Website of the Documentary Film

"Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines"

Two North American turbojet-powered missiles developed to serve as nuclear deterrants during the Cold War were the Navaho Program's X-10 shown on the famed Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida (above) and the AGM-77 Hound Dog air-to-ground missile shown mounted on the launch pylon of a B-52 (below). (Photo of Houndog from Wings and Airpower historical archive; top photo courtesy of William F. Gibson via Tony Accurso).

Winged Missiles of the

U.S. Air Force -- continued

Rising from the Navaho Trail

Combining nearly every aspect of the aforementioned missile programs was North American's novel X-10/Navaho. Divided into two major phases, the Mach 2 X-10 turbojet-powered ground take-off and landing test aircraft; and Mach 3 XSM-64/G-26 rocket-boosted ramjet Navaho, this program was perhaps the boldest and most ambitious of them all. Originally designated as the B-64, the Navaho was to be, like the SNARK before it, an interim step in strategic ballistic missile weaponry designed for use before fully-tested and operationally-ready ICBMs came on line with SAC.

Unlike most of the other missile programs, the Navaho was flown in two different locations on either coast of the U.S. In its first iteration as a delta-winged twin-jet test aircraft, the X-10 version was operated on its retractable landing gear off the South end of famed Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB beginning with its first remote-controlled flight on October 14, 1953. Fourteen more flights followed over the course of the next year-and-a-half, and although many challenging test objectives were achieved during this phase of the program, four of the five X-10s flown were lost in accidents. Oddly enough, only Ship One survived and is now on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.

The next step was flying the X-10 at Cape Canaveral with eight more vehicles in preparation for the rocket-boosted G-26 missions, and a total of fifteen flights were accomplished operating off the noted 'Skid Strip' used earlier in the SNARK program. Achievements during this phase included highly-successful flights with the full auto-navigation N-6A guidance system and the first flight of a turbojet-powered aircraft to a speed in excess of Mach 2 on February 29, 1956. Between September 1958 and January 1959, the final three X-10 aircraft were flown as high-speed target drones for the BOMARC IM-99 Program.

Finally, in November 1956, vertically-launched rocket-boosted flights of the G-26, also known as the XSM-64 or experimental test version of the SM-64 strategic missile, commenced. Getting off to a less-than-perfect start, the first launch ended in disaster when the vehicle began uncontrollable pitch oscillations and then disintegrated inflight. Several successive launches were highly successful, however, and a max. speed of Mach 3.5 (2,250 mph) was attained by the sixth Navaho on September 18, 1957 ­ most appropriately on the tenth anniversary of the Air Force as a separate service.

Of the twelve operational G-26 Navahos built, eleven were launched from the Cape's Pad 9 complex during testing from 1956 to 1958, with that phase of the program culminating in two unsuccessful launches for Project RISE (Research In the Supersonic Environment). The twelfth and only surviving Navaho is now proudly displayed on its booster as a gate guard at the main entrance to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a proper and fitting tribute to the proud crews who manned and flew this highly-advanced strategic missile.

MACE: The Closing Chapter

An outgrowth of the well-established TM-61 Matador, the Martin Mace brought the clear advantages of internal guidance and a 1,200-mile range to the deterrent force. The early Mace 'A' employed an ATRAN guidance system (Automatic Terrain Recognition And Navigation), utilizing a unique map-matching technique similar to the satellite-generated terrain mapping systems used in today's cruise missiles. Five feet longer and 5,000 lbs. heavier than the Matador, the Mace was powered by an uprated Allison J33 turbojet capable of producing 5,200 lbs. of thrust, while its Thiokol solid fuel booster rocket produced 100,000 lbs. of thrust compared to the Matador's 57,000-lb. Aerojet booster. Fuselage diameter of bothmissiles was approximately the same.

