Neptune’s Short-Lived Kingfisher
70 years ago today, 3 April 1956, off Virginia.
Official period caption:
The U.S. Navy’s Air-to-Surface Guided Missile Petrel is shown suspended from the wings of a P2V Neptune aircraft. Petrel was designed primarily for use against enemy ships at sea and can be launched by patrol aircraft well outside the range of the target’s air defense. The missile attacks at high speed and with devastating effect. Petrel is one of the more complex missiles, electronically and dynamically, since it has an intricate “electronic brain,” which enables it to “think” its evasive way to the target.
Photo 330-PS-7783 (USN 687384)
The Fairchild AUM-N-2 Petrel, also known as Kingfisher C and AUM-2, entered service in 1956 and was only in arsenal for three years before being withdrawn and repurposed, sans warhead, as a target drone.
A hefty boy, at some 3,800 pounds, Petrel ran 24 feet long and had a 13-foot wingspan when deployed. Powered by a Fairchild J44-R-24 turbojet, the warhead was a Mk 41 homing torpedo for use against surface targets, and the missile had a 20~nm range.
Literally a torpedo with a rocket and wings…
Seen with a Naval Aviation Ordnance Test Station (NAOTS) Chincoteague Neptune in the above images, Petrel was only operational with VP-834, a USNR unit out of Floyd Bennett Field.
At least one engine was floating around on Facebook Marketplace in Wisconsin a while ago for $3,500.