chicken fried steak with all the fix'ins! ...BBQ tri-tip, baked beans, home made
peach cobblers...just to name a few things on the menu. With 9 televisions to
watch the excitement of your favorite driver on the Nextel Cup Nascar or Busch
Series racing schedule. Speed Channel will also keep you occupied while you
enjoy your time spent at the Rocket Shop Cafe.
Chrissy with Dale Earnhart,
Jr.
and
Michael Waltrip
and Rusty Wallace
Congrats to Ken Flikkema
HARMON ROCKET II
SERIAL NUMBER : 343 NUMBER 123 TO FLY
"368R took to the
air ( 5-6-07) at 9:20 AM MST. Had a great first flight, everything
went just great"
Chuck Hanson
L45
Bakersfield, CA
Matt Baker-pilot
April 2007
In the years since first flying my Harmon Rocket, everything
has changed. I am no longer compelled to own fine cars or fancy things, or
to wonder about what I am missing.
Almost everything I need, with the exception of my Rocket partner (my wife,
Jackie) is in my hangar. I am blessed with the ability to enjoy the Rocket's
freedom anytime I want.
There is nothing like experiencing the G force of takeoff, the crazy climb
angle and the outright velocity of the rocket. Nothing is as fun to fly as
the rocket. It's control harmony is wonderful with a blinding roll rate and
everything feels "right".
The power is awesome and the airplane is capable of beautiful, big, high
energy maneuvers. It is outstanding for fun flying around the home base and
for cross country trips. Jackie and I look forward to our local fun flights,
dogfights with friendlies, and day trips that would have been overnighters
in most other aircraft.
Our only problem is that formation flight with my friends must be
accomplished at very low power settings. The one word that describes our
rocket best...
WOW!
Stu smith February 2007
My son took this great shot recently not far from
where I am living. It is serial # 167 built by Tom Martin. I have
really enjoyed flying it for the last year and a half.
Thanks for the development of these terrific airplanes John!
Dave Lind
Mr. Harmon and the staff at Harmon Rocket, LLC
I cannot express enough how grateful the crew at California Jets is for
the incredibly moving performance you displayed on June 3, 2006 at our
event at Elk Hills / Buttonwillow Airport.
I had prepared the music for your performance. I used Andre Bocelli's
very moving "Because We Believe". I wrote a one minute dissertation
about our fallen hero, Clay Farr, which was read during the songs
opening, over the PA system by show announcer Sam Wright. Then, as the
song broke into it's main chorus, your missing man formation flew
overhead. Almost exactly how I had imagined it when compiling the
soundtrack weeks before the event.
I will tell you John, there wasn't a soul who was not extremely moved.
Truly, a fitting tribute to a young man who made the ultimate sacrifice
for his country. The death of his son in Iraq in February is still far
too fresh for Patrick Farr, Clay's father, to be there and witness the
tribute, and as emotionally effected we all were by the performance,
I'm sure it would have been far too much for him.
Patrick Farr is a member of the BARCS radio control club out at
Buttonwillow.
The show and performance was very, very impressive. Sam had some good
info on the Rockets and called your performance like a pro. His
experience
announcing such airshow performers as Patty Wagstaff and Shawn D.
Tucker really showed in his narration. Even though he was not supplied
with much info about your planes or your plans, he "winged it" nicely.
As you "rocketed" 54 past show center and departed with a victory roll,
he nicely worked in the Rocket Shop Cafe, it's Nascar-theme cafe and to
look for you to be opening soon.
I am a graphic Designer in San Diego. I do all the graphic design, web
and print work, and video for CA Jets. I had discussed with Kenny
Falconer, our event CD, the possibility of speaking to you about us
mounting an HD video camera in one of your planes, and having the
cameras sound jack plugged into your com system. But his being
overwhelmed in preparation of the event prevented him from focusing on
all but the absolutely necessary elements to pull off the event in the
short amount of time we had. Hopefully, we can do it again, and with
more time, be able to facilitate some of my extreme requests. Perhaps a
cameraman as a passenger :-)
I did shoot HD video of your performance from atop the 30 ft. man lift
that we rented for the show. In reviewing the raw footage, I am very
pleased indeed.
