Project Gorgon
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name = Gorgon
| image = KUM-1 or PTV-N-2 Gorgon IV.jpg
| caption = PTV-N-2 Gorgon IV in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
| image_size = 300
| origin = United States
| type = Ground-to-ground missile
| is_missile = y
| designer = United States
| design_date = 1943
| production_date = from 1943 to 1953
}}
File:US Navy Gorgon IIA missile in 1947.jpg
File:US Navy TD2N-1 target drone in 1947.jpg
File:US Navy KU3N-2 Gorgon IIIC missile in 1947.jpg
The Gorgon missile family was a series of experimental air-to-air, air-to-surface, and surface-to-surface missiles developed by the United States Navy's Naval Aircraft Modification Unit between 1943 and 1953. The immaturity of the technology involved meant that none of the Gorgon missiles achieved operational service, however they were extensively used in the development of guided missile controls and guidance technologies.
History
In the late 1930s, then-Commander Delmer S. Fahrney proposed that an "aerial torpedo" be developed for the purpose of intercepting bomber aircraft; while in 1940 the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics investigated the concept, it was only in May 1943, with the advent of practical jet and rocket engines, that the United States Navy initiated the Gorgon missile program, headquartered at the Naval Aircraft Modification Unit (later Naval Air Development Station) in Pennsylvania.Parsch 2005
The original design for Gorgon called for a turbojet-powered missile of approximately {{convert|660|lb}}, capable of reaching {{convert|510|mph|abbr=on}} and intended for use in destroying bombers or transport aircraft. Several guidance options were considered, including television guidance using a camera in the missile's nose and steering commands sent via radio, active radar homing, or infrared homing. As 1943 progressed the Gorgon project diversified, and in October 1943 aerodynamic studies and delays in the development of suitable small turbojet engines led to the decision being made to trial two different designs:Ordway and Wakeford 1960, p.181. the Gorgon II, with a canard configuration, and the Gorgon III, configured as a small conventional aircraft. Each would be equipped with three different engine types; the 'A' model would be rocket-powered; 'B' powered by a turbojet engine, and 'C' would be equipped with a pulsejet engine. Neither Gorgon IIB or Gorgon IIIB would be built due to limitations of turbojet technology – although a target drone derived from Gorgon III was produced in small numbers – and Gorgon IIIC was changed to a twin-rocket configuration. In May 1945, the Gorgon IV, an air-to-surface missile powered by a ramjet engine, was added to the program.
Gorgon IIA was successfully flown in March 1945; it was stated to be the first jet- or rocket-powered radio-controlled aircraft to successfully fly in the United States.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dcYAQAAIAAJ&dq=Radioplane+%22KDR%22&pg=RA7-PA12|accessdate=2017-12-06|title=Navy Guided Missiles|journal=Astro-Jet|publisher=Reaction Research Society|number=18|date=Fall 1947|page=11}} However limitations of the guidance system – project officer Molt Taylor expressed concerns about the capability of the human mind to process information quickly enough, given the speed at which the missiles flew, to react correctly to situationsTrimble 1990, p.278. – and other technological issues meant that by late 1945, with the end of World War II, the production contracts for the air-launched Gorgon variants were changed to a pure technology-demonstration-and-development program; this was generally considered successful.Friedman 1982, p.201. The surface-launched Gorgon IIC had been planned for extensive use in Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan; orders for a hundred missiles were placed with the Singer Manufacturing Company,White 1991, p.36. however the end of the war following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in the cancellation of the production contracts and Gorgon IIC also becoming a research-only project.Yenne 2006, p.27.
The final variant of the Gorgon family to be produced was the Pollux, a pulsejet test vehicle based on the Gorgon IIC, which was flown between 1949 and 1951.{{cite web|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/missile-test-rtv-n-15-also-designated-pollux|title=RTV-N-15 drone|date=26 September 2016|website=National Air and Space Museum|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|accessdate=2017-12-06|archive-date=2019-07-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721082059/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/missile-test-rtv-n-15-also-designated-pollux|url-status=dead}} However, in 1950, the onset of the Cold War and the hot war in Korea led to the proposal to develop the Gorgon IV airframe into a chemical-weapons dispenser vehicle, designated Gorgon V; work on Gorgon V continued until late 1953, when the program was cancelled, the Gorgon program drawing to a close.Gunston 1979, p.121.
