The McDonnell ADM-20 Quail was a subsonic, jet powered, air-launched decoy cruise missile built by

McDonnell Aircraft The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom II ...

Corporation. The Quail was designed to be launched by the

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic aircraft, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the ...

strategic bomber and its original

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

designation was GAM-72 (GAM standing for Guided Aircraft Missile). Quail contained electronics and radar reflectors intended to make it indistinguishable from a B-52 approaching at low altitude. This would force Soviet defenses to divide their missiles and interceptors between multiple targets, reducing the chance that a bomber would be targeted. Design of an improved version of Quail began in January 1968, with the system being termed the Subsonic Cruise Aircraft Decoy. This program incorporated several significant changes to the starting design before the

AGM-86 ALCM The AGM-86 ALCM is an American Aerodynamics#Incompressible aerodynamics, subsonic air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) built by Boeing and operated by the United States Air Force. This missile was developed to increase the effectiveness and surviv ...

was created.

Development

In 1955 the USAF started a major effort to construct decoy missiles. The goal of this effort was to improve the ability of

strategic bomber A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range Penetrator (aircraft), penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unl ...

s to penetrate air-defense systems. The projects initiated under this effort included the MX-2223, which produced the XSM-73 Goose, a long range ground-launched jet-powered, decoy cruise missile; and MX-2224, which produced the XGAM-71 Buck Duck, an air-launched

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

powered decoy missile to equip the

Convair B-36 The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built, although it was exceeded in span ...

. The USAF was at the same time developing the XQ-4 as a

supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operation ...

to support the

Bomarc Missile Program The Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc ("Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center") (IM-99 Weapon System prior to September 1962) was a supersonic ramjet powered long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) used during the Cold War for the air defense of Nor ...

. A requirement was established by the USAF Power Plant Laboratory at

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patte ...

to support follow-on production of the XQ-4. This requirement called for a small jet engine in the 2,000 lbf (8.9 kN)

thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that ...

class with a high

thrust-to-weight ratio Thrust-to-weight ratio is a dimensionless ratio of thrust to weight of a rocket, jet engine, propeller engine, or a vehicle propelled by such an engine that is an indicator of the performance of the engine or vehicle. The instantaneous thrust-to-w ...

of 10:1. On November 28, 1954 General Electric was awarded a USAF development

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

to construct the XJ-85-GE-1. The USAF designated the XJ85 project MX-2273. During April 1955, the USAF began a program to develop a short range air-launched decoy missile to simulate the

radar cross section Radar cross-section (RCS), denoted σ, also called radar signature, is a measure of how detectable an object is by radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected. An object reflects a limited amount of radar energy b ...

of a bomber. On January 18, 1956, the USAF released General Operational Requirement (GOR) 139.

Design

McDonnell Aircraft Corporation submitted a design which included a cropped-delta-wing decoy constructed largely of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

and carried internally within a B-52. The following month on February 1, 1956, the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was awarded a

to develop Weapon System 122A which included the GAM-72 ''Green Quail'' missile. In June 1956

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

was selected as the engine contractor for the GAM-72. Guidance components were built by Summers Gyroscope and the countermeasures equipment by Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation. The GAM-72 was designed with a high-mounted

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (letter), delta (Δ). Although long studied, the delta wing did not find significant practical applications unti ...

and no

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lifting surface located on the tail ( empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

. A slab-sided

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

and two sets of

vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, sta ...

s contributed to the GAM-72s ability to simulate the

of a

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

. Initially the GAM-72 was powered by a YJ85-GE-1. This jet engine produced 1,900-2,100 lbf (8.5-9.3 kN) of

with a

goal of (4.6:1) to (5:1). The GAM-72s guidance system could be pre-programmed on the ground to execute two turns and one speed change during a flight time of 45 to 55 minutes. Flight duration depended on

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

. The GAM-72 was designed to operate at altitudes between 35,000 ft (10,668 m) to 50,000 ft (15,240 m) at speeds between

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

0.75 to Mach 0.9. Range varied between 357 nm and 445 nm (661 to 716 km), also depending on altitude. Two GAM-72s with folded wings and stabilizers were packaged together for mounting in the bomber weapons bay. Before launch the bomber's

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

lowered the GAM-72 using a retractable arm from the airplane's weapons bay into the

slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...

below the aircraft. The wings and stabilizers of the GAM-72 were unfolded, the jet engine was started, and the missile was launched. Flight testing of the XGAM-72 began in July 1957 at

Holloman Air Force Base Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, which is the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. The b ...

and the adjacent

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity t ...

