I can finally understand how that works. CD didn't explain it very well. This video just randomly popped up in my feed too.

You were right about the little lock in the back. Upon firing, the G-Forces from the launch acts to set back the lock, freeing the rolleron. There is an exact amount of tension on it that gets tested frequently to make sure they still release. I get to work on these missiles all the time in the USAF.

When they're brand new they'll spin forever. I think if you disassemble it and clean up the bearings, you'll be even more surprised just how fast they spin. The AIM-9, in the beginning, had a habit of not detonating properly, however, it was so accurate that it has severely crippled and even splashed a few by simply slamming into the target without even detonating! In fact, that's how the Soviets got their little red hands on one after it stuck into a Chinese MIG!

We used to spin up bearings in the factories I worked in when there weren’t many people around. Using compressed air as you did, we’d spin up the bearing, then drop on the concrete floor. With lights out, the bearing would spark while getting grip leaving a trail of sparks and a rapid trajectory. Dangerous stuff, but great fun. We at least wore safety specs.

"Mrs Spice bought me this for christmas" jesus, where did you find your wife? Are there more?

"[...] work out what RPM that thing is going" That rolleron looks like it has 24 "teeth". Using an audio spectrometer the strongest frequency when it spins up is just shy of 6kHz (5930 Hz). If that source is from the teeth spinning by, divide by 24 teeth to get RPS, then multiply by 60 to get RPM. In this case, 14825 RPM. As you say, it's going chuffing quickly.

"The pressure versus the nozzle size, and speed, and cheese." I once failed an aerospace engineering exam because I forgot about the cheese. Very important part of flight.

The bearings sound a bit rough, but then, this isn't really meant to run a long time :)

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0:54 Not sure if you're talking about a specific model of the AIM-9, but the missile entered service with the US Navy in 1956, not the "late 70s, early 80s".

I remember seeing these in the 1980's when I was in the USAF and they didn't have the catch keeping it from moving until firing, they were spring loaded to pop up about a centimeter freeing them from a pin keeping them in place. There were two red and white candy cane striped strings that crossed over the motor nozzle to the opposite side that kept them down with the springs compressed until the motor was ignited.

Firstly that is a quality wife. You are a lucky guy. I first saw them in 1984 when I went to Germany on Operation Lionheart. They were really facinating back then without the benefits of the internet.

God at about 4:36 I was worried you were going to get your hair caught in the gyro. Im sure that would have hurt xD

I watched this at 6am and it woke up every dog in the neighborhood.

Oh wow I had no idea it was a passive system, id figured it was part of some air speed/orientation electronics. That's insane. To try to do this with literally any other method would be orders of magnitude greater in complexity and cost. I'm shook that's awesome.

As an interesting addition, these things have so much control authority that if they unlock without being launched the pilot can feel the effect. I worked with a number of former fighter pilots and one of them mentioned this when I was working on another guided weapon. He wanted to make sure we didn't guide until we were off the aircraft. With MEMS gyros costing a couple of dollars there's just no need for this now, the missile always knows its roll rate and has positive control in all axes. Roll can be imparted during launch from wingtip stations, and can cause damage to the launch rail at moderate speed and high angle of attack on some aircraft due to wingtip vortices from the parent aircraft. I am sure there's a lot more to it than that, but that's one thing I came across back when I was working on some Eurofighter stuff in the 1980s and 90s. I don't remember which aircraft had seen the issue, it was in marketing bumf from a vendor.

The guidance system is pretty simple in concept, although incredibly complicated using 1940's/50's electronic engineering (no microprocessors or integrated circuits, vacuum tubes and later transistors). The guidance just zero's out the angle rate. When the angle to target is constant it knows it has constant bearing and (presumably) decreasing range.

You need to seriously tell me where to buy such parts, i worked on the AIM-9P and would love to put that thing on my wall!

