Please note: This aircraft is in storage.
The Rascal was an air-to-surface, supersonic guided missile tested in the 1950s. It was a “stand-off” nuclear weapon to be launched from Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombers up to 100 miles away from the target.
The first launch of a guided Rascal took place in October 1953 from a Boeing DB-47 carrier aircraft, and in tests it performed with mixed success. In 1958, shortly before the first Rascal unit was to become operational, the U.S. Air Force canceled the program in favor of the more reliable and longer-range Hound Dog missile.
The Bell Aircraft Corp. delivered this prototype Rascal to the museum in 1958.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Armament: Nuclear warhead
Engine: Bell XLR-67 three-chamber liquid fuel rocket engine of 10,440 lbs. thrust
Maximum speed: About 1,950 mph
Maximum range: 100 miles
Maximum altitude: 65,000 feet
Weight: 18,200 lbs. maximum at launch
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