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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1602.PDF
J A superb portrait of an Avro Vulcan B.2 of RAF Bomber Command armed with an Avro Blue Steel missile MISSILES 1961 Air-to- Surface BLUE STEEL Strategic rocket-propelled cruise missile ROYAL AIR FORCE DURING the past four years the Weapons Research Division of A. V. Roe & Company Ltd, at Woodford, Cheshire, have held the prime contract for this "stand-off bomb," which is designed to be carried by V-bombers to improve their penetrative ability and enable them to deter for several years longer. Possibly influenced by the unsuccessful GAM-63 Rascal, its designers have produced a canard with delta aerodynamic surfaces and a fat body housing liquid propellants for a rocket powerplant. The airframe is largely of stain- less-steel honeycomb, which may well permit supersonic speeds to be maintained at low altitudes. Propulsion is provided by a Bristol Siddeley Stentor, fed by turbopump with HTP and kerosine. This engine has super- imposed thrust chambers of unequal size, with sea-level ratings estimated to be approxi- mately 16,0001b and 4,0001b. Carrier aircraft are the Victor B.2 and Vulcan B.2, each of which can carry a single Blue Steel beneath the centreline. Chief contractor for missile guidance is Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd, and the system is at least partly of an inertial nature. The bomber carries an AEI digital mission com- puter, and its navigation and fire-control systems are linked to the missile up to the moment of release. Blue Steel need not fly a direct course, and may also make sudden changes in altitude or take evasive action. Manoeuvres are effected by twist-and-steer, the missile being rolled by ailerons on the trailing edge of the wing and then pulled round in a turn by the foreplanes. Directional con- trol is provided by a dorsal fin and rudder, and a larger ventral fin which folds to port to provide adequate ground clearance beneath the aircraft. At the recent SB AC Show the prime con- tractor, ML Aviation, and No 4 Joint Services Trials Unit (based at Woodford) jointly displayed the ground-handling system. Blue Steel is carried on a vehicle based on the AEC Matador chassis, incorporating gear remi- niscent of lifeboat davits for lowering the missile on to its hydraulic loading trolley. The latter holds it close to the ground, and incorporates front and rear cradles for lifting the missile up against the crutch pads of the carrier aircraft. Operational service is scheduled for 1962. BULLPUP Radio-command tactical missile us NAVY (AirISurface Missile N-7), us AIR FORCE Guided Air Missile S3) ORIGINALLY the Navy's Bullpup was little more than a 2501b bomb fitted with propulsion and a command control system, developed to enable small carrier-based aircraft to achieve pinpoint accuracy against heavily defended ground targets. So effective and popular has the missile become that Martin's Orlando Division are developing a range of larger and more effective weapons. Details of the first-generation N-7 have been given in our previous reviews, and data are given in Table 3. These missiles are fired by all kinds of aircraft, from the Navy HUS-1 helicopter to the 1,400 m.p.h. F-105 of Tactical Air Command. Recent improvements have led to the Navy N-7A (improved h.e. warhead, extended-range control and pre- packed liquid motor) and Air Force GAM- 83A (modified radio command to permit firing from an offset position). A TGAM-83 trainer version is also in use. Development is now centred upon the Bull- pup B, or N-7B, for the Navy. This version has interchangeable nuclear or conventional warheads, a further improved guidance system, a fatter body to house the larger motor and warhead, and enlarged wings to handle the greater weight. Intensive trials are being flown by Grumman A2Fs (five missiles) and Douglas A4Ds (three), and second-source production by Maxson Electronics is to begin in 1963. A different, nuclear-head GAM-83B version is being developed for the Air Force. HOUND DOG Strategic turbojet-propelled cruise missile us AIR FORCE (Weapon System 13IB, Guided Air Missile 77) WHEN the vast WS-104 (SM-64) Navaho programme was cancelled in 1957 the vacuum left at North American Aviation's Missile Division (now Space and Information Systems Division) at Downey, California, was filled by award of the prime contract for the develop- ment of WS-131B. This was to be a long- range missile which could be carried by the heavy bombers of Strategic Air Command and used to deliver nuclear payloads against major targets. The need for such a missile was accentuated by the steady improvement in the ability of the potential enemy to destroy manned aircraft. Penetrative capability of SAC's earlier missile, the rocket-propelled Rascal, was inadequate. North American had to develop a vehicle able to cruise at high supersonic speed over a range of 500 miles, with minimum penalty incurred by cruising at various heights down to sea level. Six months after receiving the contract in August 1957, NAA had built a mock-up missile, revealing a canard (tailplane-first) configuration, delta wing, slender body and underslung Pratt & Whitney J52 turbojet. The latter, fed by kerosine occupying most of the fuselage, has a plug-type nozzb and a fully variable multi-shock intake with a centre- body cone positioned by a Marquardt control system. Sole carrier of GAM-77 and the improved GAM-77A Hound Dog is the Boeing B-52G, which has pylons for a missile beneath each wing. When released from the bomber the missile knows how to reach its target without external assistance, notwithstanding the fact that it may be programmed to swoop "under the radar," climb to extreme altitudes before diving almost vertically On to its target, or fly zig-zag courses. Guidance, by the prime contractor's Autonetics Division, is monitored by an automatic star-tracker, which feeds position information into the inertial auto- navigator and Verdan digital computer. Missile manoeuvre is by twist-and-steer, with ailerons, foreplane and rudder. Flight testing has been based at the Eglin Gulf Test Range, although some Hound Dogs (including one which before launch had been carried on a non-stop 10,800-mile flight over the North Pole) have been successfully fired down the Atlantic Missile Range. The first powered example flew in April 1959, and the first production GAM-77 followed in March 1960. During the latter month the 4135th SAC Wing was equipped with the missile, and the 4241st and other Wings have since become operational. Deliveries to SAC of the GAM-77A are about to begin. NORD 5110 (AS.20) Radio-command tactical missile FRENCH AIR FORCE, FRENCH NAVY, FEDERAL GERMAN AIR FORCE, ITALIAN AIR FORCE (Air/Surface Missile 20) DERIVED directly from the Nord 5103 (AA.20), the AS.20 is limited in employment by the fact that it must be steered to its target by an operator in the launch aircraft, who must keep the missile and target aligned visu- ally up to the moment of impact. Its advan- tages are that the overall system is relatively cheap and simple, can be readily applied to any military aeroplane and can be used against almost any kind of target on the surface or in
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