ROCKET MISSILE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 52, 11 July 1947, Page 7

ROCKET MISSILE

“STOOGE” A POTENT WEAPON RADIO-CONTROLLED FROM GROUND

The first British pilotless radiocontrolled rocket missile has successfully completed its flight trials and has been brought to a stage of development where a controller on the ground can direct it at will to any spot or against any aircraft within range. Designed originally as a countermeasure to the Japanese “suicide bomber,” it is now a potent weapon for defence or offence, j The guided missile has been designed and developed by the Fairey Aviation Company, to which the Ministry of Supply gave a contract during the closing stages of the war in the Pacific. It was ready within seven months, I but when Japan surrendered there was no urgent need for production, I and the Ministry asked the Fairey Company to continue research. A series of flight tests was carried out off the coast of Cardiganshire at j Aberporth, and after initial difficulties they proved extremely successful.

The missile weighs only 7381b5. and can be assembled by four men in less than a minute and a half. Resembles Monoplane The Fairey guided missile resembles an orthodox monoplane. The cylindrical fuselage is almost feet in length and just over a foot in diameter. The square-tipped wings span 6 feet 10 inches, and on the missiles used for the trials small observation flares were carried at the wing extremities. The airframe is made of dural and mild steel, but the rectangular tail j fin, which contains the radio aerial, is of plastic. The control surfaces consist of ailerons and elevators only, tests having shown that a rudder is unnecessary. Propulsive power for the prototype was a main motor assembly comprising four five-inch rockets, the thrust and endurance of which are dependent upon the amount of charge installed and upon the size of the venturi orifices.

Maximum Speed To assist take-off four booster rockets of standard three-inch A.A. pattern are fitted externally in pairs on each side of the fuselage. The combined thrust of these boosters is 5600 pounds, developed during a total burning time of 1.6 seconds, after which they are jettisoned by means of small black-powder charges. .

When four 75-pound thrust rockets are used the maximum speed of the guided missile is far in excess of 500 miles an hour. Smaller rockets of 40 pounds each give a top speed of 350 miles per hour. The Fairey missile used for the trials, which had three-inch booster rockets to aid take-off, attained a velocity of 267 miles per hour within two minutes of firing. Control of the missile is exercised by the operator from a static site by moving a “joy-stick” or control column, mounted on a control box.

The Fairey guided missile, which has been nicknamed the “Stooge,” is stressed to withstand seven “G”

(seven times the force of gravity). All the equipment for its controlled flight is carried internally.

For take-off the missile is mounted on the rails of a 10-foot ramp o: light tubular construction, the elevation of which can be adjusted between zero and 45 degrees. No control is exercised by the operator until the boosters have been jettisoned, when remote control of the elevators becomes possible.