I will be editing a 15 minute short of the entire event, which will
include a 1-2 min. segment on your performance. I will be sure to send
you a DVD when it is complete.
In the meantime I have attached some pics that others have posted at
www.rcuniverse.com, in the Jets forums under the California Jets pix
thread, in case you're interested.
If you'd like to have higher resolution versions, or use any of them
for promotional purposes, I will be happy to facilitate permissions and
usage rights with the appropriate photographers.
I am sure that they will be happy to allow you to use them at no
charge, but receiving permission is strongly suggested, as I'm sure you
are well aware.
Feel free to visit www.ca-jets.com in the coming weeks, as I update the
site with pics from the event.
GEAR UP - HAMMER DOWN John Harmon set for
Reno Air Races 2006
for more info on the racing excitement, Click Here
www.airrace.org
This is an amateur built Harmon Rocket II, which is a highly modified RV-4.
This aircraft was built and is flown by
Ken Fowler.
Power is from a Lycoming IO-540, custom built by Progressive Air of Kamloops,
British Columbia and produces 300 H.P. at 2800 RPM.
Stars
in the Sky
Truly an awesome spectacle! Ken combines his
high speed capabilities with an aerobatic routine and outstanding fireworks
display.
All of this, set to music.
"Stars in the Sky" will dazzle onlookers and provide a night show to remember.
Click the link below for the 60 second teaser to
view the video !
http://www.rocketaerobatics.com/Night%20Show.htm
Fowler Aviation/Rocket Aerobatics
Comparing a RV to a Rocket...
Rocket wins...
Let
me explain: Flying RVs is like spending the night with a sexy super model.
Flying the Rocket is like spending the night with 12 sexy super models ... and
they're fighting over who gets you next.
Vince Frazier
NUMBER 100
TO FLY !
Harmon Rocket II Bill Atkin
Boulder City, NV
N542G NUMBER 100 TAKES THE SKY........
Click on the Builders Link/#100 to Fly
Additional Photos
March 2005
I have had the privilege of experiencing the awesome feeling of The Harmon
Rocket
About a year ago, my brother in law, Norm Bartel asked me to be at his house the
following morning at 9:00am sharp for an exciting ride of my life.
I did..Upon meeting Ted Rutherford, exchanging pleasantries with my sister we
were off. Never seeing this impressive aircraft before, I was very eager to help
bring it out of the hanger or to help in any way. Being used to climbing in the
Christain Eagle IN FRONT I was very relived to be in back. As we taxied I
said"Houston we have lift off" And did we! What a thrill! What an experience!
I want to learn more!
I have been up a few more times. Each time conquering something new.
I want to become something much than just a admirer.
Love Those G- Forces
Thanks for your interest and tenacity for pursuing the limits of your passion in
life...For all of us to enjoy
Robin E. Albert
Tony Blair - Australia Harmon
Rocket # 103 to FLY !
Harmon Rocket II N29268 flies after 12 years! Click here
for photos !
First flight: 09/26/2004
Russ Werner
Rocketeers,
After a long 12 years and one ocean crossing, HRII N29268 took flight at
10:40 am this morning at Heber City Utah. The first flight was a blast and
uneventful. Second flight had Ron Carter's HRII and Wayne Loeber's F1 in
formation for a salute to the airport with some photo work and a formation
pass down the runway.
I owe a huge thank you to many, but especially: Gina, who fed me.
John Harmon, the guy who is responsible for all this mayhem and the guy who
first had the big idea!
Check Six Mark, who, with enough hydraulic fluid installed is always there
with an answer to a problem.
Mike Kraus a friend and serial repeat offender RV4 guy who I call for advice
every day. He needs an HRII.
Tom, "Angle Iron", Martin another serial builder who is crazy enough to
answer his phone on Sunday for stupid questions!
Tom Gierhart, the best FED you'll ever meet.
