American Guided Missiles - Bureau of Aeronautics Missiles

American Projectiles and Explosives



Missiles

Bureau of Aeronautics Missiles

"Little Joe" 650-pound Surface-to-Air Missile

Overall length: 8 feet 6 inches
Span: 4 feet 9 inches

Total weight (4 rockets): 591 pounds
Total weight (6 rockets): 651 pounds

Warhead: 100-pound G.P. Bomb AN-M30


General: "Little Joe" is a short-range (10,000 foot) radio-controlled, flare-sighted anti-aircraft missile with a 100-pound G.P. warhead, launched from a shipboard catapult with the aid of standard rockets.  A Canard-type airframe with cruciform wing and bow plane, it was designed to intercept Baka-type bombs and suicide planes.  The missile is powered by a JATO unit.

The missile would be launched from a catapult 20 feet long mounted in a 40mm gun position.  It would attain a velocity of 300 to 400 mph after two seconds.


Control: By observing the flare track, the launcher guides the missile to its target with radio signals sent to the receiver in "Little Joe".  The AN/ARW-17 receiver actuates signals which, in turn, operate the servo mechanisms to position the control surfaces.  A gyro system provides the stability.


Propulsion: An 8AS1000 E JATO unit serves as the main propulsive motor.  This unit weighs 139 pounds and contains about 75 pounds of Galcit propellant.  It delivers 1,000 pounds of thrust for eight seconds.


Four or six 3.25-inch Aircraft Rocket Motors Mk 7 are used to assist in launching.


Warhead: The 100-pound bomb has only the V.T. fuze.







1,400-pound "Lark" Ship-to-Air Missile

Overall length: 12 feet 6 inches
Wing span: 6 feet 2 inches
Tail span: 4 feet
Total weight: 1,361 pounds

Warhead: Undetermined; probably a specially designed fragmentation head.


General: The "Lark" is launched from a shipboard catapult for attacking high-altitude bombers.  It has cruciform wings and tail surfaces, the tail surfaces being offset 45 degrees from the wings, and is powered by two liquid-fuel rocket motors, one continuous and one intermittent.  It is radio-controlled in the first part of its flight, its position determined by the launching ship's radar.  When it comes within radar homing range of the target, the homing mechanism takes control.

It is launched at 150mph from a multiple-charge shipboard catapult by means of two 12AS1000 F JATO units which are jettisoned after exhaustion.  With a range of 80,000 yards, an optimum ceiling of 30,000 feet, and a rate of climb of 8,200 feet per minute, it may develop a maximum speed of 650 mph.  Designed strength permits a maximum lateral acceleration of 4g.  Slant range is estimated to be 45 miles, with time of flight of about five minutes.


Control: By use of the ship radar intelligence, radio control will maintain the missile in the center of the tracking radar beam during the initial phase of flight.  When the range of the automatic homing radar is reached, it will take over and navigate a collision course with the target.  Both remote radio control and radar homing devices are connected to control surfaces by servo mechanisms.  It is gyro-stabilized for roll, with a yaw angle-of-attack indicator.


Propulsion: Two acid-aniline liquid rocket motors furnish the propulsion.  One 200-pound thrust continuous rocket is augmented by a 400-pound thrust intermittent motor.  The latter is governed by a Mach Number meter so that a more or less constant speed is maintained.  Both rockets total about 75 pounds in weight and have a supply of 490 pounds of fuel.  The two 12AS1000 F JATO units are used to assist launching and are jettisoned after exhaustion.


Warhead: The proposed warhead is a fragmentation type of explosive activated by a fuse to be fired electrically or on impact.










1,700-pound "Gorgon IIC" Ship-to-Surface Missile

Overall length: 18 feet
Wing span: 11 feet
Total weight: 1,688 pounds

Warhead:
-1,000-lb G.P. Bomb AN-M65
-500-lb G.P. Bomb AN-M64


General: The "Gorgon IIC" is a radar-radio controlled, resojet-powered, Canard-type airframe carrying a 500- or 1,000-pound G.P. bomb.  Launched from a catapult, it has a range of 90 miles and a ceiling of 8,000 to 10,000 feet.  It is designed mainly for ship-to-shore round-the-clock area bombardment with an expected dispersion of one mile at maximum range.  It is radio-controlled and radar-tracked.  Launched from a 150-foot, multiple-charge type, level catapult, giving the missile an initial velocity of 240 mph, the "Gorgon IIC" has a rate of climb of 600 feet per minute, and reaches an impact speed of 450 mph.  Its radius of turn is 10,000 feet.


