XGAM-71 Buck Duck

{{Short description|American decoy missile prototype}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{Redirect|Buck Duck|the Disney character|Walt Disney Comics Digest}}

{{Infobox aircraft

|name=XGAM-71 Buck Duck

|image=XGAM-71 Buck Duck decoy missile on B-29 mothership launch pylon.jpg

|caption=A XGAM-71 on the underwing of its mothership.

|type=Decoy missile

|manufacturer=Convair

|designer=

|first_flight=14 February 1955

|introduction=

|retired=

|status=Cancelled January 1956

|primary_user=United States Air Force

|produced=

|number_built=

|program cost=

|unit cost=

|developed_from=

|variants=

|developed_into=

}}

The Convair XGAM-71 Buck Duck was an air-launched decoy missile that was developed by Convair in the early 1950s. It was intended to have the same radar signature as the Strategic Air Command's B-36 bomber, thereby allowing it to disrupt the enemy's air defenses and dilute their effort to shoot down an incoming bomber fleet.

Convair built the first prototype using its own funds, but the company received an official development contract from the United States Air Force on 16 August 1954. The USAF's Materiel Command project designation for the program was MX-2224. When the Air Force decided to put the project into production, it received the designation GAM-71."Convair Development Department Annual Report 1953" (1954-05-27), page 7, and "Convair Development Department Fourth Annual Report" (1955-09-08), page 23.
Cited by Jenkins. Both may be found at the Aerospace Education Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.

As initially envisioned by the Air Force, one B-36 in the-then typical three-plane attack formation would be filled with up to seven GAM-71s apportioned within its three bomb bays. A mixture of Ducks and other weapons was also possible, although the Air Force did not specify that it intended to use mixed loads.

To fit in the bomb bay of a B-36, the GAM-71 was relatively small; its wings were folded when it was stowed in the bay. To mimic the radar cross-section of the B-36, it carried internal radar reflectors.

In February 1955, unpowered glide tests of XGAM-71 prototypes began using a modified B-29 Superfortress as the mothership. However, the program was delayed due to funding issues. Convair also had higher priorities. A total of seven flights were conducted before the program was cancelled in January 1956, an event that researcher Dennis Jenkins attributes to the B-36's anticipated phase-out by decade's end.{{cite book|last=Werrell|first=Kenneth P.|title=The Evolution of the Cruise Missile|pages=123–124|location=Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama|publisher=Air University Press|date=September 1985}}