And a bunch of others who probably won't admit helping me either!
Did I mention John Harmon?..................Now about that golf handicap.
Gotta get Harmon's lesson there too!
Russ Werner
Park City, UT
HRII sn 139 N29268
Budd Davisson Rights: 1st No. American, One Time
3536 E. Shangri-La Words:
Phoenix, AZ 85028 Pages:
Harmon Rocket III
This One Will Get Your Attention!
Zowie! 258 mph cruise! Red lined at 373 mph! There, now you don’t need to read
any further. Your most obvious questions are answered. And if those numbers
don’t make you want to know more, you have more will power than most of us.
We were driving down Knapp Rd, one of the local streets that when captured in
the net of AirVenture becomes a north-south artery right through the fly-in.
That’s when we saw it. It was snuggled in between a couple of RVs and Rockets,
which it bore a vague resemblance to but was somehow wildly different. We braked
to a hard stop: “What is that!!!”
We were late for a meeting but there was absolutely no way we could keep going
and not spend a few minutes salivating over this unknown beauty. It was familiar
but it wasn’t. It was the very embodiment of speed. Sitting on the ground,
silent as a stone, it still looked as if it was pushing 250 knots. The name on
the side explained it all: Harmon Rocket III. We should have known.
John Harmon is to RV’s what Roy LoPresti is to things with wings and Roger
Penske is to things with wheels. He starts with one idea, in this case the RV
concept, and mulls it over in his high-speed mind until a wholly different and
much faster product rolls out. The last time it was the Rocket II, the well
known two-place that borrows heavily on the RV-4 and scoots around the sky with
a 260 Lycoming in the nose.
The Rocket III takes the Rocket II and moves it one or two notches futher up the
performance scale.
John Harmon lives in Bakersfield, California, but where he apparently really
lives is in his workshop. He comes from a long line of people who make things.
His dad developed a sulpher dioxide generator, which helps California farmers
stave off soil problems caused by carbonation of their water supplies. This
built into quite a business and aviation was always right there.
Harmon says, “My dad had a number of airplanes on the ranch including a Stinson
and he bought the very first 1946 Luscombe sold.”
John went into the business but didn’t learn to fly until he was 23 years old.
It was only a few years later that he got into sport aviation.
“I was attracted to the RV-3 when it came out and bought a set of plans. I wound
up building the first RV-3 to fly in California.”
That first airplane took him only thirteen months to finish. This was before any
component kits were available, which is an indication not only of his skills,
but the level of his commitment and his shop capabilities. However, he wasn’t
satisfied with that airplane, so he built another RV-3. Then another, and
another. Eventually, in addition to the first one, he built the fifth RV-3 to
fly, the twenty-second and the thirty-fourth ones. By that time it was taking
him an incredibly short 600 hours to crank one out. ‘Almost seems impossible
doesn’t it?
In 1982, he built an RV-4 so he could take his wife along with him. It was set
up with a 200 hp Lycoming and constant speed prop so he could cover some serious
territory.
“That airplane was pretty fast, but we’d be barely an hour into a trip before
I’d hear her asking from the back seat, ‘Are we there yet?’. She didn’t like
taking so long. However, I finally put a GPS back there so at least she’d didn’t
have to ask the usual question. Still, it was taking too long, so we were always
talking about going faster. ”
“The Rocket I started out as a sexy drawing of an RV-3 with a raised turtle deck
and 200 hp. My friend, Jim Ewing, said, ‘Let’s build it,” so we did. That
airplane was basically built with one purpose in mind. He wanted to race it in
the C.A.F.E..”
The RV-4 took him exactly a year to build but he built two Rocket I’s in only
nine months! He was definitely starting to figure RV’s out.
So, what’s the logical next move after pushing the basic RV as hard as possible
with four-cylinders? That’s right, six cylinders. He wanted an 0-540 powered RV,
and he knew that wasn’t going to be a bolt-on affair.
