The task of the sixth formers was to design and build a safe and stable model rocket and use it to lift a fragile load (two eggs) and return it to ground undamaged.

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The team – Ashley Smith, Robin Turnbull, Ben Turner and Leo Nicholls – qualified for the final at Charterhouse School in Surrey by virtue of their rocket trials on Baildon Moor.

But on the day of the competion all flights were grounded by foul weather. So instead the rocket teams had to give a presentation to the judges of UK Aerospace Youth Rocketry Challenge.

Physics teacher David Mulvaney, who oversaw the project, said: "Points were awarded for the qualification flight and for the presentation and I think the talk was the deciding factor. Our boys really knew what they were talking about.

"It was entirely a student-led project.

"They are a fantastic bunch of lads, very bright, and are studying maths and physics for A level. They each had something different to offer to the team."

They won £1,000 for their school which will pay off the costs of the rocket project and go towards next year's entry. And they won a trip for two teachers and four students to the United States in May.

They will visit the aerospace museum in Washington and watch the finals of the US rocket competition.

Then they will have a fly-off with the American winners at Farnborough Air Show in July.

The Horsforth rocket is a carboard tube which is fired by gunpowder. "It's the equivalent of having four big fireworks in it," he explained.

"It reached a height of 721ft in our trials and blew off the nose cone to release a parachute which brought it safely down to earth. We had to do it well away from Leeds/Bradford Airport because it could have interferred with air traffic!

"All the rockets entered looked very similar but ours was one of the longest at one metre. The length is the key factor. If it is too short, it will be unstable and will wobble.

"Some schools put fins in their rockets which look great but unfortunately make them fly all over the place. You can fine-tune your rocket by adding weights to it."