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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1811.PDF
FLIGHT, 6 December 1957 Missiles 1957 . . . ( U.S,A.—continued) Firestone Corporal SSM-A-17 (Above, left) Surface- to-surface. Liquid-propellant sustainer motor. Over- all height, approximately 41ft; body diameter, 30in; fin span, 84m; launching weight, 12,000 Ib; burn-out speed, Mach 3; maximum range, 50 miles. Convair Atlas SM-4S (Above, right) Surface-to- surface. Single airframe with liquid-prbpellant sus- tainer and flared base-skirt with two liquid-propellant boost motors; all chambers are fired on the ground and all have gimbal mountings. Height, approxi- mately 80ft; body diameter, about 108in (114in over flare); launching weight, more than 195,000 Ib; war- head speed, Mach 15; design range, 5,500 miles. Utica-Bend Dart SSM-A-23 Surface-to-surface. Solid (smokeless) sustainer motor. Length, approxi- mately 5ft; wing span, 50in; fin span, 36in; firing weight, about 250 Ib; cruising speed, more than 900 ft/sec; range, up to 5,000 yd. motor, subsonic cruise propulsion being pro- vided by a turbojet. Second of the major developments is theTM-61B, which has now been evolved into the TM-76 described at the end of this account.Most of the Matadors in current service are of the TM-61C variety, which incorporate addi-tional fuselage bays providing tankage for "sub- stantially longer range," which can be utilizedas a result of a new and much improved guid- ance system. The original "A" model wasguided solely by the MSQ-series of command radar guidance, introduced to control manned-aircraft operations in Korea. MSQ requires a network of ground radars to keep the missilecontinuously in view, and it can thus provide positive control only as far as the line-of-sightlimits of the last ground station. Incorporated in TM-61C is a second system, known as"Shanicle," which lays down a long-range hyperbolic grid (like Gee), the Matador beingpre-programmed to follow a required signal pattern. Unlike the MSQ system, Shanicle canhandle numerous missiles simultaneously. It has also been reported that the "Achiever"radio-inertial system developed by A.C. Spark Plug Division of General Motors has been in-corporated in certain "C" Matadors. A complete TM-61C is priced at rather morethan $60,000. This weapon has been phased- in as a replacement for the earlier "A" Mata-dor since April of this year, and it is widely used throughout the U.S.A.F., particularly inoverseas units. One of the most important of these units is the 701st Tactical Missile Wing,which comprises the 585, 586 and 587 Tactical Missile Groups based in Western Germany atBitburg, Hahn and Sembach. Once per year each squadron is deployed to Wheelus A.F.B.,Tripoli, for firing trials in the Libyan desert. Each launcher and crew get a chance to fireone round on this range, so that the wing as a whole fires 36 rounds per year. This isbacked-up by hundreds of simulated firings, in which T-33 aircraft fitted with Matador guid-ance practise the procedures of warhead arm- ing, pre-dumping and simulated dumping inresponse to non-verbal signals, both visual and oral, from the ground controllers using theMSQ system. Still more advanced and effective is thelargely redesigned TM-76 Matador in which increased gross weight is matched with asmaller wing of reduced span, giving a con- siderable advance in all-round performance.Most important is the fact that the TM-76 operates independently of ground guidance,giving greater accuracy, much higher resist- ance to countermeasures and bad weather andimproved base flexibility. The guidance system is the Goodyear Atran, which is basically aDoppler radar but also contains celestial and/or inertial elements. In February, Goodyearreceived a $1,279,496 contract to manufacture this system and a separate $l.lm was awardedin September for flight-testing. Thiokol supply the boost motor, which is manufactured bytheir Utah Division under a $709,758 contract placed in May. The Hallamore Division ofSiegler have a $1.5m contract for miniaturized autopilot magnetic amplifiers, and Firestone aredeveloping and testing TM-76 systems at their laboratories in Monterey. Announcement of the first test flight by thenew Matador was made in March last year, when it was designated TM-61B. Develop-ment was centred at Holloman A.F.B., and a complete integrated system was evolved incor-porating the launcher, prime mover, test gear and ground-handling equipment. The TM-76svstem includes a remarkable vehicle which takes the place of two separate prime movers inthe earlier Matador system. The weapon itself is mounted on a "Translauncher" made byGoodyear, which is towed by a "Terracruzer" made by the Four Wheel Drive Auto Com-pany, running on 12 balloon tyres which can be automatically