The United States Army had expressed its strong desire for an accurate long-range artillery system with a range in excess of 45 miles during World War II, but of course nothing like that was available. When the Germans started firing V1 and V2 rockets at London, the US Army got excited and developed a "Oooh! We want one of those!" philosophies and started a similar development program of their own.
Lagging behind the Germans by several years, the early U.S. rocket development programs suffered three major hurdles:
1. Motor design concepts and fuel efficiency. The questions of what type of fuel (solid, liquid, gas, combination of any two?) and how to design a cooled, lightweight motor with a 20,000lb thrust remained big problems until the arrival of the acquired German technology soon after WWII ended.
In the meantime, the program produced several parallel developmental variations in efforts to find solutions.
A two-stage system had been configured to solve thrust problems; issued contracts mention TINY TIM as the liquid-propellant booster-rocket for a BUMPER missile. There were PRIVATE A through PRIVATE F systems, and CORPORAL A through CORPORAL F systems. The BUMPER and CORPORAL developmental systems both had WAC (Without Altitude Control) variants. Later documentation mentions CORPORAL and V2 combinations, and I believe this refers to V2 engines that had been brought from Germany and installed in CORPORAL and/or BUMPER missiles.
2. Guidance Problems. Those of us who can clearly remember the non-ballistic German V1 'Doodlebug' ram-jets flying over London during World War II can probably also remember running for the Andersen shelter when the noise of its motor stopped, indicating that its fuel had run out and it was about to dive into the populace and explode.
I can remember at least one instance when we heard the motor re-start, and felt some relief that "At least it wasn't us, this time!"
As far as I know, the only guidance the V1 had was a pressure gauge that kept it at a constant altitude of (I think) 400 feet; its horizontal direction was governed by the launch ramp and the wind, and its range was governed by fuel volume - they were charged with just enough fuel to get them to somewhere, anywhere, in London.
The U.S. Army wanted something a bit more accurate and powerful.
The German V2 ballistic rockets were guided from launch by an Inertial Guidance System (gyroscopes) that could steer them by means of tail fins.The great technological break-through that enabled Verner von Braun and his colleagues to achieve this was the development of a high-temperature composite material that could be used for a steering fin inserted in the exhaust gases of the rocket motor, and the acquisition of this material after the war was a key factor in overcoming the major inertial-guidance stumbling block, otherwise the missile has a really strong and highly undesirable tendency to fall over as soon as the motor is ignited. The same V2 material was used in the CORPORAL system and was accorded the highest secrecy grade of the entire system, as the Russians certainly didn't know about it until after the CORPORAL program was de-classified.
After launch, the V2 basically followed its planned trajectory, kept on track by the IGS and tail-fin steering.
The CORPORAL however was specified to make in-flight course corrections, so a radar beacon and doppler control systems were added to the same V2 tail-fin design to control pitch, yaw and roll. The radar also enabled course tracking - It's nice to know where your expensive artillery has landed.
The very coarse range adjustment during flight was achieved by shutting off the motor approaching apogee and then restarting it a few seconds later for a variable period. To guarantee motor restart at high altitudes, ground-pressure conditions were simulated by a novel burst-diaphragm fuel valve system.
3. Funding Problems. The CORPORAL program suffered from somewhat insecure funding conditions during its entire lifespan due to the unpredictable whims of Congress and the Pentagon. Development funding was entirely cut on two occasions, restored once, and once to divert funds specifically to the SERGEANT program. The direction of CORPORAL technical development varied considerably along the way; at various times it appeared as an anti-aircraft missile or a high-altitude research vehicle, such guises appearing to have been valiant attempts at proposals to salvage the project in the face of potential funding cuts and diversions. We in 27 Regt RA and 47 Regt RA were supplied with CORPORAL Type II missiles. A CORPORAL Type III was planned, but development funding for it was cut completely in 1957. Since CORPORAL Type II funding had been cut the previous year, this Pentagon decision basically killed the entire CORPORAL program in spite of U.S. Army Ordinance requests and desires.
The question of payload was never a serious technical problem. Empirical practical design considerations always lead to a somewhat similar end result, and the CORPORAL payload followed similar weight and volume specifications to the V2. At the end of WWII the Germans were still working on a design to arm the V2 with a nuclear warhead.
Similarly, apart from the various alternatives which never materialised, the basic design concept remained fairly unchanged. The U.S. Army had requested development of a long-range artillery weapon, implying mobile ammunition and randomly selected firing positions. It's not generally known that the V2 achieved this; although the factory was at Peenemunde, the missiles were launched from mobile platforms towed into place by their own fuel trucks, and a large percentage of the V2 rockets aimed at London were launched from within small villages in Holland. The local inhabitants were either shepherded a couple of streets away for a few hours or told to remain hidden indoors, not so much for secrecy as for safety, as at least 20 per cent of the launches failed and damaged property.
