Consolidated-Vultee Buck Duck (GAM-71)
Decoy missiles were a major subdivision of cruise missiles developed during the 1950s and 1960s. The decoys were designed to appear on enemy radar the same as the SAC bombers, and thus to confuse, dilute, and degrade enemy air defenses. Those responsible for the naming of the decoy missiles must have been hunters to have come up with the names they did : Buck Duck, Bull Goose, and Green Quail. Actually, these names all reference deception, but are strangely obscure terms.
The great African-American baseball player Willy Mays was called "Buck Duck" by fellow players in the late 1940s. The word "buck" being contemporaneous slang for a young black man, and because Mays ran like a buck deer. He acquired the name "duck" because of his posterior, and some said he walked like a duck. Reportedly Mays insisted that he never understood the origins of the nickname. Buck Duck was a gun-slinging cowboy-duck comic character that was published by Timely Comics, Marvel Comic's predecessor, during the 'funny animal' craze in the 1950's. After this craze had ended, Buck Duck was hardly ever seen again. In 1955, the USAF started a major development effort for decoy missiles, which were intended to give almost identical radar images as real strategic bombers, and therefore confuse and saturate the enemy air defenses. The projects included the GAM-71 Buck Duck (a rocket-powered air-launched vehicle to be carried by the B-36 Peacemaker), the SM-73 Bull Goose (a ground-launched long-range jet-powered decoy), and the GAM-72 Green Quail. The latter was to become a turbojet-powered air-launched decoy for internal carriage by B-52 Stratofortress bombers. USAF planned to fit six Consolidated-Vultee Buck Ducks (GAM-71) on that company's giant B-36. 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. Unlike the rather exotic-looking Navaho and Hound Dog, the Buck Duck was a conventional-looking missile, with a high straight wing measuring 14 feet in span (which folded to five feet). Some sources quote an XLR85 liquid-fueled rocket engine as propulsion without giving further details. However, since other contemporary decoy missiles (GAM-72/ADM-20 Green Quail and SM-73 Bull Goose) used J85/J83 turbojet propulsion, and because source mentions a report that the GAM-71 used in fact a small turbojet engine, it is probable (but in no way certain) that "LR85" is an error for "J85". A rocket motor would have provided a speed greatly in excess of the lumbering B-36, and not produced the straight an level trajectory of the heavy bomber. The Buck Duck used radar reflectors to simulate the radar return of a B-36, and had a range of 370 km (230 miles) at a speed of Mach 0.55. Initially it was planned that one bomber in a formation carries the full load of seven GAM-71s. The B-36 could carry 2 GAM-71s for each bomb compartment (except the compartment number 3 which contained only one. Using a mixed load of two decoys and a reduced bomb load on all B-36s would have been also possible. The unmanned aircraft was equipped with a circular fuselage, an arrow wing of 35° with pod at the ends and tail, with butterfly fletching . The fuselage was divided into four sections, with the first front and the third made of fiberglass. Within these were, partially inserted into fuel tanks, some metal reflectors in the shape of a trihedron, with the aim of increasing the radar signature of the missile. Additional reflectors were placed in the wingtip pods, in order for the whole system to generate a radar return echo comparable to a large bomber. The wings, the central section of the fuselage (containing the electronic equipment), the tail section and the empennages were made of aluminum. The engine was the Turbomeca Marboré French turbojet , produced under license by Teledyne as J-69, and the maximum weight reached 3,400 kg. During the mission the weapon system provided for the use of chaff and active radar reflectors. The first XGAM-71 prototype was completed in November 1954 , and the free-fall tests began on February 14, 1955 using a B-29 as a mother plane. [7] A total of 4 units were built, which carried out a total of 7 flights, all without a functioning engine. While the Buck Duck underwent both glide and captive tests in February and March 1955, there is no record of any powered trials before USAF cancelled the project in January 1956. Slippages in the decoy schedule and the impending replacement of the Convair bomber by the B-52 meant that the Buck Duck would have only about 12 months of useful life. It is probable that the Ground to Air Missile GAM-71 designation derived from the B bomber designator series, which for a brief period in the 1950s blended both manned bombers and unmanned strategic Air Force missiles. The B-71 designation come numerically after the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber that which had two test Valkyries flying at Edwards AFB, California, though it never entered production. According to some accounts, the USAF had planned to redesignate the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft as the B-71 as the successor to the B-70 Valkyrie. Kelly Johnson submitted other unsolicited bomber proposals to the Air Force. One such, referred to in-house as the B-71. The B-71 would have a nuclear capability of 6 bombs. The next designation was RS-71 (Reconnaissance-Strike) when the strike capability became an option [this came as the Valkyrie was briefly designated RS-70]. However, then USAF Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay preferred the SR designation and wanted the RS-71 to be named SR-71. Before the Blackbird was to be announced by President Johnson on February 29, 1964, LeMay lobbied to modify Johnson's speech to read SR-71 instead of RS-71. The media transcript given to the press at the time still had the earlier RS-71 designation in places, creating the myth that the president had misread the plane's designation.| Length | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Wingspan | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Height | 4 ft 3 in (1.3 m) |
| Gross weight | 1,550 lb (703 kg) |
| Powerplant | 1 × Aerojet XLR-85-AJ-1 liquid fuel rocket, 90 lbf (0.40 kN) thrust |
| Maximum speed | Mach 0.55 |
| Range | 230 mi (200 nmi; 370 km) |
| Service ceiling | 40,000 ft (12,000 m) |
| Crew | None |
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
