The GAM-67 Crossbow was a turbojet-powered
anti-radar missile
An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be t ...
built by
Northrop's Ventura Division, the successor to the
Radioplane Company who developed the Crossbow's predecessor, the
Q-1 target drone.
Development
In the late 1940s, the Radioplane Company developed a set of prototypes of the
Q-1 target series, which used pulsejet or small turbojet engines. Although the Q-1 series was not put into production as a target, it did evolve into the USAF RP-54D / XB-67 / XGAM-67 Crossbow anti-radar missile, which was first flown in 1956. It was also considered as a platform for reconnaissance, electronic countermeasures, and decoy roles.
The Crossbow had a cigar-shaped fuselage, straight wings, a straight twin-fin tail, and an engine inlet under the belly. It was powered by a
Continental J69 turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...
engine, with 4.41 kN (450 kgf/1,000 lbf) thrust. Two Crossbows could be carried by a
Boeing B-50 Superfortress bomber, while four Crossbows could be carried by a Boeing
B-47 Stratojet
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 aircraft. ...
bomber.
The Crossbow's speed was not enough to allow it to get far ahead of the launching bomber before it ran out of fuel. Only 14 Crossbows were built before the program was cancelled in 1957, in favor of the Longbow, essentially a supersonic version of the same concept. Longbow was eventually cancelled as well.
None of the alternative roles were taken up either, with all work on the concept ending in 1960. However, it did point the way to the range of missions that would be performed by UAVs in later decades.
References
* Early versions of this article contained material that originally came from the web articl
''Unmanned Aerial Vehicles''by Greg Goebel, which was published into the Public Domain.
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GAM-067
GAM-067