Variants
| class="wikitable sortable" | ||||||
| scope=col style="background-color:#9cf;"|Name
! scope=col style="background-color:#9cf;"|First designation ! scope=col style="background-color:#9cf;"|Second designation ! scope=col style="background-color:#9cf;"|Third designation ! scope=col style="background-color:#9cf;"|Fourth designation ! scope=col style="background-color:#9cf;"|Number built ! scope=col class=unsortable style="background-color:#9cf;"|Type | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorgon IIA | KA2N-1 | KU2N-1 | CTV-4 | CTV-N-4 | 21 | Air-to-air; canard layout, single-rocket power. |
| Gorgon IIB | – | – | – | – | 0 | Air-to-air; canard layout, turbojet power. |
| Gorgon IIC | KGN-1 | KUN-1 | CTV-2 | CTV-N-2 | ? | Surface-to-surface; canard layout, pulsejet power. Eight TD2N-1/KD2N-1 target drones also built. |
| Gorgon IIIA | KA3N-1 | KU3N-1 | CTV-6 | CTV-N-6 | 34 | Air-to-air; conventional layout, single-rocket power. |
| Gorgon IIIB | TD2N-1 | KDN-1 | – | – | 19 | Air-to-air; conventional layout, turbojet power. Unbuilt as designed, produced as target drone. |
| Gorgon IIIC | KA3N-2 | KU3N-2 | RTV-4 | RTV-N-4 | 12 | Air-to-air; conventional layout, twin-rocket power. |
| Gorgon IV | KUM-1 | PTV-2 | PTV-N-2 | KDM-1 | 19 | Air-to-surface; conventional layout, ramjet power. |
| Gorgon V | ASM-N-5 | – | – | – | 0 | Air-to-surface; conventional layout, unpowered. |
| Pollux | RTV-N-15 | – | – | – | ? | Test vehicle; canard layout, pulsejet power. |
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Friedman |year=1982 |title=U.S. Naval Weapons - Every Gun, Missile, Mine, and Torpedo Used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the Present Day |url={{GBurl|rEsSAAAAYAAJ}} |location=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-0-870-21735-7}}
- {{cite book |last=Gunston |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Gunston |year=1979 |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Rockets & Missiles |url={{GBurl|oAgiAQAAIAAJ}} |location=London |publisher=Crescent Books |isbn=978-0-517-26870-4}}
- {{cite book |last1=Ordway |first1=Frederick Ira |last2=Wakeford |first2=Ronald C. |year=1960 |title=International Missile and Spacecraft Guide |url={{GBurl|YApUAAAAMAAJ}} |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |asin=B000MAEGVC}}
- {{cite web |last=Parsch |first=Andreas |date=4 January 2005 |title=Martin ASM-N-5 Gorgon V (and other NAMU Gorgon variants) |url=https://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app1/asm-n-5.html |website=Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles - Appendix 1: Early Missiles and Drones - ASM-N-5 |publisher=Designation-Systems |access-date=6 December 2017}}
- {{cite book |last=Trimble |first=William F. |year=1990 |title=Wings for the Navy - A History of the Naval Aircraft Factory, 1917–1956 |url={{GBurl|vh9UAAAAMAAJ}} |location=Annapolis, MD |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-0-870-21663-3}}
- {{cite book |last=White |first=Maxwell |year=1991 |title=An Interpretative History of the Pacific Missile Test Center - The Genesis, Road to Point Mugu, 1936–1946 |url={{GBurl|1JjfAAAAMAAJ}} |location=Point Mugu, CA |publisher=Pacific Missile Test Center |asin=B00010AIGU}}
- {{cite book |last=Yenne |first=Bill |year=2006 |title=Secret Gadgets and Strange Gizmos: High-Tech (and Low-Tech) Innovations of the U.S. Military |url={{GBurl|CpA_nwEACAAJ}} |location=Minneapolis, MN |publisher=Zenith Press |isbn=978-0-760-32115-7}}
{{refend}}
External links
{{commonscat|Gorgon (missile family)}}
- {{cite magazine |date=February 1949 |title=Gorgon IV Sets Records For Ramjets |url={{GBurl|pCQDAAAAMBAJ|pg=PA129}} |page=129 |magazine=Popular Science}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/19970206095510/http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/avchr5.htm U.S. Naval Aviation Chronology in World War II]
{{Gorgon missiles}}
{{USN early guided weapons}}
Category:Air-to-air missiles of the United States
Category:Air-to-surface missiles of the United States