The Bell X-9 Shrike was a prototype
surface-to-air
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-a ...
,
liquid-fueled guided missile
A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of Propulsion, self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor.
Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a targ ...
designed by
Bell Aircraft
The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many i ...
as a testbed for the nuclear-armed
GAM-63 RASCAL. It is named after the
shrike
Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in two genera.
The family name, and that of the larger genus, '' Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also known ...
, a family of birds.
Testing
Thirty-one X-9 rockets were delivered, flying from April 1949 to January 1953. The program was used to gather aerodynamic and stability data, and to test guidance and propulsion systems for the RASCAL.
None of the missiles survived testing. The only known remaining fragment of an X-9 is part of a
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 ...
, at the
Larry Bell Museum in
Mentone, Indiana.
Specifications (X-9)
General characteristics:
*
Length
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, ...
: 22 ft 9 in (6.9 m)
*
Wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...
: 7 ft 10 in (2.4 m)
*
Diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...
: 1 ft 10 in (0.56 m)
* Wing area: 70 ft
2 (6.5 m
2)
* Weight (empty): 2,125 lb (964 kg)
* Weight (loaded): 3,500 lb (1,588 kg)
*
Propulsion
Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...
:
Bell XLR65-BA-1 liquid-fuel rocket engine, 3,000 lbf (13.3 kN) thrust
Performance:
* Maximum
speed
In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...
:
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 ...
2.0
*
Range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
: 50 mi (80 km)
*
Service ceiling: 12.3 mi (19.8 km)
*
Rate of climb
In aeronautics, the rate of climb (RoC) is an aircraft's vertical speed, that is the positive or negative rate of altitude change with respect to time. In most ICAO member countries, even in otherwise metric countries, this is usually expressed ...
: m/min (ft/min)
*
Wing loading
In aerodynamics, wing loading is the total weight of an aircraft or flying animal divided by the area of its wing. The stalling speed, takeoff speed and landing speed of an aircraft are partly determined by its wing loading.
The faster an airc ...
: kg/m
2 ( lb/ft
2)
*
Thrust/weight:
See also
*
Bell GAM-63, a related development
*
List of experimental aircraft
References
''American X-Vehicles''(PDF)
External links
*
{{USAF early missiles
Experimental missiles