The Static Stability of a Cone-Cylinder Flare and Two Cone-Cylinder Fin-Flare Combinations at Supersonic Speed

The Black Brant IV shown in Fig. 1, is a two-stage sounding rocket with a 15KS-25 000 booster motor stabilised with three fins and a 9KS-11 000 motor, a 5·3 fineness ratio conical noise and an 11·5° conical flare forming the second stage. Basically, the second stage is the single stage Black Brant III rocket, but uses a conical flare instead of three fins at the aft end for aerodynamic stability. This paper reviews the static stability of a Black Brant IV second stage with a flare and two fin-flare combinations.