Control: Intelligence on the target area is provided by AN/APN-33 A1 radar, range 70 miles.  Radio control of the missile is accomplished by the receiver AN/ARW-17 (for combat the AN/ARW-37 is proposed) which has a range of 70 to 100 miles.  Radio signals from this receiver actuate servo controls which maneuver the missile.  A gyro system applies stability.


Propulsion: A resojet, of 14-inch by 10-inch diameter and 9 feet long, provides 200 pounds of thrust for 10 to 20 minutes on 174 pounds of gasoline.  Specific impulse is 1,030 pound-seconds per pound.


Warhead: The bomb is held in its cradle by two bands.  Installation of the Fuzes Mk 235 and Mk 236 is standard.










1,600-pound  LBD-1 "Gargoyle" Air-to-Surface Missile

Overall length: 10 feet
Wing span: 8 and 1/2 feet
Total weight: 1,646 pounds

Warhead:
-1,000-lb S.A.P. Bomb AN-M59 or
-1,000-lb G.P. Bomb AN-M65


General: The "Gargoyle" is a JATO-powered glide bomb with radio control and flare observation.  It is designed for launching from carrier aircraft against maneuvering targets on the surface, visibility permitting.  Launching should be at a speed of 200 mph to avoid stalling the missile.  It has a range of 26,000 feet in a 30 degree dive if launched from the optimum altitude of 15,000 feet.  Speed of the parent aircraft is reduced 10 mph and the take-off distance is increased 15 to 80 feet, but maneuverability is not greatly affected.  The missile has a turning radius of 2,550 feet, and is designed for a lateral acceleration of 4g's.  Top speed: 600 mph.


Control: On the V-tail, control is pitch is accomplished by "rudavators" working together; control to left and right is accomplished by the rudavators working individually.  These control surfaces are positioned by servo motors which take their signal from the radio receiver.  The receiver, AN/ARW-17 (the AN/ARW-37 is proposed for combat) weighs 20 pounds and has an estimated range of about 28 miles, depending on the antenna employed.  Weight of servo system: 125.6 pounds.


Power: A standard 8AS1000 JATO unit, weighing 150 pounds, provides a propulsive thrust of 1,000 pounds for eight seconds.  The fuel is 80 pounds of solid Galcit 63C propellant contained in a 9 and 1/2 by 28 and 7/8 inch casing.

Suspension: Exact specifications are not now available; but in test drops D-6 shackle and sway braces were employed.  When the G.P. bomb is used, two steel straps 1/16 inch by 1/2 inch through the suspension lugs on the bomb hold it to the cradle.  If the S.A.P. bomb is loaded, a strap through the single British suspension lug is used; also, an adapter block is placed in the cradle to provide a snug fit for the smaller diameter of the S.A.P. bomb.


Warhead: The proposed warhead is a fragmentation type of explosive activated by a fuse to be fired electrically or on impact.

Next Time: A.A.F Missiles

American Guided Missiles - Introduction & Bureau of Ordnance Missiles

American Projectiles and Explosives



Missiles

Introduction

General

One of the newest trends [c.1947] in American ordnance development, guided missiles became service items in the last months of World War II.  Guidance was applied to modified bombs, winged glide bombs, and standard aircraft, and in jet- and rocket-propelled airframes.

Guided missiles have great range, high payload capacity, and extreme accuracy; and their progress in designed has proceeded so rapidly that on only a few items has the design become standardized or "frozen".  All the missiles included here were at least in the testing stage and were being pursued as active projects at the time of writing.  Furthermore, only those missiles designed for combat or military purposes - none of the basic research items - are included; and, of these, only their ordnance components can be described in detail.


Guidance

American missiles are usually guided by remote radio control, the receiver in the missile acting through servo units to position the air foils.



Intelligence

The person controlling the flight of the missile will guide its path on the basis of information obtained visually, through a television receiver, or by ordinary radar tracking.  Some missiles have automatic guidance features, of such a nature that, once the target has been "shown" to the missile's intelligence unit, it will automatically "home on" to its destination unassisted.



Propulsion

Depending on the particular item, a missile may be powered by gravity, aircraft, engines, JATO units, rocket motors, or jet motors.



Warheads

Thus far, guided missiles have adapted standard bombs as their explosive payloads.  Fuzing of these bombs differs from the standard fuzes in that the fuzes must be made in an elbow shape, in order to fit in the fuze pockets and, at the same time, permit vane arming.



