When I first saw Derek Frasca's Radial Rocket in 2019, it was not only the first time I had laid eyes on one, but to be honest, it was also the first time I'd even heard of the type. I stood there staring at it, big, beautiful, and intimidating, with a presence that reminded me of the Bearcats I had admired at Warbirds during AirVenture Oshkosh.
Why attempt a project of this magnitude? Simple. Derek, who did his flight training in the SAAF on the T-6 Harvard, has always had a deep affinity for radial engines. When he heard about the Rocket, he realised this was his chance to own one with a massive radial up front, and as a bonus, it resembled a rather famous WWII warbird. He placed his order in 2010, and more than a year later, in December 2011, the kit finally arrived.
At the time, there were only five flying examples in the world. all in the USA. Three were TD models with fixed undercarriage, and two were Radial Rocket RG retractable-gear variants. One was reportedly being assembled in Australia and another in Switzerland, though whether they ever became airworthy remains uncertain.
Designed by Jeff Akland and marketed by the Altitude Group in the USA, Derek's kit, a Radial Rocket TD, is a fixed-gear taildragger. It has a 25.5 ft (7.8 m) wingspan, a wing area of 90.8 sq ft (8.44 m²), and a gross weight of 2,550 lb (1,160 kg). The all-composite airframe carries an estimated construction time of 1,900 hours according to the manufacturer, but Derek says he stopped counting after 1,000 hours.
Power comes from a 430 HP Vedeneyev M-14P, a nine cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke, swinging a massive 2.5 m, three-blade scimitar constant-speed propeller. Weighing in at 2,575 lb (1,168 kg), she may look chunky and mean, but she's no slouch. The Rocket can cruise at 242 mph (389 km/h, 210 kt), stall at 70 mph (110 km/h, 61 kt), cover a range of 1,200 mi (1,900 km, 1,000 nmi), climb at an impressive 3,500 ft/min (18 m/s), and is stressed to +9/-6 G ultimate load.
In April 2019, after eight years of toil, a true masterpiece of the homebuilder's art, Derek's attention to detail is nothing short of extraordinary, she was finally ready for her first flight.
But in June 2019, with only five hours on the Hobbs, tragedy struck during a landing. The propeller was damaged, and the engine had to be removed and shipped to the manufacturer in Hungary for a complete rebuild.
Eighteen months later, on 8 December 2021, she took to the skies again, this time with Nigel Hopkins in the pilot's seat. Derek, flying alongside in Jason Beamish's Extra 330LX, accompanied Nigel for much of the flight. The test was uneventful, and Nigel climbed out of the cockpit with great reluctance.
“She not only looks like a WWII warbird, she actually flies like one!” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
Also present was Dieter Bock in his Lancair
On Tuesday, 12 August 2025, I found myself back at Krugersdorp, where she is based, to watch Nigel once again put her through her paces and to witness Jason Beamish being rated on the Rocket. With Nigel's busy schedule limiting his ability to fly the proving hours, Jason will now share the workload.
And the rumour? Yes, it's true. She is for sale. One can only hope she remains in South Africa, but with the sorry state of our Mickey Mouse Rand, I fear that may be unlikely.
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