The original CORPORAL mobile, guided, design concept as we came to know it had remained pretty much unchanged from the very beginning, and although it started as an independent research project the inclusion of several V2 components after WWII helped considerably in the reduction of development time.
TIMELINE
May 1944
November 1944
December 1944
2 January 1945
February-April 1945
April 1945
25 June 1945
26 September 1945
1 October 1945
11 October 1945
11 October 1945
12 October 1945
19 October 1945
November 1945
6 December 1946
12 December 1946
22 May 1947
May 1947
20 June 1947
13 May 1948
1 November 1948
1949
24 February 1949 This was the first time radio equipment had ever been operated at such extreme altitudes.
21 April 1949
7 June 1949
22 September 1949
18 January 1950
June to July 1950
11 July 1950
24 July 1950
29 July 1950
9 October 1950
December 1950
1951
2 January 1951
January 1951
January 1951
February 1951
30 March 1951
29 June 1951
17 July 1951
July 1951
16 August 1951
10 October 1951
6 December 1951
10 December 1951
January 1952
February-June 1952
March 1952
March 1952
10 March 1952
19 December 1952
30 January 1953 to 22 January 1954
3 February 1953
16 February 1953
11 June 1953
7 July 1953
23 September 1953
19 October 1953
July 54
September 1954
1 January 1955
February 1955
March 1955
20 December 1955
17 January 1956
28 March 1956
Spring 1956
30 June 1956
A total of 12 CORPORAL battalions were activated and provided with Type II equipment, of which 6 battalions (single-fire units) were stationed in Europe; four in Germany and two in Italy. Two others held in the U.S. but scheduled to be deployed were later sent to Germany.
All research and development activities relating to the CORPORAL Type I and II systems were terminated.
23 May 1957
October 1958
1958-1959
April 1958
April 1959
June 1959
June 1960
June 1961
31 March 1963
25 June 1964
1 July 1964
4 April 1965
June 1965
July 1966 To be completed . . . .
John Walker
Note: As the various CORPORAL systems represented the very beginning of the U.S. missile program, almost all of the following events were the first incidents of their type in United States history, and virtually every first flight set at least one performance record.
The U.S. ARMY Ordnance awarded an interim contract to the California Institute of Technology for the research and development of long-range rocket missiles, following a USAO 'Integrated Missile' project.
To implement the contract, C.I.T. formed the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (J.P.L.)
The definitive contract was placed 22 June, 1944, and C.I.T. established the Research and Development Service Sub-Office (Rocket).
Studies, theoretical calculations (including trajectories), and drawings of a tentative CORPORAL system.
A PRIVATE A test missile, a crude step-rocket, was fired at Leach Lake, California.
Approval was granted for the establishment of the first large-thrust rocket motor test station, located at Muroc, California, where it was planned to test the 20,000-pound-thrust CORPORAL motor.
PRIVATES A & F as well as CORPORAL models were subjected to supersonic wind tunnel tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Unsuccessful PRIVATE F firings proved that winged ballistic missiles required guidance control for flight stability.
Work was started on the construction of facilities at the newly acquired White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico.
A WAC CORPORAL with a TINY TIM liquid-propellant rocket booster
was the first rocket to be test fired at White Sands Proving Ground.
It reached an altitude of 43.5 miles.
A WAC CORPORAL A (quarter-charged) with a TINY TIM liquid-propellant rocket booster demonstrated the successful separation of the first and second stages in free-flight.
The first attempt at a nose-release recovery system failed.
WAC CORPORAL A Round 5 was the first U.S. missile to carry
radiosonde equipment (which failed to function), although it did reach a record altitude of 44.6 miles.
The U.S. ARMY'S 1st Guided Missile Battalion was formed at Fort Bliss, Texas.
It would be another 19 months before they got to fire their first missile.
WAC CORPORAL A Round 6 was the first U.S. missile to carry a radar beacon.
The U.S. Government became the owner of J.P.L. with its 31.5 acres of land and facilities.
The first large-thrust rocket motor was tested at the new Muroc test facility, only ten months after construction of the facility was started.
Round 12 of the WAC firings at White Sands Proving
Ground was the first WAC CORPORAL B, with a newly designed, much lighter motor, and oxidizer and fuel burst-diaphragms. Burst-diaphragms proved their
value during the WAC CORPORAL B and BUMPER firings and persisted throughout the CORPORAL
development and deployment phases. Round 12 also had the first successful parachute
operation, and the entire missile was recovered.
WAC CORPORAL B Round 14 demonstrated reliable telemetry.
