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Hermes

Hermes was the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology. Despite a special demonstration by Dr. Robert H. Goddard for Army officials in November 1918, the Army Ordnance Corps did not establish its Rocket Development Branch until September 1943 to direct and coordinate the Army's efforts in this new field of weaponry. The first of the Army's integrated missile programs planned to progress from test vehicle to guided missile was the Ordnance-California Institute of Technology (ORDCIT) project established in May 1944.

Later, in November 1944, Army Ordnance awarded a prime contract to the General Electric (GE) Company for Project Hermes, another ballistic missile research and development program. The Army amended the Hermes contract's scope of work the following month to include the study of the German V-2 rocket.

The Hermes Project, the first major US ballistic missile program, was based at Fort Bliss, Texas. German scientists led by von Braun tested many rocket components and concepts. The Hermes Project laid the groundwork for what was to come. After the work on Hermes ended in 1950, von Braun and his team moved to the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama, and worked for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. The first Hermes project came into being when the Ordnance Department began trying to determine how it. could best meet the varied needs of the Army Field Forces for these new weapons. Accordingly, the Ordnance Department entered into a research and development contract with the General Electric Company on 20 November 1944. This contract authorized the General Electric Company to seek the development of long-range missiles that could be used against both ground targets and high-altitude aircraft.

The contractor agreed to perform investigations, research, experiments, design, development, and engineering work in connection with the development of long-range missiles for use against ground targets and high-altitude aircraft. Among the classes of missiles included in the project were rocket projectiles and wingless jet-propelled devices that employed control surfaces to allow guidance and control. The contract also required the General Electric Company to develop remote control equipment, ground equipment, fire control devices, and homing devices.

Basically, this project covered every phase of missile technology with the exception of large-scale development and production of warheads and fuzes. These many areas may be grouped within three general categories, namely, the A1 and A2 missiles, the A3 missiles, and all other Hermes missiles and supporting research.

The original military characteristics for the Hermes A3 described a tactical missile system that could deliver a 1,000-pound warhead 150 miles with a circular probable error of 200 feet or less. But these characteristics were changed many times during the life of the Hermes A3 project. In early 1948, the designation SSM-G-8 was assigned, but the project progressed very slowly in the first years. With every change in doctrine in the use of tactical nuclear weapons and with every advancement in their development, the Department of the Amy responded with corresponding changes in the requirements for the Hermes A3. This resulted in practically an annual redesigning of the entire missile. Finally, reduced to the status of a test vehicle in June 1953, the Hermes A3 project was terminated in 1954.

Among the other missile projects that the Ordnance Department assigned the General Electric Company to direct as separate phases of the Hermes projects were the firings of captured V2 rockets and research and development work in the Bumper, the Hermes B, the Hermes C1, and the Hermes II projects.

Work in the field of ramjet propulsion was represented by the Hermes B. The Hermes B project began in June 1946 when the General Electric Company was the ". . . only group in the country who believed they could develop a Mach 4 ramjet .lt21 This ambitious project required basic research in propulsion, aerodynamics, structures, and trajectory-shaping for a tactical missile system that would be capable of lifting a 1,000-pound warhead over a range of 1,000 miles at a velocity of 2,600 miles per hour. Later, the Office, Chief of Ordnance changed the requirements for the Hermes B so that the project sought the development of a tactical missile system that wculd be capable of carrying a 5,000-pound warhead over a minimum range of 1,500 nautical miles at a velocity of Mach 4. The Office, Chief of Ordnance terminated the project in 1954.

At the same time that the General Electric Company began work on the Hermes B project, it also began a feasibility study on a long-range ballistic-type missile, designated the Hermes C1. This study laid the groundwork for later development of the missile that became known as the Redstone.

The original recommendations for the Hermes C1 proposed a three stage missile using six rocket motors in clusters of two in its first stage. These motors would be designed to develop a 600,000-pound thrust during a burning time of 1 minute. After jettisoning the first stage, the second-stage motors would provide an additional 100,000 pounds of thrust during a 1-minute burning time. Upon separation of the second stage, the third stage, being an unpowered 1,000-pound payload, would glide to the target. Altogether, the takeoff weight of the proposed missile would be approximately 250,000 pounds. The General Electric Company performed little further work on the project because of an inadequate state of the art at that time.

In addition to employing these German scientists in the initial firings of the captured V-2s, the Ordnance Department assigned other research and development projects to the group. One of these projects, the Hermes II, sought to develop a ramjet missile as a research test vehicle. Designed to lift a 500-pound payload over a range of 500 miles at a speed of Mach 3.3, it used a modified V2 as its booster stage while the second stage was a winged, ramjet missile. The main purpose of the Hermes II project was the establishment of basic design information for missiles that would be capable of carrying heavier payloads over longer ranges. Work continued on the project until September 1953 when it was cancelled.

The Department of the Army invested well over $100 million in the Hermes projects during their 10-year life span. Yet, at the end of that decade there was no Hermes missile system available for production or tactical deployment. As this had been one of the original objectives (the development of a tactical weapon system), how did the Ordnance Department justify this expenditure of research and development funds? The answer may well be found in the contributions it made to the advancing state of the art.

Because the General Electric Company began the Hermes project when there was a dearth of basic design information for guided missiles, it performed research as a prerequisite to achieving its goals. In so doing, it discovered and extended basic knowledge in areas such as propulsion systems, rocket fuels, aerodynamics, guidance equipment, and testing equipment. Another of its achievements in rocket motors was the hybrid motor which was the first in which the thrust could be controlled by the regulation of the flow of the oxidizing agent into the motor. Through exhaustive aerodynamic studies and tests, it also accumulated technical data used in designing missile airframe structures.

Furthermore, the General Electric Company pioneered in the development of guidance equipment to insure greater accuracy of a missile's flight path. It invented a coded, command-guidance radar that was adapted for use in the Corporal system. The first inertial guidance equipment used in any missile system was devised for the Hermes A3. A similar guidance system was later used, effectively, in the Redstone.