The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Friday, January 12, 1968 — The Chronicle tried to make it rain over Bulawayo yesterday – and it might have succeeded had the rocket used not missed the cloud at which it was aimed.

The failure of the Chronicle’s first rocket-launching was an anti-climax to 48 hours of waiting for near-perfect conditions.

Meikles contributed the rain rocket and provided a 10ft-high launcher on Wednesday.

With the guidance of the officer in charge of Goetz Observatory, Mr C Archer, and experts from the Department of Meteorological Services, I spent my spare time cloud spotting.

The most suitable cloud would have been any that was not more than 6,000ft above the ground and 8,000ft thick, I was told.

Such a cloud would have been capable of discharging 10,000 tons of water – about one eighth of an inch over one square mile. The cloud found was 4,000 to 8,000ft wide, Mr Archer estimated. The launcher was placed on an unused lot a quarter of a mile off Winnies Way, next to Bulawayo Golf Course, and the rocket was shoved between the guiding pipes.

The launch pad was secured by concrete slabs placed on the base of the launcher. I twisted myself under the launcher’s “sight”, only a few feet from the ground. I struck a match as the photographer dashed for cover. The blue wick smoked as it burnt. The rocket travelled in the direction opposite to which it was aimed.