PAGE 6
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JUNE, 1958
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SOLVING EQUATIONS—Firestone engineers and scientists at Com
pany's Los Angeles Guided Missile Division use intricate machines like this
analog computer for solving complex equations and problems in producing the
Corporal guided missile for the Army.
ASSEMBLY LINE—Parts of the Corporal—fuel tanks, engines, air cells—
are assembled with care and precision. Throughout production, repeated tests
are run and Government inspectors keep a watchful eye for possible defects.
The missile contains 2,000 parts and seven miles of wire plus radar control
and launching systems.
FIRESTONE COMPANY IN NATIONAL DEFENSE
Story Of The Corporal: U. S. Army’s Guided Missile
P'OR many years a veil of security has hung ovei
the U.S. production of rockets, satellites and
guided missiles. Only recently some of the “secret” and
“confidential” labels were removed.
The story that can now be told about guided missiles
is one that is especially interesting to Firestone em
ployees, since the Company plays a vital role in our
country’s Corporal missile program.
T1i3 curtain on the Corporal has been lifted at the
Company’s Los Angeles, Calif., plant. The Army's
battlefield knockout punch is a 46-foot-long, 30-inch-
thick pencil that pushes through the atmosphere at
speeds several times that of sound. The Corporal has
a bullet-like nose that can carry a nuclear warhead.
Hugh Gibson, general manager of the Company’s
Guided Missile Division, said recently: “It is the only
heavy bombardment ballistic guided missile in the
hands of troops.”
As for the destructive potential. President Eisen
hower has said of the Corporal; “Four battalions . . .
alone are equivalent in firepower to all the artillery
used in World War II on all fronts."
THE STORY of the development of the weapon be
gan several years ago.
Before the missile could become a reality, the brain
power and mechanical skill of thousands had to be
assembled and organized.
Years of research and development came from the
Jet Propulsion Labs of the California Institute of
Technology.
The production job was awarded to Firestone in
1951 and a year later the Company plant in Los An
geles was delivering the intricate weapons to the
Army.
All this proceeded under cover of “hush-hush” se
curity regulations that have been relaxed only recent
ly-
“After we started production, it was two years be
fore we could say we were making the missile,'’ Mr.
Gibson said.
Constant improvements have been made and new
types of missiles have been devised, until today Fire
stone is packaging its third model of the Corporal.
In 1954 a new plant was completed and missile pro
duction was moved from the Los Angeles tire plant.
The massive structure houses equipment, the cost of
which far exceeded the cost of the building.
But one of the most valuable assets in the Corporal
missile program is the brains of the men working on it.
Engineers, scientists, technicians—armies of men—
pore over charts and experimental devices, doubting,
searching, failing, trying again. Succeeding.
TALENTS of the highest caliber are required for the
challenge of engineering designs turned into practical
production items for adoption to field use by troops.
Men at the Company’s plant must anticipate every
conceivable shock, pressure or stress a missile would
have to withstand in its arc-like soar into the stratos
phere.
Extremes in heat, cold and humidity must all be
considered in the calculations. On the testing grounds
at White Sands, New Mexico, the payoff is made under
a 100-degree sun.
Rocket motors of the Corporal scream to a pitch
of unbelievable fury. The initial slow movement of the
long, white tube is transformed to a supersonic speed.
A battery of radar machines and computers gives the
Corporal its “intelligence.” Mounted on trucks, this
equipment controls the missile from the firing site.
This complex “thinking” apparatus does its work in
seconds. Thus, after being launched vertically, the
missile is guided into a pattern of flight.
THIS WEAPON, designed to give an artillery bat
talion striking power far behind the enemy lines, has
smashed into the test target many miles distant.
In addition to the Corporal itself, the Company
manufactures other equipment in the Corporal system.
These include:
A grasshopper-like erector, a self-propelled 50,000-
pound vehicle, which transports the big tube and
cradles it in place for firing.
The launcher, a mobile take-off platform.
Trucks which carry missile propellant liquids, air
supply, compressors and servicing platforms.
The Corporal is America’s first successful ballistic
artillery missile. It is a major bulwark in the Army’s
weapon inventory.
*
GAUGE CHECKING—Constant checking and test
ing are carried on with each successive step in the
Corporal. Here an engineer checks gauges on a piece
of electronic testing equipment.
ALMOST READY—Standing on a servicing plat
form, Army engifieers are dwcirfed by the 46-foot
tube as they ready it for firing. Firestone also manu
factures the servicing platform.
BLASTING OFF—In a flaming thrust upward, the
Corporal's thundering rocket engine leaves a trail of
white flame as the missile takes off for its flight
into the stratosphere.