Hey, I suggest you guys use small engines like mini engines to increase TWR and keep the plane intact due to the sudden acceleration.
I suggest using a highly areodynamic plane with wings that are angled back, one designed for high speed.
Nope. Flutter can get even worse with swept wings if you don't stress them correctly.
All of the aforementioned questions on rockets come down to simple, common sense solutions. Several folks who fly rocket gliders competitively have used Drela's Apogee 36 as a baseline for a rocket powered setup. The only changes are to put a rocket pod above the wing in a location where the fuel burn will not cause a CG shift, and switch the tail to either a Y configuration (V tail with sub fin) or an inverted rudder and standard stab location. The Y tail setup allows the model to still be discus launched for trimming (you don't want to launch one of these rascals until you know it will go
straight).
The easier solution to a survivable rocket glider is a swing wing setup. I've built a bunch of these for free flight, and the only failure I've had in a multitude of launches was the time the launch piston hit the models tail on launch and caused a real quick disintegration. Even then, the model was back in the air the next day.
It's breathtaking how high you can get on just a C engine. Using a launch piston, the altitude is good enough for 3+ minutes of glide. Aerotech makes special long burn D, E, and F engines for R/C gliders, and the Estes E's are excellent as well, if a bit heavy and sooty.
As a final note, here's an old R/C contest model that should lay some groundwork for how to make it work. And yes, build
light.
http://georgesrockets.com/AOL/GCGassaway/RC/Synchronicity/Synchronicity.htm
