This report describes a new method for obtaining the low incidence, linear aerodynamic data for a missile from very simple free flight trials on a gas gun range. The only instrumentation in the free flight model is two flashing lights, one in the nose and one in the tail. The images of these flashing lights are recorded by three ballistic cameras and the positions of the lights can then be calculated very accurately by a least squares solution of the resulting triangulation problem. The velocity of the centre of gravity and the attitude of the vehicle can be estimated from the position measurements for the nose and the tail. A parameter estimation technique using the output error criterion is applied to the attitude and velocity data to obtain aerodynamic terms. The method has been used successfully to estimate axial force, normal force, static stability and pitch damping moment for the test vehicle.
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