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 I ...

Corporation. The Quail was designed to be launched by the

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and its original

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

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 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 bombers to penetrate air-defense systems. The projects initiated under this effort included the MX-2223, which produced the

XSM-73 Goose The Fairchild SM-73 (originally Bull Goose) was a sub-sonic, jet-powered, ground-launched decoy cruise missile. Development Starting in December 1952, Fairchild began concept studies for a ground-launched long range decoy missile that could s ...

, a long range ground-launched jet-powered, decoy cruise missile; and MX-2224, which produced the

XGAM-71 Buck Duck The Convair XGAM-71 Buck Duck was an air-launched decoy missile that was developed by Convair in the early 1950s. It was intended to have the same radar signature as the Strategic Air Command's B-36 bomber, thereby allowing it to disrupt th ...

, an air-launched

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

powered decoy missile to equip the

Convair B-36 The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was 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. It had the longest win ...

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

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 operational ...

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 North ...

. 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 and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wr ...

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 sys ...

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- ...

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

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

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), 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 back to the source. ...

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 ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

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) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

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 and no horizontal stabilizer. A slab-sided

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

and two sets of vertical stabilizers contributed to the GAM-72s ability to simulate the

of a bomber. 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. 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 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 detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

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 primar ...

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 mustard) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving fluid, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is churning. The term sli ...

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, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...

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 as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

. 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,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States where the 4135th Strategic

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

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 http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/usafserials.html (1957, 1959, 1960 & 1961) 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

Boeing B-52D-40-BW (SN 56-0695) in flight launching Quail decoy 061127-F-1234S-011

Although originally planned for deployment with the

B-47 The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircr ...

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 Eglin Air Force Base, 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. Som ...

or a chaff 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 wrote the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force "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

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocke ...

s produced *GAM-72A – 592

s produced. *GAM-72B – Upgrade to remaining GAM-72A

s. *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-20C S/N 69–700 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 the ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

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

Bossier City Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area. In 2020, it had a ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, 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 The Aerospace Museum of California is a private non-profit aviation museum located in North Highlands, California, outside of Sacramento, California, on the grounds of the former McClellan Air Force Base. The museum has a 4.5-acre outdoor Air Pa ...

, former

McClellan Air Force Base McClellan Air Force Base (1935–2001) is a former United States Air Force base located in the North Highlands area of Sacramento County, northeast of Sacramento, California. History For the vast majority of its operational lifetime, McClell ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States. *ADM-20 S/N 59-2249 located at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum,

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 statio ...

, 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, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

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

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

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

Hill Aerospace Museum Hill Aerospace Museum is a military aviation museum located at Hill Air Force Base in Roy, Utah. It is dedicated to the history of the base and aviation in Utah. History Preparations for a museum began in 1984, when ground was broken on an "Ae ...

, Hill Air Force Base, Ogden,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

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

Tyler Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

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

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, United States. *ADM-20C located at the

Pima Air & Space Museum The Pima Air & Space Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the world's largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (320,000 m²) on a campus oc ...

adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States. *ADM-20C S/N 60-374 located in the Oakland Aviation Museum, Oakland, California, United States. *ADM-20C S/N 60-755 located in the Southern Museum of Flight,

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

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...

, 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, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast o ...

, Warner Robins,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, United States.

References

Citations

Bibliography

''McDonnell ADM-20 Quail''
Fact Sheet from the National Museum of the USAF

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
''"QUAIL" AERIAL DECOY''
Hill Air Force Base Website, retrieved October 6, 2007

Greg Goebel / In The Public Domain Website, retrieved October 6, 2007
''Evolution of the Cruise Missile''
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, {{Authority control 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