I worked as a environmental controls contractor at McDill AFB in Tampa during a remodel of the Missile Maintenance Building where they serviced the Sidewinders. I believe they used 3000 psi of air pressure to test the systems. I never got to see a real test but all the hardware was there to see. Thanks for the video and that is a great Xmas gift, bet that didn't fit in your stocking :-)

This is a fantastically interesting piece of engineering, the team behind this must be proud. Your wife must be proud, what an crazy amazing gift!

now that's a fly wheel :)

Very cool! Yesterday, I took my 3-year-old to the Pima Air and Space Museum, where they have a Sidewinder on display. As I was examining it up close, I noticed those wheels and played with them, but I couldn't figure out what they were for. Now I know. :-)

That little thing at the back is called the Roller-off. Only kidding. LOL. Thanks, this was a good video. I was around military aircraft a lot and never picked up on this little piece of engineering. The cleverness of aerospace engineers has never ceased to amaze me. This would appear to be a highly effective stabilizer since it is still in use. Sometimes you get something so exactly right that it never needs to be changed.

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Remember the time of flight for the missile was less than 10 seconds typically, so that roller bearing did not have to last long. Normal PTMs (practice training missile) did not have these. Only war ready ones did.

I was told those were telling the missile how fast the air is flowing on each fin, and that the missile could tell its trajectory from the slight difference in air speed on each fin 😂 Glad i now know the real function of those things!

The best part is that, due to the continuous-rod warhead's effects, the missile works best when it nearly misses - flying past the target is PERFECT.

I am ever in awe at the ingenuity and inventiveness of the human being when called upon to devise simple solutions to highly complex problems.

When I was a young child in the 1960’s my dad had some odd bits of technology lying around. One was a gyro about the size of a tennis ball made of brass or some metal. It had bearings on each end of the frame, but the odd thing to me was the curved notches machined around the perimeter of the wide disc. I discovered I could spin it up by blowing on the notches, but never gave it much practical thought. My dad was into aeronautics so it must have been a gyro for some type of airborne craft.

Is it just me or does it make a lovely sound?

I enjoy this type of video immensely. I also enjoy watching vids where squirrels are set to defeating "squirrel-proof" bird feeders. Thanks!

Never thought I'd be jealous of something that spins

That is one fantastic bit of engineering right there!! Great video! That was such an interesting idea. I work in product development so new ideas are always pretty cool

Mrs. spice is some woman!! Absolute genius design. Love me some rollerons!! Trying to incorporate them into something on a build, but need to get up to mach 3 for them to work!!

Quick someone sign spicy up for the Discovery Channel! Great work man! Really had me at the edge of my seat! So simple for something so clever.

Great demo: read the description of these many times but instantly more obvious with your demo thanks!

Dude, YES! I love ALL of your content, since it's nice to hear educated people talk about random shit in their lives while riding, but this is some seriously awesome footage. I'm jealous as all get-out, and am informing my spouse of the new requirements of our relationship currently.

Notice the guide vanes to divert the flow onto the wheel aswell, quite cool

A neat story from the contest where the AIM-9 was trialed against the sparrow, the crew for the sparrow missile brought huge piles of gear and a ton of equipment to set it up. The AIM-9 crew was 1 guy with an IR flashlight to calibrate the seekers. The AIM-9 ended up with like 9 hits outta 10 and the Sparrow mostly just malfunctioned and missed.

As you say.. Simple yet effective. Love this sort of stuff. Great gift to get from your Mrs too!

What you don't see in this video is the rest of this missile just out of camera range. Next video: How to mount a guided missile on a Cessna 172.

I was really worried for a minute that your hair was going to get caught in that rolleron while it was making point five past light speed.

Seen those for years at air shows and always wondered what they were, but never looked into it. Cool! Thanks!

3:00 That wheel is designed to operate at high Mach numbers. The air coming out of your hose is certainly sub-sonic. You're not going to break it with a shop air compressor.

fun game.... Take this through customs and declare it and see what happens

I think its equally awesome, thanks for the demonstration!

