jfb@ihlpm.att.com (Joseph F Baugher) (03/18/91)
From: jfb@ihlpm.att.com (Joseph F Baugher)
In view of all the talk about rearward-firing missiles, I thought that you
might be interested in the "Bushfire" project, which was a late-1950s proposal
for a defensive system for the Martin P6M-2 Seamaster strategic jet-powered
flying boat. Designed by Grumman, the "Bushfire" system was to consist of a
battery of semiactive radar homing missiles mounted in the tail of the P6M-2.
One missile was to be mounted in a launching tube, with four to six more to
be contained in a revolver-type housing mounted forward of the main tube.
When the tail-mounted search radar in the P6M-2 detected an enemy aircraft
closing in from the rear, a missile would be fired out of the back of the
Seamaster to intercept the threatening plane.
The "Bushfire" system never got any farther than the drawing board. When the
P6M-2 program was cancelled, all work on the "Bushfire" system was terminated.
Reference: Grumman Aircraft Since 1929, Rene J. Francillon, Naval Institute
Press.
Joe Baugher
AT&T Bell Laboratories 200 Park Plaza Naperville, Illinois 60566-7050
(708) 713 4548 ihlpm!jfb jfb200@cbnewsd.att.com
Who, me? Speak for AT&T? Surely you jest!