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 
   

 

The Rocket Shop Cafe is NOW OPEN!!

  

 

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.

Again, you guys were awesome!

Thank you very much,

Paul Reese Creative
858.642.7422

858.642.7434 fax
paul@reesecreative.com
www.reesecreative.com
 

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 !

Additional Photos on Builders Link !

TO VIEW PHOTOS CLICK HERE

Reno Air Races  2004   SPORT CLASS, SILVER - 6 LAPS   Results !!!

Dave Morss, Morss 320, Martins Legacy, 272.964 mph; Duncan Sutherland, Swearingen SX300, Shadow, 270.408 mph; Dante Edwards, Glasair III, Third Chance, 268.239 mph; Kevin Eldredge, Glasair III, Last Minute, 267.234 mphs

John Harmon, Harmon Rocket III, 256.376 mph;   

Greg Nelson, Harmon Rocket, Xray, 250.785 mph;

Mark Frederick, Frederick F-1Rocket, Re - Do, 247.648 mph;

 Mark Sponsler, Harmon Rocket II, 247.594 mph.

Dean Berry, Harmon Rocket II, Leonard, 223.68 mph.

Some photos posted !  Click on the Reno Air Races 2004 link

FEATURE STORY ANNOUNCING THE HARMON ROCKET III  
Click on the Rocket III plans link for more photos

Now Available !    Harmon Rocket III  Plans !     And Kits !
Click Here to Order Plans $ 125.00 if shipped within the U.S.

Congrats !  John Lauer  # 102 to Fly !  Harmon Rocket II

Additional photos on Builders Section click here !

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 !

Reno Air Races 2003 photos posted. Click on the Reno Air Races 2003 link !  

                                                 
    Harmon Rocket Shirts!          

Sizes Med - Large - Extra Large   $45.00 ea     
 click here to order or the T-shirt link

Hats   $20.00    

ON THE COVER

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.

Reproduced with permission EAA Sport Aviation ©2003

     May 31st 2003  Fly-In Pictures posted !
  

Visit the BUILDERS PAGE for details 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 site www.harmonso2generators.com  if 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

Please click on the Specifications Link for Details on the Rocket III

 

   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   for Men  and
NOW  for Ladies !  Medium and Large 
Click Here to Order      

If you would like to order a set of PLANS HR  II  please CLICK HERE FOR PLANS

For your convenience you may now place ORDERS direct from our Site ! Click on the PARTS/MATERIALS link

BUILDERS !  SEND US YOU PHOTOS FOR THE BUILDERS LINK !

Harmon Rocket , LLC.

Telephone: (661) 836-1028  Fax:  (661) 836-1743
Postal address:     2000 S. Union Avenue  Bakersfield, CA 93307
E-mail   HarmonRocket@aol.com 
(You may also use the Contact Form at the bottom of each page)
  
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