inflated or deflated to suitthe terrain. Ground transport is further facili- tated by the fact that the TM-76 has foldingwings. Like earlier Matadors the TM-76 can carrya conventional or nuclear warhead. Produc- tion began a few weeks ago, and the first unitsare scheduled to convert to the TM-76 early next year. A particularly valuable feature isthat a proportion of the TM-76 production weapons are being equipped with a parachutesystem and inflatable landing air-bags, so that 901 user squadrons and research programmes canmake far more intensive use of the missile, each round being recovered, serviced and used again. Nayaho Under this name North AmericanAviation worked under contract to the U.S. Air Force for almost ten years on the ultimate formof aerodynamic cruise-type, air-breathing weapon. As the years went by the missile gotlarger and more ambitious, and the scale of the operations is revealed by the fact that the over-all programme cost $690m. Finally it became clear that the production weapon would besandwiched between the subsonic Snark and the ballistic ICBM, and the whole developmentwas cancelled three months ago—undoubtedly the biggest weapon-programme ever stopped atthe stroke of a pen. When they felt fairly sure of their ground,North American built thirteen flight-test vehicles to prove the aerodynamics and flight-control system. Designated X-10, these were impressive delta-winged devices, with a canardfore-plane and twin afterburning turbojet engines—initially Westinghouse J40s and laterPratt and Whitney J57s. Operating from Edwards A.F.B. from 1952 onwards, the X-lOsflew faster than any previous turbojet-propelled vehicle, establishing level speeds betweenM = 2.1 and 2.3. In spite of their flashing per- formance they were equipped with landinggear and a braking parachute, and were landed "dead stick" at about 250 m.p.h. The firstX-10 flew eight times and is now in the U.S.A.F. museum. Progressive improvements in configurationwith the X-lOs were carried across to the next stage, bearing the company number G-26 andthe U.S.A.F. designation XSM-64. With this vehicle a switch was made to ramjet propul-sion. Take off was effected vertically, the basic G-26 being attached by pylons to a large rocketboost package comprising two 135,000-lb barrels mounted at the rear end of a stream-lined tank for liquid oxygen and kerosine. Twelve XSM-64s were manufactured, and thefirst was launched just a year ago. For many months the XSM-64 flight-testprogramme was dogged by misfortune. The first flight aborted at 9,000ft following thefailure of a rate-gyro. The second, fired in March, carried off part of its launcher; thisimposed unscheduled stresses until air loads finally tore the offending portion away, butboost separation took place correctly and the flight was only terminated by loss of thrustwhen the piece of launcher finally departed. In the same month the third round was fired,and a "wild" signal from within the missile cut the boost motor after 25 seconds and themissile and boost fell into the Atlantic. On the fourth firing the boost unit kept burning for42 seconds but the ramjets still did not ignite, even though the maximum speed reached wasMach 1.6. Not until August 12 was a success- ful mission accomplished and on this occasionthe limits reached were a speed greater than Mach 3, an altitude greater than 75,000ft anda horizontal distance of 350 miles (possibly the ramjet tankage was only partly filled). Insteadof television, North American employed colour film in six airborne cameras recovered at theend of the mission. The final weapon has never been fired.Bearing the company number G-28 and the U.S.A.F. designation SM-64A, it forms part ofWeapon System 104 and marks the end of an epoch of missiles and piloted aeroplanes whichfly to their target through the atmosphere at an approximately constant altitude. The SM-64Awould have had a body as big as a B-47, fabric- ated from a wide variety of advanced materialsincluding titanium alloys and bonded metal honeycombs. It was while working on thisweapon system that North American evolved the process of chemical (etch) milling in 1953. Like the G-26. the ultimate Navaho wouldhave been launched vertically while riding pick- a-back on a huge boost package developed bythe company's Rocketdyne Division. The final boost design specified a single chamber of400,000 lb thrust, but those actually constructed were equipped with three chambers, each of135,000 lb thrust, supplied with alcohol and liquid oxygen for 45 seconds in order to reachthe ramjet ignition speed of more than Mach 1.8. The ramjets themselves were of the mag-nificent RJ47 variety developed by Curtiss- Wright and fabricated by the T. R. Finn Com-pany. Each unit had a diameter of 48in and
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