Skybolt ALBM (many links!!!)

[blackshire]

Hello All,

Below are numerous links to photographs & videos of, and information on, the Douglas GAM-87 (later AGM-48) Skybolt Air-Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM). Also, at the bottom of this posting are links to two model manufacturers who produce scale models of the Skybolt!

Only a small number of the solid propellant Skybolt ALBMs were launched from B-52 bombers over Cape Canaveral during the missile's short and controversial lifetime. The Skybolt came in at least three versions--a single-stage test variant with a long, rounded-tip conical nose cone, a two-stage version with a short conical nose cone, and an apparently rare two-stage version with a long, rounded-tip conical nose cone.

A pretty good Sport Scale model of the Skybolt (the two-stage intended operational version) could use the Estes Yankee kit's short conical plastic nose cone, a short length of BT-20 for the second stage, a length of BT-50 for the first stage (with a BT-20/BT-50 balsa reducer), and an Estes PNC-50K (the Alpha III plastic nose cone) for the Skybolt's drag-reducing tailcone that was jettisoned during the air-launch process. Here are the links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAM-87_Skybolt
http://www.afspacemuseum.org/missiles/Skybolt/index.htm
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/gam-87.htm
http://www.strategic-air-command.com/missiles/Aircraft-Launched_Missiles/gam-87_skybolt_missile.htm
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-48.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/GAM-87-Skybolt/102568146465073
http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_lau/skybolt.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/skybolt.htm
http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/skybolt.aspx (two-stage version)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarah_east/4945755210/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21995342@N05/3077737850/ (Skybolt in RAF insignia)
http://www.ask.com/wiki/GAM-87_Skybolt

Several images, including two-stage version with longer nose cone:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Skybolt+missile+images&wrapid=tlif129654292114710&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=26xHTfKOHZK-sQO6wejGAg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB8QsAQwAA&biw=788&bih=390
http://photovalet.com/MYFV13P15_01.0360.html

Skybolt (two-stage version) video, and stills from the video:
http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675077275_B-52-Stratofortress_Wichita-Plant_GAM-87A-Skybolt-ballistic-missile_men-work

Skybolt launch video:
http://www.efootage.com/stock-footage/52424/Agm-48_Skybolt_Launches_Missile_-_2_-_1960s/

Skybolt launch and ground test videos on YouTube.com:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Skybolt+missile&aq=f

Skybolt 1/72 scale resin model (2 missiles per kit):
www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=507&osCsid=b870f5081a0698bdb7780758b7b564b4

~10" long painted mahogany Skybolt desk model, made to order:
http://cgi.ebay.ph/GAM-87-Skybolt-ALBM-Missile-Wood-Model-/390210560788

I hope this material will be interesting.


-- Jason

[Brain]

That Skybolt is definitely a cool choice for a build.
I can envision having two different NC configurations to fly it with.
That tailcone arse-end with the extra fins is dynamite!
Hmmm... :rolleyes:

[blackshire]

That Skybolt is definitely a cool choice for a build.
I can envision having two different NC configurations to fly it with.
That tailcone arse-end with the extra fins is dynamite!
Hmmm... :rolleyes:Indeed! The tailcone definitely has multiple possibilities for flying scale models of the Skybolt (please see below).

The two-stage Skybolt versions could even have *live* second stages, using gap-staged upper stage ignition (which would *also* permit streamer or parachute recovery of the first stages, by using rear-ejected first stage motor mounts/vent tubes!). The flared conical Stage1/Stage 2 interstage adapter (or a portion of it) could serve as a conical stabilizer for the second stages. (The full-scale, two-stage versions of the Skybolt *may* have utilized the flared conical interstage adapter as a combination high-expansion upper stage exhaust nozzle *and* conical stabilizer, as the Aerobee 300/300A's upper stages did with their conical interstage adapters.)

For extra "Flight Points" in scale contests (*and* to give a Skybolt scale model a little extra "oomph" at launch), it could be launched with the tailcone *attached*, which would "pop" the model into motion up the launch rod at ignition (similar to the way a piston launcher does)! The tailcone's rearward-pointing tip could simply sit on top of the launch pad's jet deflector (with a small square of recovery wadding under the tailcone's tip to prevent the exhaust residue on the jet deflector from marring its paint finish). If a Skybolt scale model was launched from a radio-controlled (R/C) model airplane in flight, the hollow plastic tailcone would be ejected at ignition (just like the tailcone on the actual missile), and it could be recovered using a small aluminized mylar streamer, which could be packed between the model's motor mount tube and the inside wall of its body tube.