GAR-1 Falcon

GAR-1 Falcon. . Falcon was the first air-to-air guided missile in the Air Force, and the first in the world to enter operational service. In 1947 the newly created US Air Force held a competition for a combination fire control system and guided missile for installation on their future interceptors. Hughes Aircraft won the competition for both the fire control system and the guided missile, to be launched from bombers for self-defense. Eventually this guided missile became known as the "Guided Aircraft Rocket" or GAR-1 Falcon., The GAR-1 was a semi-active radar homing short-range (5 miles) intercept missile. Launched miles from the target, the Falcon was guided automatically by radar, located in the nose. Flanking the nose were receiver aerials like small fins. Falcon had a Thiokol solid-fuel rocket motor and a high-explosive warhead. It had no proximity fuze, so the missile had to hit its target to explode., Later versions of GAR-1 had an elevon, or additional fin, at the base of each fin for maneuverability., GAR-1 became operational with F-89H/J and F-102A interceptors in 1956, and about 4000 GAR-1's were produced. The Falcon was retired from the U.S. Air Force service in the late 1980s., At White Sands Proving Ground, the first Falcon was tested in 1952 (?) 1954. Firing records show that 795 were launched between 1955 and 1961, followed by tests of later versions of Falcon. Range: about 5 miles; Speed: about Mach 2, Length: 6 feet , Diameter: 6 inches , Weight: 126 pounds , Propellant: Solid , First Firing: 1952