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AIR-TO-AIR missiles (fired by aircraft against other aircraft) need not be as big as their ground-launched relatives. They need carry less fuel because they do less climbing. Surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles may well spell the doom of conventional bombing tactics. Even when they rise all the way from the ground, the flaming birds will reach the bombers' altitude in something like one minute. They cannot be shot down and they cannot be dodged. They close so fast that a bomber's "evasive action" is like the slow writhing of a caterpillar trying to shake off a wasp.
AIR-TO-GROUND missiles are the bombers' best chance of passive defense, may allow them to stay out of reach of their new enemies. The air-launched missiles will be "airplanes" powered by rocket motors that may push them up to 2,000 m.p.h. They will not look like airplanes; their fixed tail fins will have respectable size, but their four movable wings amidships will be metal triangles only a few feet long. The slim, sharp birds will swing out of the bomber's belly on two stiff arms. When fired, they will shoot ahead and vanish with blinding speed. Their accuracy need not be "pinpoint," for they can be made big enough to strike with atom bombs.
SURFACE-TO-SURFACE missiles are the biggest family of birds. They will range from modest "artillery" rockets to vast intercontinental monsters (still in development) whose designers already complain that they are in danger of "running out of earth." A typical surface-to-surface missile is about the size of a V-2 (which was 46 ft. long, weighed 12.5 tons), but looks slimmer and longer. It is stabilized like the V-2 by carbon vanes acting on the gas blast from the rocket motor. It has more power than the V-2 and presumably much more range.
Rockets & Boosters. Basic to all guided missiles is the rocket motor, generally liquid-fueled. When actually pushing a bird it vanishes in seconds, leaving only a vapor trail to remember it by. In its captive state—on a test stand, for example, at Reaction Motors, Inc. of Dover, N.J., or at Aerojet Engineering Corp. of Azusa, Calif.—it has a frightening sort of beauty.
When cold, the motor itself is not at all impressive. Sometimes it is cylindrical; sometimes it has a distorted "Mae West" shape. At one end is a flaring tailpipe, at the other a complex snarl of pumps, tubes and valves (see diagram). But when the motor fires, things happen fast.
In a fraction of a second, a long, stiff, roaring flame stands out from the tailpipe. With some fuels the flame is bright, and must be observed through dark glasses. Sometimes it is faint blue with bright golden "leaves" (caused by Shockwaves) standing stock-still in its core. With certain experimental fuels the flame is brilliant green with clouds of purplish smoke.
The noise is beyond description: a ground-shaking roar combined with a high-pitched scream. On top of this rides ultrasonic sound that tears at the vitals, seeming to bypass the ears entirely.