HISTORY - Page 46
Although there was considerable lost motion, that is,
from a planning standpoint, hardware work and
training progressed rapidly during 1958. SAC activated
its 864th Strategic Missile Squadron (SMS), later
redesignated as Technical Training Squadron (TTS), on
15 January at ABMA. This unit began its training
program in March. This was followed by activations of
the 865th on 2 June and the 866th on 1 September. As
to the hardware, the first IOC weapon, Missile 101, was
delivered to the Air Force on 28 August, a week before
the scheduled date, and deliveries of Missiles 102, 103,
and 104 were made in September. Moreover, on 18
May, the Navy recovered a tactical JUPITER nose cone,
proving that ABMA had been correct in its ablation
theory. Yet, although men were trained and missiles
were ready at the end of December, there was no
place to go, as agreements with host nations had not
been signed
61
.
V. THE MISSILE
Description
With its travels from service to service, the
configuration of the Army's long-range or IRBM missile
changed significantly. As first conceived, when it
would have been used exclusively by the Army, its
suggested length was better than 92 feet. The
entrance of the Navy into the program forced a drastic
change in order to make the missile more compatible
with Naval operations. In fact, the Navy's goal was a
missile as near to 50 feet in length as possible, but the
final figure was 58 feet and a diameter of 105 inches,
or 10 inches greater than the Army-planned missile.
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61. Hist, ABMA, Jan-Jun 58, pp. 49-50, 74-76; Hist, ABMA, Jul-Dec 58, pp. 10-12.