| Gargoyle | |
| Origin: | United States |
| Is Missile: | yes |
| Service: | 1945-1950 |
| Wars: | World War II (test only) |
| Production Date: | 1944-1947 |
| Number: | 200 |
| Weight: | 1500lb |
| Length: | 10inchesft1inchesin (ftin) |
| Filling Weight: | 1000lb |
| Engine: | Aerojet 8AS1000 JATO bottle |
| Engine Power: | 1000lbf for 8 sec |
| Vehicle Range: | 5miles |
| Speed: | 600mph |
| Wingspan: | 8inchesft6inchesin (ftin) |
| Propellant: | solid fuel |
The LBD-1 Gargoyle (later KSD-1, KUD-1 and RTV-N-2) was an American air-to-surface missile developed during World War II by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy. One of the precursors of modern anti-ship missiles, it was extensively used as a test vehicle during the late 1940s.
Following the successful use of the German Henschel Hs 293 and Fritz-X guided bombs in combat during 1943, a requirement was issued by the U.S. Navy that October for a guided weapon based on similar principles.[1] Assigned as part of the Glomb ("glide bomb") project,[2] the weapon was code-named "Gargoyle", and following the completion of design work in the summer of 1944,[1] McDonnell Aircraft was awarded a contract for a test-and-evaluation production run of 400 Gargoyles in September, given the designation LBD-1.[3]
Intended for carriage by carrier-based aircraft, Gargoyle was of fairly conventional small-aircraft design, weighing when ready for launch, and fitted with a low-mounted 8inchesft6inchesin (ftin) wing and v-tail attached to a streamlined fuselage, 10feet in length,[3] containing a 1000lb armor-piercing bomb.[1] An Aerojet solid-propellant rocket, of the JATO type and providing 1000abbr=onNaNabbr=on of thrust,[4] was fitted to provide terminal boost to, and guidance was by radio command, the missile being tracked visually via a flare mounted in the tail section.[1] The effective range of Gargoyle was when released at an altitude of .[5]
Gargoyle's armor-piercing capability and the fact that it could be carried by carrier-based aircraft allowed development to continue despite late-war rationalizations of missile projects,[6] and following delivery of the first weapons to the Navy at the end of 1944 flight trials were begun in March 1945.[3] Difficulties encountered during the test program meant that by July only five of fourteen tests were considered to be "satisfactory" by the Navy,[3] and the first fully successful flight did not occur until July 1946. By then Gargoyle had been redesignated twice, to KSD-1 in October 1945 and in early 1946 to KUD-1 as a pure research effort.[1] The aerodynamic design of Gargoyle was, however, considered to be satisfactory from an aerodynamic standpoint; however, with the end of the war, the contract was reduced first to 375 missiles,[3] and then to 200, with the production run being completed by the summer of 1947.[1] That fall the Gargoyle was redesignated again under the U.S. Navy's new missile designation system, first to RTV-2 and then to the definitive RTV-N-2 in 1948. Testing continued through December 1950, Gargoyle being used to trial equipment and procedures for the Navy's other missile programs at the Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station Mojave,[7] before the program was finally terminated, the remaining RTV-N-2s being designated for scrapping.[1]
A Gargoyle that was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1974 is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.[4]