. Initially testing involved the XGAM-72 being captively carried by a B-52. The first glide flight of the XGAM-72 occurred in November 1957. Three test launches were completed in 1957. The first successful powered flight of the XGAM-72 occurred in August 1958. This flight lasted 14 minutes and covered 103 nautical miles (191 km). A total of ten test flights occurred in 1958, seventeen flights in 1959, with the final four flights being completed in 1960. Operational testing then moved to

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States where the 4135th Strategic

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

launched a GAM-72 on June 8, 1960. McDonnell Aircraft received a production contract for the GAM-72A on December 31, 1958. Reliability problems encountered during testing resulted in McDonnell replacing the J85-GE-3 with the J85-GE-7 engine in the production GAM-72A. The GAM-72A was also about 200 lb (90 kg) heavier than the GAM-72. This increase in weight when combined with a slightly smaller wing area reduced the maximum range of the GAM-72A to 402 statute miles (647 km). The first production GAM-72A flight was in March 1960. The final GAM-72A was delivered by McDonnell Aircraft on May 28, 1962. A total of 585 GAM-72A missiles were produced by McDonnell Aircraft. The inventory of GAM-72As in the USAF peaked at 492 in 1963. During 1963 all remaining GAM-72A missiles were modified to the GAM-72B configuration. In 1963 the GAM-72 was re-designated the ADM-20

Operational history

Although originally planned for deployment with the B-47 and the B-52, the GAM-72A was only deployed with the B-52. The first production GAM-72A was delivered to the 4135th Strategic

, at

, Florida, on September 13, 1960. Initial operational capability was reached on February 1, 1961, when the first squadron of the 4135th Strategic Wing was equipped with the GAM-72A. On January 1, 1962 B-52 aircraft carried the GAM-72A decoy on airborne alert for the first time. Full operational capability was reached when the GAM-72A was deployed with the fourteenth and final B-52 squadron on April 15, 1962. The operational version of the GAM-72 carried internal radar reflectors facing forward and to each side of the aircraft. Up to 100 lb (45 kg) of payload could be accommodated internally by the GAM-72. This internal space could be used to house a radar

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some ...

or a

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

dispenser. An infrared burner in the tail could produce intense heat to simulate the heat signature of a bomber. The GAM-72 was not armed. Eight GAM-72A decoys could be accommodated in the B-52's weapons bay but the normal decoy load was two. Ground radar continued to improve, and the effectiveness of the GAM-72B, redesignated in 1963 as the ADM-20C, decreased over time. The AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile (SRAM) allowed bombers to attack air-defense systems from a distance. By 1971, the USAF no longer considered the ADM-20C a credible decoy. The commander of the

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

wrote the

Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force The chief of staff of the Air Force ( acronym: CSAF, or AF/CC) is the service chief of the United States Air Force. They are the principal military advisor to the secretary of the Air Force on matter pertaining to the Air Force. They are a m ...

"that the Quail was only slightly better than nothing." The last ADM-20C operational test was flown at Eglin Air Force Base on July 13, 1972. On June 30, 1978, the last ADM-20C came off alert status. The last ADM-20C was removed from the United States Air Force inventory on December 15, 1978.

