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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2141.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 September 1960 529 WEST COAST WEEK (continued from page 527) Technical aspects of Skybolt were next described by Mr R. L.Johnson, chief engineer for missiles and space systems, who began by outlining a typical Skybolt mission. "Any well-designed ALBMsystem," he said, "will not in itself impose restrictions on the alert time of the basic aircraft system of which it is a part. Therefore,no ground operations need be performed except having the missile system equipment maintained and ready to go on theairplane. "Following aircraft take-off, and when it has been determinedthat an attack is to be made, the necessary missile system equip- ment can be activated. This equipment, together with that whichis already a part of any bomber aircraft, enables the crew to bring the carrier aircraft to the desired position for launch. At thislaunch point the necessary information is fed into the missile guidance system and the missile is released. "This is normally accomplished from level flight by droppingthe missile away and then igniting the engine after a short delay. A programmed pitch-up manoeuvre performed while the missileis accelerated out forward of the aircraft gradually places the missile on to the appropriate ballistic trajectory. "After burnout of the first stage and ignition of the secondstage the missile guidance equipment assumes control of the missile and guides it to the proper point for second-stage cut-off.Separation of the re-entry vehicle at this point places the re-entry vehicle on course for its ballistic fall to the target. "Accomplishment of the design of a system for such a missionrequires efforts in the fields of guidance, propulsion, re-entry, control and structure for the missile itself, and work on theassociated aircraft equipment and ground equipment. The all- important schedule requirements for Skybolt have dictated thateach of these areas be attacked on the basis of existing state-of-the- art without major advances being required for proper operation. "In the field of guidance the oniy new condition imposed oninertial guidance is associated with the requirement for determin- ing position and velocity at launch. While new to inertial systems,this is not new to bombing and navigation equipment designers for aircraft. Indeed, existing equipment supplies the necessary infor-mation to a Skybolt computer based upon existing knowledge. "The guidance equipment in the missile itself, having only tooperate for ranges up to 1,000 n. miles, is a much simpler task than that of guiding an ICBM over distances of 5,500 miles. Inthe field of propulsion, existing propellants and case materials of known properties need only be modified to the specific Skyboltrequirements. Engines of this size and performance are already in production. Re-entry structural and control problems are allsimilar to existing ICBM techniques but, of course, need not meet such stringent requirements as in the ICBM. The associatedground-handling equipment and ground-support electronic equipment are all based on existing Air Force equipment. "Any ALBM programme must pass through the typical pro-gramme events of system configuration determination, missile mock-up, aircraft/missile integration mock-up, engine tests,dummy drop tests, guidance sled tests, programmed flight tests, captive flight tests, and guided flight tests. On the Skybolt pro- gramme the first one was completed many months ago and wasbased not only on the specific work of Douglas and its sub- contractors but upon the background of studies and experimentallaunches which had been conducted prior to the Skybolt com- pletion. The next two milestones have been completed on Sky-bolt, with the fourth one underway with several successful engine firings completed. The remaining milestones are being approachedon schedule." Confidence that the Skybolt time schedule would be met wasvoiced also by Col L. C. Clausen of USAF Headquarters, who spoke on the military aspects of the programme. A jo.nt executivecouncil of industry and USAF representatives had been formed to ensure that the programme went smoothly and that the job wasdone on time. The United Kingdom, Col Clausen said, had been in the picture from the beginning. In addition to Douglas, the principal industry members of theSkybolt team are General Electric (re-entry vehicle), Aerojet- General (propulsion) and Nortronics division of Northrop(guidance). During the early stages of the evolution of the missile, Boeing will assist Douglas in tailoring the missile system to theB-52 aircraft. In the United Kingdom, Avro will be responsible for the Vulcan underwing pylons on which Skybolt will be carried,and for tailoring the missile's gu:dance to the Vulcan's existing navigation/bombing system. It was emphasized, however, thatthe actual Skybolts, whether fitted to American B-52s or British Vulcans, would be identical and in fact interchangeable. By 1964,it was stated, both USAF and RAF bomber squadrons would be operational with Skybolt missiles. Other news released on this occasion included the fact that itwould not be necessary for the launching aircraft to turn in the direction of the target before releasing a Skybolt missile. A largeangle between aircraft direction and line to target, however, would involve a penalty in range. Although the decision to fit Skybolts to Vulcans and not toVictors was obviously a United Kingdom Government decision, Douglas had studied the possibility of fitting the missiles to thelatter type of aircraft. These investigations had shown that the installation problems would have been more severe, mainlybecause of ground clearance. The KC135 had also been con- sidered as a Skybolt carrier; the B-58 had not, neither had theTSR.2. It was admitted that snags were possible at all stages of theprogramme, and that snags had a habit of appearing during the flight-test phases—which, as Mr Johnson had indicated, all lay inthe future. But the company's confidence that major delays were unlikely appeared soundly based on two factors: firstly, theconservative, state-of-the-art or "no inventions allowed" philo- sophy; and secondly, the "delay margin" for such snags which hadbeen assumed in the overall planning. There would be no altitude limitation on Skybolt launching,Mr Johnson said. Clearly a high-altitude launch would give superior range, but even when launched from low levels Skyboltwould remain a practical operational weapon. Convair Division of General Dynamics, San Diego. Two briefcalls were made at Convair facilities in the San Diego area on September 20, the first to the imaginatively styled plant of ConvairAstronautics on Kearny Mesa, outside the city; and secondly to the Convair plant at Lindbergh Field, the municipal airport.The 250-acre site of Convair Astronautics, and the 12,000 Some 12,000 employees work at the Kearny Mesa plant of Convair (Astronautics) Division. Right, Atlas production line at the plant
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