The first U.S. ballistic missile was successfully
fired. A CORPORAL E, the first U.S. surface-to-surface guided ballistic missile, was powered by the first US-developed and tested large-thrust rocket motor (a scaled-up WAC motor). It accepted guidance corrections and attained an altitude of 24.4 miles and a range of 63.5 miles.
Battery D, 1st Guided Missile
Battalion of the U.S. Army, became the first all-soldier crew ever to fire a missile in the United
States. They fired a WAC CORPORAL B.
U.S.A.O. established development of a two-stage research
vehicle, the BUMPER, which was to consist of the WAC B mated to the German V-2 or A-4, as part of the General Electric Inc HERMES Project.
BUMPER Round 1, with a partially charged,
solid-propellant second stage (Dummy WAC), was successfully fired at White Sands Proving
Ground. This was the first large, two-stage rocket to be launched in the Western
hemisphere. Inflight separation was successful.
BUMPER WAC Round 4 was the first U.S. missile to
have a burst-diaphragm over the exhaust nozzle, designed to ensure proper motor starting
conditions at high altitudes by preserving ground-atmospheric conditions for second-stage
start.
Seven CORPORAL E airframes were produced by Douglas Aircraft Company to be used in the research and development firings, with J.P.L. installing the guidance and control components.
A U.S. missile first penetrated outer space.
BUMPER WAC CORPORAL Round 5 was :
the first missile to be used to measure temperatures at extreme altitudes;
the first to carry telemetry which transmitted to ground stations technical information concerning conditions encountered during flight;
and the first to demonstrate the feasibility of the separation of two-stage rockets at very high altitudes.
Round 5 attained a speed of 5,150 miles per hour and an altitude of about 244 miles, the greatest velocity and highest altitude ever reached by a man-made object at that time.
BUMPER WAC Round 6 was the first U.S. test
vehicle designed to obtain cosmic ray data at altitudes unattainable by other rockets, although the first stage V-2 motor failed.
CORPORAL E Round 4 proved CORPORAL's modified
propulsion system, (including newly designed, axially cooled, 125-pound motor). This was
basically the same system persisting all the way to the tactical CORPORAL.
U.S.A.O. decided to modify the CORPORAL E to fill the requirement for an interim guided missile system. This was designated the CORPORAL Type I, the first U.S. tactical guided missile.
In the face of potential program budget cuts, the hope was that rushing a missile system into military service would justify continued development funding.
J.P.L. was directed by the U.S.A.O. Chief of Ordnance to
expedite CORPORALdevelopment toward the goal of interim tactical guided missile.
The 1st Guided Missile Group
participated in the preparation for firing of BUMPER Rounds 7 and 8 at the Long Range
Proving Ground, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
CORPORAL E Round 5 was the first to carry J.P.L.'s
electronic autopilot, together with some elements of a modified ground guidance system
used to expedite the early operational status of the CORPORAL as an interim tactical
missile.
BUMPER 8, a V-2 and WAC CORPORAL combination, was
the first Army missile launched at Cape Canaveral.
BUMPER Round 7, fired at Cape Cacveral, broke the WAC's previous record in
velocity, attaining 8,213 feet per second in the dense atmosphere of a low altitude.
Douglas received a contract for fabricating 20
CORPORAL missiles to be used in J.P.L.'s research and development firings.
CORPORAL was the first U.S. missile to be approved
as an atomic warhead carrier.
One 12-inch supersonic (Mach 3.5) wind tunnel and another of 20 inches (Mach 4.8) were completed.
U.S.A.O. awarded J.P.L. the first definitive contract for the development of a complete (CORPORAL) missile system .
CORPORAL E Round 7 was the first of the series to carry the newly developed inflight shutoff.
The U.S. Army's authority for CORPORAL was assigned to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
J.P.L. formed the first publications group to document technical data for use in manuals for CORPORAL.
A Request for Quotation was issued for production of 200 missiles and prototype ground equipment
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was informed that it would be the production contractor for the first 200 CORPORAL missiles.
Redstone Arsenal awarded the initial CORPORAL I
production contract, a letter order amounting to $6,888,796 to Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.
J.P.L.'s CORPORAL School prepared to get under way, with 5 Ordnance and 5 Field Forces personnel taking part. This was the first officially initiated school purely for missile training.
O.C.O. delegated Redstone Arsenal responsibility for the coordination and supervision of research and development for the CORPORAL program.
CORPORAL E Round 11 was the first to carry the
delta fin configuration, the basic pattern of the tactical CORPORAL.
CORPORAL E Flight 11 was the second U.S. missile
to have the delta fin configuration and the first to carry elements of the warhead
equipment. Prototype Doppler radar and computer equipment were also employed on this
flight.
