I have been scanning my old color slides to digitize them for use on my computer. I found a good image of a North American Aviation built ‘Hound Dog’ missile. The missile used an Inertial Measuring Unit (IMU) developed and produced by North American Aviation (NAA) in Downey, California and since I worked on the gyroscopes used by the INS, I decided to share this image with my friends.
Two of these missiles were carried under the wings of the B-52 bomber as part of its armament. They were used by the B-52 bomber for several years.
I believe the design of the airframe of this missile incorporated the general concept of the SM-64 Navajo missile. The Navajo missile was to be a high altitude cruise missile which was to have used Ram jet engines for propulsion and to fly at speeds which were to have been several times the speed of sound. The SM-64 missile contract was cancelled as it was then thought the then new Minuteman ballistic missile would render the air breathing cruise missile concept obsolete. The ‘Hound Dog’ flew at subsonic speeds. It is ironic that the mainstay of today’s missile fleet is an air breathing, subsonic cruise missile.
