Video produced by the Bell Aerospace Corporation showing the development and testing of the Bell Rocket Belt. Video provided by the Niagara Aerospace Museum.
Not a rocket. used compressed gas expelled at high velocity. In 1959 the U.S. Army contracted Aerojet General to conduct feasibility studies on a Rocket Belt and contracted Bell Aerosystems to develop a Small Rocket Lift Device (SRLD). The experimental rig, which worked on compressed nitrogen, was prepared. Its steel tubing frame allowed a tester to be attached to the rig. Two hinged nozzles were set on the frame. Nitrogen at 35 atmospheres (3.5 MPa) was supplied to the nozzles by flexible hoses. An engineer-operator on the ground regulated the supply of nitrogen through a valve. Additionally, the tester regulated the thrust using levers under his shoulders. The tester inclined the nozzles forward and backward, trying to reach stable hovering at a limited height. A safety tether was attached from below, so that the rig and tester could not fly too high.
That gentleman was the WORLDS FIRST ROCKETBELT PILOT. His name was Harold Graham. To his friends he was "Hal", but to us few in the Rocketbelt Community he was known and referred to as "His Eminence". God rest his soul.