A contract for 200 CORPORAL Type I missiles, spare
parts, and documentation was placed with Firestone, replacing the letter order of 17 July
1951.
A combined NIKE and CORPORAL Direct Support Company
was approved. The CORPORAL section was later designated the 96th Ordnance
Direct Support Company, CORPORAL, and became the first Direct Support Company to go
overseas.
A study was made by JPL on the feasibility of the CORPORAL as an antiaircraft missile.
The Provisional Redstone Guided Missile School was established at Redstone Arsenal.
Three U.S. Army CORPORAL battalions were activated.
The first guided missile training programs began at Redstone Arsenal for the CORPORAL and NIKE systems.
D.O.D. approved the procurement of 465 CORPORAL Type II missiles to
arm 6 battalions, each with 2 firing batteries.
Engineer-user program of firing 14 CORPORAL Type I missiles was completed.
U.S. Army Military personnel fired their first CORPORAL missile.
The Ordnance Guided Missile School (OGMS),
Redstone Arsenal, was designated as a DA service school and a Class II activity.
Gilfillan Brothers, Inc., contracted with U.S.A.O. to redesign the CORPORAL guidance system, later known as the CORPORAL IA, as well as to continue component improvements leading to the CORPORAL III.
The CORPORAL I tactical equipment was used in firing a CORPORAL missile.
The first Maintenance Plan for a guided missile and associated equipment was published and distributed to the Army.
A supplemental agreement to the 11 June 53
Gilfillan contract provided for the development and fabrication of prototype models of
improved ground and missile guidance and control equipment to be known as the CORPORAL Type III.
The CORPORAL I was first issued to U.S. Army troops.
An agreement was reached between the United States and the United Kingdom in which the United States agreed to furnish the UK with 113 CORPORAL Type II missiles and associated ground equipment. These were the first
U.S. guided missiles destined for service in a foreign country and used by a foreign
power. Later, British Army personnel underwent training at OGMS, Fort Bliss, and White
Sands Proving Ground as a cadre to set up missile training in a planned service school at 5 (Trg) Battalion, RE.M.E. in Arborfield, Berkshire.
Development of the CORPORAL atomic warhead was passed from the Atomic Energy Commission to the Office, Chief of Ordnance (O.C.O.).
The first CORPORAL battalion - the 259th CORPORAL Battalion, and the 96th Direct Support Company, which were equipped with CORPORAL Type I hardware, were deployed in Germany.
A contract was executed with Firestone for 113 CORPORAL Type IIA missiles and associated equipment to be supplied to the United Kingdom.
Modification of the Gilfillan contract provided for the incorporation of the Type IIA guidance components on all missile production beginning in January 1957.
The U.S.A.O. Chief of Ordnance directed the Redstone Arsenal Commander to continue the CORPORAL Type III program to provide an "on-the-shelf" item.
Redstone Arsenal presented a plan for a "shelf-item" program for the CORPORAL Type III.
The 259th CORPORAL Battalion was
replaced in Europe by units equipped with CORPORAL Type II systems.
Gilfillan completed one tactical prototype model of the CORPORAL Type III ground guidance equipment and missile test truck.
The CORPORAL Type III program was terminated
due to limited research and development funds. The excuse was the encouraging rate of progress on the development of
the SERGEANT missile system, which needed better funding.
Industrial Engineering Flight Test Program for the CORPORAL was terminated.
The CORPORAL IIB in production.
47 Regt, Royal Artillery, equipped with CORPORAL Type II systems at Crookham Common, UK.
27 Regt, Royal Artillery, equipped with CORPORAL Type II systems at Crookham Common, UK.
Both regiments are organised roughly along the lines of the American forces, with two artillery firing batteries, although unlike the Americans each regiment had its own technical support group (R.E.M.E.) that travelled with the batteries.
47 Regt, Royal Artillery, deployed to Napier Barracks, Germany.
The CORPORAL became the first ballistic missile to
be destroyed by another missile, after a NIKE HERCULES anti-aircraft guided missile tracked it and shot
it down off the coast of California.
27 Regt, Royal Artillery, deployed to Napier Barracks, Germany
The CORPORAL weapon system phased out of the field as the SERGEANT became available.
The first U.S. Army CORPORAL battalion to be posted in Europe was de-activated.
The last remaining U.S. Army CORPORAL artillery unit was disbanded.
The CORPORAL missile system was reclassified by the U.S. Government as
'obsolete'.
The U.S. Government completely de-classified all publications, equipment and specifications regarding the CORPORAL missile system. The entire system passed into the public domain.
47 Regt, Royal Artillery was de-commissioned and re-equipped with THUNDERBIRD missiles.
27 Regt, Royal Artillery was de-commissioned.
2 July, 2007