Date: ca. 1946-1947
Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 5 ft 2 in. tall x 4 ft. 10 in. wide x 19 ft. 6 in. deep, 11 ft. wing span, 560 lb.(157.5 x 147.3 x 594.36cm, 254kg, 60.96 x 335.28cm)
Materials:
Frame and skin, aluminum; nose, aluminum; pulsejet tube and grill, steel; tubular spar through main wing, steel; wood in wing roots; two plastic tubes at rear.
The Gorgon 2C was one of a family of missiles of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics. It was powered by a pulsejet, much like the one used on the famous V-1 German cruise missile of World War II. However, the Gorgon 2C never became operational because it was developed too late in the war. The 2C was converted into a control test vehicle and was used to test missile heat homing and radar homing systems and techniques. About 100 were built and tested altogether, starting in September 1946. This is probably one of the few if not the only remaining Gorgon 2Cs extant. The Gorgon program was cancelled in 1951.
The missile was donated to the Smithsonian in 1966 by the U.S. Navy.
Transferred from U.S. Navy
