When the Matidor, Mace and Snark were being developed there were a few problems along the way. Transitioning from Rocket Assisted Takeoff(RATO/Jato) to turbine power being less than reliable... A sign over the bunker of the Mace operations at Cape Canaveral said: "Beware of Snark Infested Waters" ...with good reason. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Good one DD! After the TM61-C was phased out I went into the TM76-B program. The improvement in guidance changed the pointy-nose to a 'l-o-n-g' probiscus with a rounded nose cone. I was an instructor statoned at Lowry AFB my full tour. My supervisor was a SMsgt who flew P-40's in WW-2 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
The J-33 powered 61-C (Matidor)/76-B (Mace) series had glued/laminated wings built around a honeycomb inner structure. Yaw was controlled by pop-up spoilers in the wings. Fail-safe for errant missiles was a primacord (detcord) laid in a channel under one wing, that would "cut" the underside skin at the wing root and collapse the wing... bringing the lumbering bird down. My boss told of a tour in Tripoli when they had a practice launch where control was lost of a Matidor that errantly circled round-and-round over Tripoli and out over the sea. The destruct would not activate, so they had fighters attempt a shoot-down. Just kept on making the huge-lazy circle. Bugger would not come down and it finally ran out of fuel. Luckily, it splashed-down at sea <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> ...So much for thechnology <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Paul; that's the way it is suppsoed to work... why should you be any different from the rest of us <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
