The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Rockets consisted of paper tubes filled with incendiary compounds. When the inside calibre was the same as the diameter of a 6oz ball, they were called ‘6 oz’; if the diameter was that of a 3 pdr cannonball ‘3 pdr’ etc. The paper cartridges were set into wooden tubes nine calibres long. The rocket tubes were now fixed to sticks seven times as long as the tube and so heavy that the centre of gravity was 2-3 inches below the tube. These sticks were about ½ the calibre at the rocket end and tapered to about 1/6 the calibre. They were used for signalling, setting fire to villages etc. Congreve’s British rockets were modelled on those found in the army of Hyder Ali in India. They weighed 20 lb with heads made of tin 28 inches long and 4 inches in diameter. The sticks were 18-22 feet long. They were first employed against Copenhagen in 1801, but their performance was unimpressive due to their lack of reliability in their trajectory. They were also expensive to produce.
Royal Artillery, Mounted Rocket Corps 1814, wore the Tarleton helmet with dark blue turban, brass chinscales and peak, and bearskin crest. The plume is white over red on the left side. The Hussar dolman in dark blue with red facings, collar and pointed cuffs, and yellow buttons & lace, grey overalls with red side stripes or white breeches with hussar boots. The dark blue portmanteau is edged yellow and the yellow initials in the rear corner read:
A
R R
C
Royal Artillery Rocket Corps. The dark blue shabraque is edged yellow with the crowned yellow cipher GPR in the corners – this should surely be the reversed royal cipher ‘GR’. The man carries rocket staves on his saddlery, which is black with steel fittings. From Costumes of the Army of the British Empire...1814. (National Army Museum).