Cognizance

For the Navy, the Bureau of Ordnance and the Bureau of Aeronautics are developing guided missiles; for the Army, the Air Forces are in charge of the program.






Bureau of Ordnance Missiles

1,200-pound "Dove" Bomb Mk 64 (Air-to-Surface Missile)

Overall length: 84.5 inches
Overall diameter: 18.75 inches

Weight of intelligence units and special tail: 183 pounds
Warhead (1,000-pound G.P. Bomb AN-M65): 975 pounds

Total weight: 1,160 pounds



General: The Bomb Mk 64 is an experimental heat-homing bomb, consisting of a detecting, computing, and guiding mechanism housed in a nose attachment fitted on the 1,000-pound G.P. Bomb AN-M65.  It is designed for attack on maneuvering targets and is effectively employed in both high-angle and dive-bombing runs against objects which have sufficient thermal contrast to their background.

"Dove" is designed to fit the normal plane stowage, but carrying capacity is sometimes reduced because of the missile's increased length.  The special Bomb Fin Mk 1 is a box-kite shape and eight inches longer than the standard tail for this bomb.


Control: Aerodynamic control is effected in range and azimuth by means of four movable nose deflectors independently controlled, which thus form quadrants of a cylindrical surface whose axis is parallel to that of the bomb.  The deflectors may be extended a maximum distance of 4 and 1/2 inches.  The movement of the deflectors is determined by the intelligence unit, which consists of the heat-detecting eye, gyro system, auxiliary electronic relays, servo motors, and battery.







1,600-pound "Bat" S.W.O.D. Mk 9 (Air-to-Surface Missile)

Overall length: 11.9 inches
Wing span: 10 feet
Total weight: 1,600 pounds
Warhead: 1,000-pound G.P. Bomb AN-M65


General: S.W.O.D. (Special Weapons Ordnance Device) Mk 9, or "Bat", is a glide bomb equipped with a radar homing set mounted in the nose.  It is designed primarily for attacking marine targets, and is effective for night or day attacks upon shipping in any weather in which the parent plane can fly.  The launching planes need not stay in the vicinity of the target, and may release as many as four of these missiles in salvo.

The airframe consists of plywood sections which are fitted around the Bomb AN-M65.  Control surfaces consists of an elevon on each wing which can be moved to control pitch or bank.  There are no control surfaces on the tail.

To ensure destruction of the intelligence system, the Demolition System Mk 122 is used.

Installation of the Fuzes Mk 235 and Mk 236, with their outside windmills and flexible arming stems, is standard.


Control: This missile has its own radar transmitter and receiver.  When the target is located on the scope of the monitor unit in the plane, it is put into the range step of the missile's scope and is automatically kept there.  At the correct instant, determined by a glide ratio scale, the missile is released and is guided to its target by the radar signal in its own scope.  The guiding radar supplies corrections to the servo system, which is also controlled by a gyro pilot, the device which maintains flight attitude.


Suspension: Standard bomb lugs are employed on the airframe.  Also, there is the multi-conductor cable connecting the missile's radar with the monitor set in the plane, known as the umbilical cord.


Demolition System: This destructor assembly consists of the S-122-11G switch, Junction Box Mk 1 Mod 0, primacord connectors, and ten Demolition Charges Mk 4.  The S-122-11G switch incorporates an inertia weight, held by a spring tension of 11G, which will topple if that force is exceeded in an impact.  When this inertia weight topples (it is mounted on a universal pivot) the contact bar, which has been transmitting the spring tension to the inertia weight, rotates because of the spring load and completes the electrical circuit across the contacts.  This switch has an arming stem, connected to windmill vanes mounted on the outside of the missile fuselage, which unscrews to arm the switch.  These vanes have an arming wire to prevent rotation before release from the parent aircraft.  On one side of the switch is a clear plastic inspection port.  Tension on the spring is pre-set at 11g when the switch is assembled at the factory.

When the switch completes the circuit, current from the battery sets off the electric blasting cap in the junction box, which fires the primacord connectors and then the TNT blocks, placed around the intelligence unit.


Remarks: The S.W.O.D. Mk 9 is commonly known as "the 1,000-pound Bat".  The S.W.O.D. Mk 10, built around a 2,000-pound bomb is not being actively developed, because it is felt that the 1,000-pound size is large enough for currently projected use.

Next Time: Bureau of Aeronautics Missiles