Posted on 04/14/2015 6:41:53 AM PDT by C19fan
One of the most enduring symbols of the Cold War’s destructive potential is the intercontinental ballistic missile. But during the 1950s, the U.S. Force developed a strategic cruise missile known as the Snark.
The Snark was highly unusual at the time. Almost forgotten today, the flying branch developed the missile as a nuclear-armed “pilotless bomber” that would herald a new era of robotic warfare.
(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...
I remember seeing these at Kadena AFB, Okinawa circa 59-61....memory is bad.
Not totally useless. As a kid, I built airplane models and displayed them in my room. I had all Century aircraft and the X's. Had a Snark hung from the ceiling, painted a nice fire-engine red. First learned of JATO from this model.
So the Snark may have been "totally useless" as the article states, but to this kid, it was the coolest most inventive vehicle out there. The JATO just got to me for some reason. lol
My Father worked for the NACA, now NASA, during WWll. He was working on the Snark then.
As a youngster, I built hundreds of the model airplanes and warships..I think I had about ten or so Snarks...no idea why.
joeprobono; dfwgator and I would probably all agree that the Snark has been totally effective for us, personally.
Because of the extremely short range of the Snark (as in over the beach and into the ocean)I heard from some old Cape workers that the Air Force would get ragged on about the Snark infested waters off of Canaveral.
I had a Snark model when I wuz a kid...
That's because it never blew anything up. It would just sit on the launch pad making catty and sarcastic comments about the enemy.
“(as in over the beach and into the ocean)”
*snort*
Sounds like the Navy’s old Drone Anti Submarine Helicopter (DASH) of the 60’s - as in ‘dash over the horizon, never to be seen again’.
R&D on a new concept is NEVER useless.
OT, but is the author “Thomas Newdick” a nom de plume for John Wayne Bobbitt?
Or any number of IBRMs (Into the Banana River Missiles)
Fortunately, we never build the darn thing.
The Century series were just great looking aircraft. The F104 is still just a bad ass looking plane. Think of how many monsters it took on in Tokyo!
I am partial to Nikes, as I used to sneak up to the Nike Base in the Blue Hills and check it out when i was a kid.
I drove up there later as an adult, and the base was in ruins.
I was glad it was there during the Cuban Missile Crisis!
Now I wear Nike and play Bass!
Well, the whole “cruise missile” warfare for the Navy and Army started with the remake of the German V-1 into US flying German V-1’s, US making copies of the original to support the Japanese invasion, then US-improving the V-1 into new models, which became the Loon, then its replacements through Navy’s Regulus, Snark, etc.
Just like US Army shooting off captured V-1’s at White Sands/El Paso, then building improved V-1’s, then building the Redstone and Jupiter, then the Atlas, Saturn’s engines, etc. Yes, the original machinery concept was German, but the US flying models improved on that foundation.
Article says Snark was killed by the land-based, liquid fueled Atlas ICBM, but the Polaris submerged-launched ICBM Is what probably what did it in. The first submerged launch was July 1960. snark was ended by Kennedy in 1961.
My Dad was a key player in the Polaris guidance system development at GE.
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