The cleverest engineering inventions are always the simplest. That rolleron is just so satisfying. It's from the 50s, but I'm sure you've already heard soo many times by now.. Best way to get the correct answer on the internet is to post the wrong one afterall :) Also, if it was built in 2006, then it's not an Aim-9B. The 9B is at least 60 years old by now. Awesome vid.

I loaded these for 10+ years on F-16s & -15 Strike Eagles... Heavy bastards, even with a three person load crew. Compressed spinal discs, torn-up shoulders, bad knees. All in the name of air superiority.

The back tab holding the rolleron in place is identified as being caged (locked in place) or uncaged (disengaged), per weapons loading checklists. I liked spinning them after loading the AIM-9, on a couple different fighters in the air force.

I didn't hear it mentioned in the video, but the Rolleron's are constantly spinning in flight. From the moment the aircraft starts rolling and until it lands and stops they are spinning. I've actually been at EOR(End of Runway) on numerous occasions in live munition safing area during flight recovery and they were still spinning while ground grew placed safing devices on the remaining munitions. You can't really hear them though over the sound of the idling jet engines. If I remember correctly there's even a Safety note in the T.O. about keeping hands clear of the rear wings on the AIM-9 during flight recovery because of the Rolleron's.

That’s bananas that someone thought of this in the 60’s

KZfaq correctly guessed that I'd watch this after the smarter every day video. Clever AI.

These missiles zero out their line of sight after launching, which means they maintain pointing directly at the prominent heat source and guide themselves to that point. The Sidewinder is an amazing weapon, having a fin is treasure!

Very clever!! I see how that works. Mrs Spice has impeccable taste!! Haha

Amazingly simple, the lessons learned in the Sidewinder project are a crash course on problem solving and creativity.

I've always noticed the little "bumper guards" on the rear fins of the AIM-9 models, had NO IDEA what they were. Now I know! Thank you!

Very interesting, personally i would love more videos on this kind of thing

That brings back memories, I used to test rocket engines at Royal Ordnance in Worcestershire, UK and I recall doing exactly that with an airline across the rotating stabiliser!Then with Thrust Vector Control they disappeared from use on the motors I worked with.

I am impressed by the aged bearing that runs to 100k probably without lubricant and that it still does even today. I often think that the weapons deign sector must have been a great place to be working with so many cunning and talented people to work with. Move and counter move like chess.

The AIM9 has been operational since at least 1974. I was working AIM 9s, 7s and AGM65s at that time.

It seems to simple having seen it.... I never would have thought of it though D:

Greetings from the states, mate. I used to play with those slip stream-driven gyros on the inert (no warhead) AIM-9 misses that were attached to F-18 Hornets, F-14 Tom Cats, F15 Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons as examples of hundreds of US Military aircraft on static display at USAF Joint Base Andrews, 26 kilometers outside Washington, DC. Until finally ending in 2014, Joint Base Andrews would hold their annual US Defense Department open house air shows that sadly came to an abrupt and permanent end after 2014 due to a plague of backpack suicide bombings all over the world from ISIS. But, in friendlier times--the static displays were always spectacular! All of the aircraft had real missiles attached, but without the warheads and inner electronics--but the missiles were 100% real and not model mockups. Therefore, the inert blue painted Sidewinder had those little gyros on them as well as that air resistance-activated retainer clip device. I would play with that thing wondering what it does and was about to ask the pilot who was present giving out autographs to kids, but I had an instant flash of insight as to what it was for and was waiting for confirmation from the Major as to what my theory was and that it was an air driven gyroscope to prevent the oscillation of the actual aileron and gives the entire missile something to "bite on" while in flight used to maneuver after receiving coordinates by the millisecond from its heat seeking head and guidance computers. In other words--I figured out it stabilized the entire missile by stabilizing its ailerons. I never did get to speak to that pilot. Cheers! :-)

Hella Sweet! I am more into props and guns these days, but this is an answer to a question i had ever since i was a kid.

Wow... amazing video... I saw that fin closely in the Australian Air Force museum and couldn't find a straight answer to my question since... thank you...

