D-21 drone booster... Apollo LES motor?

Ran into this regarding the solid rocket booster used on the B-52H
carrier aircraft to get the drone up to ramjet ignition speed:
"The program called for the use of a solid rocket _which had been
previously qualified and man-rated for the Apollo program._
However, according to Col. Saunders, sometime after the reoriented
program was under way, Kelly Johnson ascertained that the new D-21B
configuration needed more thrust, and as a result the rocket had to be
redesigned and increased in size to accommodate the new requirement."
That's from he
http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000...74971_0002.gif
I always wondered where that booster came from; here's some photos of
it: http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b001.html

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Ran into this regarding the solid rocket booster used on the B-52H carrier
aircraft to get the drone up to ramjet ignition speed:
"The program called for the use of a solid rocket _which had been
previously qualified and man-rated for the Apollo program._
However, according to Col. Saunders, sometime after the reoriented program
was under way, Kelly Johnson ascertained that the new D-21B configuration
needed more thrust, and as a result the rocket had to be redesigned and
increased in size to accommodate the new requirement."
That's from he
http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000...74971_0002.gif
I always wondered where that booster came from; here's some photos of it:
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b001.html

Pat

The only solid-rocket that i am aware of that woudl meet these requirements
would be the escape tower's solid rocket atop the Apollo Command Module for
the Saturn IB and Saturn V boosters.

g. beat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Ran into this regarding the solid rocket booster used on the B-52H carrier
aircraft to get the drone up to ramjet ignition speed:
"The program called for the use of a solid rocket _which had been
previously qualified and man-rated for the Apollo program._
However, according to Col. Saunders, sometime after the reoriented program
was under way, Kelly Johnson ascertained that the new D-21B configuration
needed more thrust, and as a result the rocket had to be redesigned and
increased in size to accommodate the new requirement."
That's from he
http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000...74971_0002.gif
I always wondered where that booster came from; here's some photos of it:
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b001.html

Pat
=======
Looking at the photos, I see many similarities (design wise) with the Navaho
(SM-64) program.
Originally designated MX-770 with its original intent for the development of
a winged V-2 missile that could deliver a nuclear (fission) warhead over a
distance of 500 miles.
The Navaho was liquid fueled (Kerosene/LOX).

The only remaining Navaho missile in existence is currently displayed
outside the south entrance gate of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
Florida.

g. beat

gb wrote:
The only solid-rocket that i am aware of that woudl meet these requirements
would be the escape tower's solid rocket atop the Apollo Command Module for
the Saturn IB and Saturn V boosters.


That was my conclusion also.
You really want to get that drone moving, sit it on the back of a
Nike-Zeus booster.
Although the D-21 never did work right in its intended recon drone roll,
it's surprising the Air Force didn't look into it as a B-52 carried Mach
3+ nuclear-armed cruise missile.
With its long range (over 3,000 miles) and stealth it would have made a
formidable weapon system.
The Soviets looked into building a copy of it called the Voron (crow or
raven).

Pat

On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:27:58 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:

I always wondered where that booster came from; here's some photos of
it: http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b001.html

....Pat, if I ever get up to the Split Dakotas again, I owe you dinner!
I've never seen this site before, and I'm enjoying the hell out of the
images. Especially this one:

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b47.jpg

....I can see a Soviet analyist reviewing satellite imagery and seeing
those D-21s line up like that for the first time, and going "shtool!"
:-)

OM
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gb wrote:
=======
Looking at the photos, I see many similarities (design wise) with the Navaho
(SM-64) program.
Originally designated MX-770 with its original intent for the development of
a winged V-2 missile that could deliver a nuclear (fission) warhead over a
distance of 500 miles.
The Navaho was liquid fueled (Kerosene/LOX).


Although they is some similarity in layout to Navaho (there's a cutaway
of the North American model 704 that was the halfway step between the
ramjet driven version of the A9 missile and the final Navaho design
he http://xplanes.free.fr/stato/us_ramj...n_na704_01.jpg
three of these were made, but none flown)
A lot more likely candidate is the Lockheed X-7 ramjet test vehicle that
was used to develop the ramjets for the Bomarc long-range SAM:
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-60.html
After the Bomarc's and other ramjets had been perfected on it, it was
decided to use the basic design with twin underslung solid boosters as a
a high performance target drone for SAMs to intercept...unfortunately it
was too high performance for the SAMs to hit most of the time, and that
was probably the point where Lockheed probably thought "If we can't hit
it, neither can the Russians..." and started think about reconnaissance
drones using the basic technology.
The D-21's were powered by surplus Bomarc ramjets BTW.

Pat

OM wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:27:58 -0500, Pat Flannery
wrote:


I always wondered where that booster came from; here's some photos of
it: http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b001.html


...Pat, if I ever get up to the Split Dakotas again, I owe you dinner!
I've never seen this site before, and I'm enjoying the hell out of the
images. Especially this one:

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b47.jpg

...I can see a Soviet analyist reviewing satellite imagery and seeing
those D-21s line up like that for the first time, and going "shtool!"
:-)

OM


Back when they were designing the F-117, Lockheed wanted to know what
the Soviets would make of it if they saw one on a reconsat photo... so
they took a overhead shot of one, blurred it up enough to be at the
expected resolution of Soviet reconsat cameras, and showed it to some
satellite imagery experts, claiming it had been photographed on a Soviet
airfield.
They took one look at the wing sweep angle and concluded it was a
hypersonic aircraft. The anti-radar aspect of the design never occurred
to them, so Lockheed figured the same would apply to the Soviet
interpretation of the design if they got photos of it.

Pat