“Right from the beginning, I knew it was going to require some re-engineering
and, while I was at it, I thought I’d change a few of the things I thought the
RV-4 needed. For one thing, I felt it needed more room so I pushed the fuselage
sides four inches further apart to make it a full thirty inches wide. At the
same time, I lengthened the fuselage by four inches to help balance the heavier
weight of the 540.”
The fuselage received .040 skins in place of the .032 and the wings were
shortened a total of fifteen inches with the ribs re-pitched closer together.
Some of the wing skins went up to .032 but the spar remained true to its RV
lineage.
“I had the airplane professionally engineered and stressed to six G’s at a
weight of 1550 pounds versus an RV-4 at 1350 pounds. The Rocket II landing gear
is a machined titanium rod with flats milled in it. It’s quite a big longer then
the RV and puts the nose another six to eight inches in the air.”
Incidentally, from the time he chalked the outline for the Rocket II on the shop
floor to its first flight was nine months. If he wasn’t such a nice guy, John
Harmon could start to get irritating, couldn’t he? Nine months!
“The Rocket II is pretty fast, but is anything really fast enough?” he asks,
with a grin. “I decided I wanted something that was not only faster, but had
‘that’ look to it.”
Enter the Rocket III.
“The Rocket III is built for speed, so I narrowed the fuselage back down to the
same as an RV-4 but I sat the pilot where the back seat is in a –4. This took
care of most of the CG problems. Many of the fuselage skins are now .040 and
there’s a single piece of skin that runs from the instrument panel to the
firewall with a couple of stiffeners to make it even stronger.
“I took the traditional floor-mounted rudder pedals and eliminated them
entirely. I hung them from an overhead bar going across the fuselage similar to
the way some military airplanes do it. That gave me an uninterrupted floor.
“To beef the wings up, I just shortened them a full forty inches from the
original RV-4 length, which makes them just a little under twenty feet long. I
tossed one rib out entirely and re-pitched the rest with the widest space being
about ten inches.”
Most of the tail surfaces received heavier skins to eliminate any flexing both
chordwise and spanwise.
“I wanted a canopy that was a particular shape,” says Harmon, “so I made up some
drawings and patterns and went to Gee Bee Canopies and had them blow one to my
specifications.”
In front of the firewall, John hung a Lycoming 0-540-XXXX parallel valve
(“…angle valve engines are too heavy…”) engine pumping out XXX horses. That’s
swings a counterweighted Hartzell scimitar prop that’s seventy-eight inches in
diameter.
When the airplane was completely finshed and he put it on the scales he came up
awith an empty weight of 1084 pounds compared to an RV-4 at 960 pounds and a
Rocket II at 1134 pounds.
The obvious question every one asks (next to “How fast is it?”) is how does it
fly?
“On takeoff it naturally accelerates like a shot but it tracks perfectly
straight with no effort on my part. That’s just the way the airplane is. Because
you sit so far back in the fuselage, it’s a little blinder than most of the
RV’s, but it’s off the ground in seconds.
“Climbing out at 110 knots is fun because it’s climbing at 4,500 feet per minute
at sea level. It really gets with the program!”
Once at altitude, which doesn’t take long, John says full power at 11,000 feet
gives him about 265 knots TAS, which is 305 mph TAS (!) for those of us who are
nautically challenged.
“On cross countries I flight plan for a cruise of 225 knots (258 mph) at a
little less than fourteen gallons per hour.
“It has a real honest, RV type of stall, even though the wing loading is quite a
bit heavier. There is nothing about its stall that’s not predicable. With the
flaps down, it stalls at 56 mph, which I don’t think is bad at all.”
“I’ve spun the airplane both left and right a full three turns and it’s
absolutely normal. Just like an RV. That’s probably because the CG on all
Rockets is a little forward. Most Rocket II’s are at thirteen to fourteen
percent and the Rocket III is nineteen percent. I can put one-hundred ninety
pounds of baggage in it and still be within limits.”
In addition to the spins, John has flutter tested it in three knot increments
all the way up to 320 knots.
It looks like a hot rod, but he says that in the pattern it’s a pussy cat,
largely because of the braking effect of the big prop and the flaps.