Variants

*GAM-72 – 24 test missiles produced *GAM-72A – 592 missiles produced. *GAM-72B – Upgrade to remaining GAM-72A missiles *ADM-20A – GAM-72 re-designated in June 1963 *ADM-20B – GAM-72A re-designated in June 1963 *ADM-20C – GAM-72B re-designated in June 1963

Operator

* **

The number of GAM-72As in service, by year:

Survivors

ADM-20C-40-MC_Quail_decoy_missile_at_NMUSAF

*ADM-20B S/N 60–700 located in the

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, United States. *ADM-20 S/N 61-347 located in the Eighth Air Force Museum,

Barksdale Air Force Base Barksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, in northwest Louisiana. Much of the base is within the city limits of Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwest ...

Bossier City, Louisiana Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state, state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area ...

, United States. *ADM-20 S/N 60-593 located in the Eighth Air Force Museum, Barksdale Air Force Base. *ADM-20 located in the Aerospace Museum of California, former

McClellan Air Force Base McClellan Air Force Base (1935–2001) is a former United States Air Force base in California, located in the North Highlands, California, North Highlands area of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County, northeast of Sacramento, Califo ...

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. *ADM-20 S/N 59-2249 located at the

Air Force Space & Missile Museum The Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum (formerly the Air Force Space and Missile Museum) is located at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 26, Launch Complex 26 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. It includes artifacts from the early American ...

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

, United States. *ADM-20 located at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum, Ashland, Nebraska, United States. *ADM-20 S/N 60-505 located at the

South Dakota Air and Space Museum South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Ellsworth Air Force Base Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located about northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of the town of Box Elder. The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW). Assigned to the Glob ...

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, United States. *ADM-20 S/N 59-2245 located in the Armed Forces and Aerospace Museum,

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, United States. *ADM-20C S/N 61-633 located in the Hill Aerospace Museum,

Hill Air Force Base Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force (USAF) base located in Davis County, Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and bordering the Cities of Layton, Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, and Sunset with its largest border immediately adja ...

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

, United States. *ADM-20C located in the Historic Aviation Memorial Museum,

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, United States. *ADM-20C S/N 61-414 located at the K. I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum in Gwinn, Michigan, United States. *ADM-20C located at the

Pima Air & Space Museum The Pima Air & Space Museum is an aerospace museum in Tucson, Arizona, US. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over on a campus occupying . It has also been the home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991. Overv ...

adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,

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, United States. *ADM-20C S/N 60-374 located in the Oakland Aviation Museum,

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California, United States. *ADM-20C S/N 60-755 located in the

Southern Museum of Flight The Southern Museum of Flight is a civilian aviation museum Birmingham, Alabama. The facility features nearly 100 aircraft, as well as engines, models, artifacts, photographs, and paintings. In addition, the Southern Museum of Flight is home ...

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, United States. *ADM-20C S/N 61-455 located in the Lone Star Flight Museum,

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

, United States. *ADM-20 S/N 64-2573 located in the Museum of Aviation,

Robins Air Force Base Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, Georgia, Warner Robins, south-southea ...

, Warner Robins,

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, United States.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* , Fact Sheet from the National Museum of the USAF
''McDonald ADM-20 Quail Missile''
Strategic-Air-Command.com Website, retrieved October 1, 2007 * , AMMS ALUMNI Website, retrieved October 2, 2007 * , AMMS ALUMNI Website, retrieved October 6, 2007 * , Historic Aviation Memorial Museum Website, retrieved October 3, 2007 * , Hill Air Force Base Website, retrieved October 6, 2007 * , Greg Goebel / In The Public Domain Website, retrieved October 6, 2007 * , Kenneth P. Warrell, Air University Press USAF, 1985.

Web Page by the Federation of American Scientists, retrieved October 6, 2007 * , Historical Essay by Andreas Parsch, Encyclopedia Astronautica website, retrieved October 6, 2007

Designations Systems Website, retrieved October 6, 2007 * ''The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines'', William Fleming and Richard Leyes, AIAA, 1999, {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonnell ADM-20 Quail ADM-20 1950s United States special-purpose aircraft Unmanned military aircraft of the United States Single-engined jet aircraft High-wing aircraft Tailless aircraft Decoy missiles of the United States Cold War weapons of the United States Cruise missiles of the Cold War Cruise missiles of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1960s