Fate of Italian Polaris Missiles

On Jun 30, 11:06*pm, jay walsh wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote:

Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) wrote:

The US was going to do that, only with railroad cars, for some
proposed missile system. *I don't remember which missile it was, but I
remember the artists's renditions, lifted right from the viewgraphs to
the pages of AvLeak.

Two of them... both Minuteman and MX (Peacekeeper) were considered for
deployment on trains.
Here's the Minuteman:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo...Conception.png
...and in a gross violation of national security, here's the finned
version of the rail-based Minuteman for your Lionel model train set,
from the early 1960s:
http://www.bodnarchuk.com/vintagetoy...LIONEL_TRAIN_0...

http://www.bodnarchuk.com/vintagetoy...LIONEL_TRAIN_0...

That's the one! *I recalled the whole car as being blue though. *Oh well
it was "mumble" years ago. *Thanks Pat.

Jay Walsh

There used to be a Minuteman train car with engine out at Travis AFB,
don't know if its still there. It wasn't active, don't know if they
were keeping it for a museum or what, last time I was it was in 1974.
So been a while. Nice AF blue color on it.

Compare that with the whole MX fiasco that was a missile in search of
a basing mode. BMO went nuts on that. I used to go to Norton AFB (now
closed) and knew some of the missile guys. I think they actually
tested one of the cars with the break through the dirt and launch bit.
Though most test launches were out of the silos at Vandenburg. We used
to watch them out at Palmdale, there goes another AF bird out to
Kwaj.

Later I worked with guys who had tons of MRV photos out at Kwaj when
re entry vehicles went in. Some of them were really great, coming in
at sunset over the Pacific.

I don't remember who was contractor on the missile system for MX that
was supposed to drive around the desert then hunker down during a
nuclear blast then ride it out. Thing was built so it was a bit
aerodynamic so blast would go over it. There were some Computational
Fluid Dynamics studies that were declassified and shown in the mid 80s
at an AIAA meeting at LAX of how it was to survive a nuclear blast,
might have been Boeing that was contractor on the thing that drove
around. Back when any computer simulation movie was a big deal. Forgot
where they had the super computer that did this short 30 second movie
with all the data looking like mesh crosshatches.

they finally stuck 50 in silos then retired them. After all the
political hassles and years of wrangling on basing modes. Looking back
you wonder if it really happened and people were so upset over it all.
But they were.

frank wrote:
Compare that with the whole MX fiasco that was a missile in search of
a basing mode. BMO went nuts on that. I used to go to Norton AFB (now
closed) and knew some of the missile guys. I think they actually
tested one of the cars with the break through the dirt and launch bit.


That was the system (LoADS) where the missile got towed around inside of
a large subterranean concrete tube, which it could break through at any
point when it came time to launch.
This concept got dropped when it was discovered that a nuclear warhead
coming down on any part of the tunnel would create a shockwave that
would drive the missile down the inside of the tube at a couple of
hundred miles per hour till it hit the end of the tunnel.

Pat

Fevric J. Glandules wrote:

Well, there's some truth in it, perhaps not in the way Fred intended.

I meant "Andrew" not "Fred", of course.

In sci.military.naval Fevric J. Glandules twisted the electrons to say:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...d-world--.html

Not that it's wise to pay too much attention to the Daily Wail^WMail, but
there is something a little worrying in there ... Under the section
entitled "There can be no weak link" it's revealed that through 60s there
was a massive weak link - namely the then Defence Secretary Denis Healey
wouldn't have retaliated if it had fallen to him to make the decision!
--
These opinions might not even be mine ...
Let alone connected with my employer ...

Fevric J. Glandules wrote:
Fevric J. Glandules wrote:

Well, there's some truth in it, perhaps not in the way Fred intended.

I meant "Andrew" not "Fred", of course.

I knew the story. It is still a time bomb with a daily reset.

Andrew Swallow

In sci.space.history frank wrote:
Later I worked with guys who had tons of MRV photos out at Kwaj when
re entry vehicles went in. Some of them were really great, coming in
at sunset over the Pacific.

For some reason the first thought that popped into my head was of
Batty's last words:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire
off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark
near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in
time... like tears in rain... Time to die.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/quotes

rick jones
--
The glass is neither half-empty nor half-full. The glass has a leak.
The real question is "Can it be patched?"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

"Rick Jones" wrote in message
...
In sci.space.history frank wrote:
Later I worked with guys who had tons of MRV photos out at Kwaj when
re entry vehicles went in. Some of them were really great, coming in
at sunset over the Pacific.

For some reason the first thought that popped into my head was of
Batty's last words:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire
off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark
near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in
time... like tears in rain... Time to die.



One of my favorite quotes. All to true.



--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.