Sir Frank Whittle and the Regulus Missile

[tdracer]

So, what's the connection between Frank Whittle and the Regulus? Simple - Amazon Prime.
I went on Amazon Prime tonight to watch an unrelated movie, but Amazon is smart and know I tend to watch a lot of military and weapon related stuff. Sure enough, on the 'recommended' list it popped up "Whittle: The Jet Pioneer" and "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines". Both currently available without additional charge on Amazon Prime (making the assumption here that the 'free' stuff on Amazon Prime is reasonably consistent in different countries).
'Whittle' was great - tells the story of his invention of the jet engine, with lots of first person interview stuff with Frank and other contemporaries. I already know the basic story, but this really filled in the blanks and elaborated on the gory details.
A couple months ago, I was in New York City and visited the Intrepid Air Museum - which includes the USS Growler submarine. I consider myself pretty well informed on the history of weapon systems - particularly the US weapons during and post WW II. But when I walked into the 'hangar' of the Growler I was stunned - I had no knowledge of the Regulus missile system (basically the first nuclear armed sub launched cruise missile). For those as much in the dark as I was, the Growler sub carried four nuclear armed Regulus cruise missiles in a separate, water tight 'hangar' on the bow of the sub. The Regulus armed subs patrolled of the coast of the USSR as part of the US "MAD" deterrent - eventually replaced when the Polaris armed 'boomer' subs came on line. They could surface and launch a Regulus missile with 15 minutes if so ordered.
The "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines" program added considerably to what I learned about the Regulus - well worth the time to watch.
As noted, both available at no charge to Amazon Prime subscribers.

[GordonR_Cape]

Many obscure but significant topics have been covered in great detail on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSM-N-8_Regulus

Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Growler_(SSG-577)

[meleagertoo]

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/275x183/images_8fc575ea25cd37c4cb7834726b6bef968443bbfb.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/170x125/unknown_e51f4544427dfc8b7060c884b376eb1c6711e170.jpeg


Wittle!!!

Gawdelpus!


Fixed: Senior Pilot

[Tengah Type]

In the early 70s the Varsity Squadron of the Air Electronics and Air Engineer School had a inshore patrol war role. The main aim was to look for USSR Whiskey(?) Class submarines equipped with their equivalent of Regulus.(SSN 3?). These had to surface to launch the missiles, which it took about 15 mins to do. Our brief was, if we saw one surfaced, to prevent it from firing its missiles. Our sole armament was a Very Pistol. So, to prevent the missile launch, there was only one thing to do. Ram it!

[Rosevidney1]

And there are those who accuse our military leaders of timidity and lack of vision...……………...

[BEagle]

TT, didn't your Pigs have the fearsome 24 x 25 lb smoke and flash bomb panniers?

Or maybe HQ thought that they had, having noted that the Varsity was also used by the Billy Cotton Band Show to train V-bomber bomb aimers?

The thought of Ivan struggling with a Reguluski watching in amazement as a Pig came droning in determined to stop the missile launch was rather amusing. Would most of the crew have bailed out, leaving one pilot to attempt to ram the Shaddock? Maybe that's the origin of "Hack the Shad."?

[Tengah Type]

BEagle

No bombs or racks at Topcliffe - Not a lot of use against a submarine anyway. I was, apart from a Polish WW2 veteran, the only one of the navs to have dropped bombs before. None of the pilots, apart from another Polish veteran, had done it.

Regarding whether most of the crew baled out or not depended on the circumstances. But I suppose we would have, if only to provide the evidence for the award of a posthumous decoration for the pilot. No gongs for the rear crew cannon fodder of course.

[cooperplace]

So, what's the connection between Frank Whittle and the Regulus? Simple - Amazon Prime.
I went on Amazon Prime tonight to watch an unrelated movie, but Amazon is smart and know I tend to watch a lot of military and weapon related stuff. Sure enough, on the 'recommended' list it popped up "Whittle: The Jet Pioneer" and "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines". Both currently available without additional charge on Amazon Prime (making the assumption here that the 'free' stuff on Amazon Prime is reasonably consistent in different countries).
'Whittle' was great - tells the story of his invention of the jet engine, with lots of first person interview stuff with Frank and other contemporaries. I already know the basic story, but this really filled in the blanks and elaborated on the gory details.
A couple months ago, I was in New York City and visited the Intrepid Air Museum - which includes the USS Growler submarine. I consider myself pretty well informed on the history of weapon systems - particularly the US weapons during and post WW II. But when I walked into the 'hangar' of the Growler I was stunned - I had no knowledge of the Regulus missile system (basically the first nuclear armed sub launched cruise missile). For those as much in the dark as I was, the Growler sub carried four nuclear armed Regulus cruise missiles in a separate, water tight 'hangar' on the bow of the sub. The Regulus armed subs patrolled of the coast of the USSR as part of the US "MAD" deterrent - eventually replaced when the Polaris armed 'boomer' subs came on line. They could surface and launch a Regulus missile with 15 minutes if so ordered.
The "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines" program added considerably to what I learned about the Regulus - well worth the time to watch.
As noted, both available at no charge to Amazon Prime subscribers.

td, I always enjoy your posts, but I wish you'd posted this a year earlier. I spent some time in NYC in jan this year, and if I'd known about the Intrepid museum I'd have been there like a shot.
Please keep up your interesting & informative posts.

[gileraguy]

Interesting stuff. While the missiles strongly resemble contemporary aircraft of the time, neither the SSM8 Regulus or the SSM9 Regulus II appears to have a horizontal stabilizer. How would these cruise missiles stabilize themselves in the verticle plane?

[tdracer]

td, I always enjoy your posts, but I wish you'd posted this a year earlier. I spent some time in NYC in jan this year, and if I'd known about the Intrepid museum I'd have been there like a shot.
Please keep up your interesting & informative posts.

Thanks for the kind words - I do appreciate it. As for NYC, this was the first time I actually visited NYC (other than to change planes) - piggybacked a work visit that my wife's sister's husband was making that kindly shared his hotel room with my wife and I. In addition to the Intrepid, we visited the WTC/9/11 Memorial and went up in the Empire State Building (my feet and knees were pretty sore from all the walking :sad:).
As for the Intrepid - if you're interesting in aircraft carriers, there are vintage aircraft carrier based museums in other US coastal cities - cities that I'd rather visit than NYC.
Museum Aircraft Carriers (http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/helpers/museum.htm)
The aviation portion of the Intrepid was not that impressive - there are far better aviation museums in the US.
In no particular order these are - IMHO - the best aviation museums in the US:
Smithsonian Air and Space (Washington DC off the capital mall)
Smithsonian Air and Space Udvar-Hazy (Virginia, next to Dulles airport)
National Museum of the USAF (Wright-Patterson AFB, outside Dayton, Ohio)
Museum of Flight (at Boeing Field, just south of Seattle, Washington)