The more advanced TM-76 Mace 'B' (also known as the MGM-13 for Mobile Launched Ground Attack Missile and CGM-13 for Semi-Hardened Launched Ground Attack Missile) utilized an advanced and jam-proof inertial guidance system similar to those in the newest Air Force tactical jet fighters being brought into operational service. The Mace 'B' also had an extended range of up to 1,400 miles, and could operate successfully at altitudes of anywhere from less than 1,000 ft. to more than 40,000 ft.

Being deployed with Tactical Air Command units overseas until 1969, the Mace holds the record of having the longest operational service of any Air Force tactical winged missile. Stationed with operational units of the 38th Tactical Missile Wing, the Mace effectively maintained a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week alert shield able to reach over the Red Curtain of Soviet Bloc nations with missiles stationed at Hahn, Sembach, and Bitburg Air Bases in West Germany, and Kadena Air Base Okinawa. The 38th TMW has the distinction of having maintained both the Mace 'A' and older Matador systems through 1966, and then the advance Mace 'B' until April 1969.

In what has to be one of the most dramatic examples of beating swords into plowshares, the eight-bay bomb-proof Mace 'B' launch complex once operated by the 498th Tactical Missile Group at Kadena, Okinawa (now Japan) has been converted into a Buddhist Temple complete with shrubbery and statues festooned on the concrete structure's massive facade.

Was it all Worth It?

While the Matador, BOMARC, and Mace became long-serving operational missiles, the SNARK and Navaho did not. Yet, like many aircraft of that time period, their ultimate success or failure has to be judged in a much larger frame of reference than just operational performance, or lack thereof. Like the XF-88, XF-92, and XF-91 ­ often considered 'failures' from a technological point of view - the SNARK and Navaho suffered more than their share of setbacks. In the broader context of aviation progress, however, the picture changes somewhat dramatically. The underpowered McDonnell XF-88 became the progenitor of a family of jets leading up to the legendary F-4 Phantom. Convair's tubby little XF-92 pioneered high-speed delta wing design from which evolved the elegant Mach 2 F-106 and B-58. Many elements of Republic's XF-91 could be seen years later in the rugged F-105.

Similarly, although the winged missiles might not have been the ultimate success all had hoped for, there were downstream benefits. The SNARK gave us new flight-proven technology in guidance and navigation plus a host of other advanced airborne electronic and optical systems that wound up in the Mach 3 Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The Navaho proved the worth of inertial auto-navigation which worked its way into the Mach 3 XB-70, the A3J Vigilante carrier-based Navy bomber, and the USS Nautilus nuclear submarine for its epic under-the-ice voyage to the North Pole. The G-26 booster's rocket engine became the powerplant for the mighty Redstone rockets that launched America's first satellite, Explorer I, and the pioneering manned Mercury flights of Alan B. Shepard and Gus Grissom.

We must also remember that these missiles were all designed and flown during a time of tremendous experimentation and innovation in this great country of ours. It was a time of taking big chances and of suffering big failures, but it was also a time of making great progress by learning from those failures and persevering to achieve even higher goals. From a historical perspective, one can only surmise that the missiles which formed America's giant protective umbrella of potential nuclear first strike capability and accompanying retaliatory deterrent worked magnificently, if for no other reason than the simple fact that they never had to be used.

Mike Machat is the Editor and Publisher of Wings and Airpower Magazines, and a famed aviation artist. Historian Tony Accurso works at Edwards Air Force Base.

The authors would like to thank the following people for their dedicated support throughout this project, without which, this article would simply not have been possible. Our sincere thanks and appreciation to Mark Cleary, 45th Space Wing Historian for his photographic and data acquisition; 45th Space Wing Public Affairs Office and Photo Lab; MSgt Guy Volb for an unforgettable Cape Canaveral tour; John Hilliard for Cape Tour and photo support; James Gibson and William F. Gibson for their generous photo contribution; Chuck Cooksey of Airfield Management for Skid Strip access; and Bob Graveline for Snark Program information and support. Special thanks to Marlene Dawn and Evelyn Accurso.

This story is dedicated to the proud Missileers,

past and present, for their years of devoted service

to the United States of America.

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