AAM-A-1 Firebird

The AAM-A-1 Firebird was an early American air-to-air missile, developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company. The first air-to-air missile program developed for the United States Air Force, the Firebird was extensively tested in the late 1940s; although it proved successful in testing, it was soon obsolete due to the rapid advances in aircraft and missile technology at the time and did not enter production.

Design and development

The AAM-A-1 project began in 1946 with the awarding of a study contract, under the designation MX-799, to the Ryan Aeronautical Company for the development of a subsonic air-to-air missile, which would be used by interceptor aircraft for the destruction of enemy bombers. A contract for the development of the missile, designated AAM-A-1 Firebird, was awarded in 1947.

The AAM-A-1 Firebird was a two-stage weapon, fitted with cruciform wings and tailfins. Control was by differential motion of the wings; the tailfins were fixed. The missile's fuselage was constructed from aluminum alloy, while the nosecone and control fins were molded from plastic. Firebird was fitted with a solid-fuel booster rocket providing initial thrust, before a liquid-fuel sustainer rocket ignited for a 15-second powered flight time.

Guidance was provided during midcourse flight by radio command, with an operator in the launching aircraft transmitting corrections to the missile. Terminal guidance used active radar homing, with a small radar set fitted in the nose of the missile, with the missile's warhead being detonated by a proximity fuze, a backup impact fuze also being fitted.