“Depending on traffic, I usually fly downwind at 160-170 knots and when I hit
140 knots I start the flaps out. They are electric. The prop helps slow it down
so I plan the approach to put the airplane over the fence at 80 knots.
“Because of the visibility, I usually wheel it on, which is really easy. It
almost does it on it’s own although it does float a little and you can’t get in
a hurry about it.”
And now the bad news: don’t get your check book out and send for a set of plans
or kit components just yet. John hasn’t quite figured out what he’s going to do
in that regards.
“This is not an airplane for the average pilot and I’m not certain I want to
make it available as either plans or kits. I’m not saying I won’t, but right now
I just don’t know.”
We’re sorry we had to pass along that little bit of bad news, but look at it
this way: he hasn’t absolutely made up his mind. So, if enough of us bug him,
maybe we too will find a wildly sexy looking winged hot rod in our hangar. It
can’t hurt to ask.
For more information contact:
Harmon Rocket LLC
2000 S. Union Ave.
Bakersfield, CA 93307
(661) 836-1028
September 4, 2003 Reno Air
Races 2003 !
Mike Hart - Reporter/Anchor for Channel 23 News in Bakersfield, CA, interviewing
John Harmon and the Harmon Rocket III for the Reno Air Show Races. John was
in the Sport Class. Air Show and races held at the Reno Stead Airport for the
week of September 8 thru September 14,2003.
Special Offer - Limited Time !
Harmon Rocket II Plans PLUS Information package
Only $ 125.00 INCLUDING shipping ! Click
Here to order !
Congrats to Ken Pabo on his Harmon
Rocket II...number #92 to fly !
The Harmon Rocket III is John
Harmon’s one-off hot rod. See story page 34. Photo by Jim Koepnick, shot
with a Canon EOS-1V. Shot from EAA’s Cessna 210 piloted by Bruce Moore.
July 2003.
FEATURES
34
Harmon Rocket III This one will get your attention Budd Davisson The Rocket III takes the Rocket II and moves it one or two
notches further up the performance scale.
Dean Berry N449HR
Harmon Rocket II
#85 to fly!
Congrats Dean! Jan 2003
LEONARD i.e. The
Animal
" the grin only gets bigger with each hour flown"
"My hat is off to John Harmon for such a wonderful aircraft."
Reno
Air Races September 2002 Harmon
Rocket III Silver
- Sport Class 4th place overall
Harmon
Rocket III at Oshkosh 2002
Rocket
Fans !Did you know?D. & J. Harmon Co., Inc. manufactures the Harmon
SO2 Generator, which John is the designer and original patent holder.
The HARMON SO2 GENERATOR is installed at hundreds of golf courses
world wide plus agriculture applications and CBM water treatment
relating to
treatment of water and soil problems. The Harmon so2 generator is
referred to as a sulfur burner, which controls the pH of irrigation water
as well as carbonates and bi-carbonates.Visit
John’s SO2 Generator sitewww.harmonso2generators.comif you have an interest in solving water and soil problems even
using effluent water as a source of irrigation!
The
Harmon Rocket III
John Harmon & The
Rocket III
John's HR III
doing a high speed fly by ... Bakersfield 2002 Fly-In
The
Harmon Rocket II is beyond total performance experience !
A remarkable
all purpose aircraft ! Seating for two persons plus baggage
makes it perfect for cross country flights and easy access to small
airports. Whether for business or pleasure the Rocket
will meet your flying needs. Experience It !
Here's some answers to common QUESTIONS
There is no charge for technical support for
builders we even refer you to other builders that might be in your area.
Visitors are always welcome just give us a little notice.
YES ! John will give prospective buyers FREE rides.
(please contact us for
arrangements)
At present there are
103 Rockets
Flying and 212 being built.
Answers to some additional questions can be found HERE
At the bottom of each page of the
site there is a CONTACT FORM for your questions. We look
forward to hearing from you !
T-Shirts !
HARMON ROCKET T-SHIRTS !
Available in L-XL-XXL
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