| Martin | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
TM-76 /
MGM-13 / CGM-13 Mace
|
||||||||||||||||||||
%20(8X4).JPG) |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Photo:
Robert Deering 10/18/2012 National Museum of the USAF Wright-Paterson AFB (FFO) Dayton, Ohio |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
A replacement for the
TM-61A Matador, the Mace was a
tactical surface-launched missile designed to destroy
ground targets. Initially designated the TM-76, then the
MGM-13, and finally the CGM-13B, the Mace could be
launched from either a mobile trailer or a bomb-proof
shelter. Like the Matador, a booster rocket launched the
Mace, and a jet engine propelled it to the target.
Development of the Mace began in 1954, and the first test firing occurred in 1956. The first version of the Mace, the "A," employed a terrain-matching radar guidance system known as ATRAN (Automatic Terrain Recognition And Navigation) which matched the return from a radar scanning antenna was matched with a series of onboard radar terrain "maps." The guidance system corrected the flight path if it deviated from the maps. In the spring of 1959 the U.S. Air Force deployed the "A" version in Europe, and they remained in service until the mid-1960s. Afterward, some became target drones because their size and performance characteristics resembled those of a manned aircraft. Development of the "B" model began in 1959. In addition to having a jam-proof inertial guidance system, the CGM-13B had twice the range of the earlier version. Initial deployments of the CGM-13B to operational units started in 1961, and they remained operational in Europe and the Pacific until the early 1970s. The Mace "B" on display was based on Okinawa prior to its delivery to the museum in 1971. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
