03-08-2017, 03:37 AM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by LeeR
Dang, senior moment. I took pics of the II at NASM a few years back. It's cool, and definitely would be easier to build stable, but something about the funky 1A just has always appealed to me. I also love the contrast of the black/white striped nose over the olive drab body.
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The Pershing 1 (the "1A" referred to the improved overall system, including its transportation vehicles; the missiles themselves were externally unchanged) also flew with attractive black-and-white checkerboard test vehicle decor schemes in its early launches at Launch Complex 30 at the Cape. Some of these rounds had an extended (30" long, if memory serves) cylindrical instrumentation section added between the second stage motor and the bottom of the conical nose section. Also:
I've seen a photograph of an early Pershing II test vehicle that consisted of just the four-finned *first* stage, topped by the four-finned MARV (MAneuverable Re-entry Vehicle). This stubby-looking vehicle (which would also make a fine scale model rocket) was flown at White Sands rather than at Cape Canaveral. My guess is that it was for testing the MARV's precision-impact terminal guidance radar on land targets without flying beyond the WSMR's rather small range boundaries, which the all-up, two-stage Pershing II would have done unless it was launched nearly straight up (which wouldn't have produced a lower-angled, operational-type trajectory, being a high, sounding rocket-type trajectory instead; also, it could have easily escaped the range had it gone awry). |