Great video Spicy, always wanted to know how these work!

Seems like a pretty standard gyroscopic stabilization principle, just done in a unique way.

And all of that beautiful engineering literally gets blown to hell by design.

They were pinned during flight using a crossed dacron cord arrangement. The rotation of the rolleron in the airstream reduced some vibration that was observed on highly maneuverable aircraft. Upon launch the dacron cord would burn through and the rolleron would unpin, allowing it to provide a bit of gyroscopic stability for the inherently unstable missile. They didn't call it the sidewinder just because it was a cute name. The guidance system used bang-bang navigational control signals for the canards. (the little stubby control surfaces on the guidance unit. After the guidance unit came the influence fuze. This enable the missile to track to an average signal strength received from the IR unit in the nose and the signal from the fuze further back. This then enhanced the scissor like action of the warhead. Neat system.

Be careful, those vanes are sharp even when they're not moving.

You are wrong with the dates, this missile was actually introduced in the 1950's.

Smarter every day just id a video in the aim-9m your about to get a lot more views my friend

Very cool. So many little things work simply if you just are open to possibilities.

A good way to feel how this works to take a fidget spinner in your hands and tilt it back and forth.

The Sidewinder is so good that even though it was designed in the 50's it will probably still be in service in the 2100's.

I have seen other videos tell me that it is a impressive piece of tech. But neve show how it works and why. This was very informative. Thank you!

This elicits visions of a junior tech spin drying a roller axle bearing. They explode with enough force to turn each roller into hardened, tumbling, ballistic projectiles.

Nothing happened, but you should have tied your hair back for that one...

I used to see Aim-9s ready to load on U.S.A.F. F-111s in England in the 1980's and the rollers were spring loaded to pop up about 3/8" freeing a pin that kept it from pivoting while the plane is flying. They were held down by a string pinned in place with a screw, and it ran across to the opposite side fin so you had an "X" of string that crossed right at the rocket motor so on launch, they were free to pivot again.

4:30 I realise you’re testing it to do what it was meant to do…YES! Great video.

I had noticed those before and always wondered what they were. Thanks!

That Was The Most Beautiful thing i have ever heard :') 3:00

A couple drops of Marvel Mystery Oil strategically placed and you'll Really hear her spin up ...

I would have tied my hair up before getting near that thing! Lol. Cool video, I had no idea this existed!

That is freakin aweoeme. And the sound too like your own jet engine

If you put that on the back of your bike could you then go at mach 2.5 without falling over?

I just about forced myself to keep watching after the massive inaccuracy at the start. That's basic stuff you got wrong there.

Sounds like that annoying thing people used to play off there phones in school (really loud high pitched noise) awesome video very interesting!! :D

When I was in the Air Force I was a 31631L missile trooper, I remember the rolleron well. We worked on AIM9s.

Excellent demonstration!

I remember rollerones when I did my weapon training when I did my aircraft trade training back in 1989, takes me back

That's an amazing piece of historical naval engineering ...my dad was a model maker on many projects at the lab that developed it.

Ok, so I'm ex USN aircrew, and normally I'd be like "...oh, you've seen/heard of some shit? Well, I've done some shit....", but this (video) is genuinely cool. I was not aware of this, or took notice before. I was not in ordnance btw, but I do enjoy boomy smashy thing,s as well as rocketry.

That is a cool bit of kit! The sound is so cool :P

This was recommended on my YT feed, and have never seen this channel before... I'm still back at a spouse knowing their partner so well to buy this for them. That is so cool!

Great video. So much better than all of those "documentary" ones.

Thanks, I finally know what those things are. And indeed quite a clever mechanism.

KZfaq wanted me to watch this video Spicy and I have to say that what you have there is very cool and interesting and very very clever I'm pretty jealous lol

This video is amazing, thank you!

What a simple yet ingenious design

besides the engineering fun, hats off to your wifey for getting you such an epic gift. shes a keeper!!!