Martin AAM-N-4 Oriole

I'm pretty sure that one's talked about quite a bit in the book "U.S. Naval Air Superiority".
 
The mystery of the weight of the Martin AAM-N-4 Oriole

Hmm..
Wikipedia lists weight as 1500lb. Tommy Thomason says 400lb. Flight (1955) says 1500lb. Bill Gunston's missile book says 1,500lb.


Dimensions quoted by TT are 11.5ft x 11 in. Comparing volumes to Sparrow (assuming a cylinder for simplicity) seems to show about 1.6 times the volume of Sparrow yet almost the same weight.
Wikipedia figure is plainly wrong unless it was made from depleted uranium, but 400lbs seems a bit light - somewhere circa 650lbs would make some kind of sense.


Anyone able to shed some light, preferably from a primary source? A Standard Missile Characteristics sheet would be nice :)
 
What it the missile next to the Regulus? It looks to me as if it could be a ramjet, is it a Typhon?

Regards.
 
Are there any technical reports on the Oriole available on line? The sort I'm referring to are the same ones in the Meteor thread. Anything to do with its guidance and control systems interest me.
 
Oriole was intended as a longer ranged version of the Sparrow (AIM 7) missile. In early development and testing it was found to have only marginally more range and not worth continued development. The program was terminated early on and the few missiles built expended in testing. There isn't a lot on it simply because as a program it didn't exist for very long.
 
ORIOLE

In an effort to develop a long- range (25 miles) active homing air-to-air missile system the ORIOLE project was established in 1947. In 1948, the project was stopped as a missile project but allowed to continue as a guidance development program. However, it was soon discovered that this was not practical, and a small- scale design study of the missile and guidance was carried on. In 1950, the ORIOLE was reactivated as a research test vehicle. The program came to NAMTC the same year and in October 1951 was re designated as an experimental air -to -air missile. By the time the ORIOLE began its test program, the specifications had been redefined to a missile capable of use against targets at ranges of five nautical miles, such targets to be capable of speeds up to Mach 0.9 . The flight test program involved fifty-six ORIOLE plus three dummy missile launches. In addition, NAMTC performed roll balance tests ( to determine the magnitude of the rolling moments that were encountered during launching) , restrained firings and ignition shock tests , missile break- up theoretical studies, aerodynamic evaluations of the airframe, and environmental evaluations.
 
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Warhead testing for Oriole:

ETA: Confirmation https://archive.org/details/guidedmissilefundamentals/Dictionary of guided missiles and space flight by Grayson Merrill version-1/page/428/mode/2up that the Martin AAM was not related to the late-50s/60s 2-stage (Terrapin/Loki) sounding rocket, which in turn is presumably unrelated to the much more modern Oriole stage in Terrier-Oriole et al. Popular name!
 
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WIND-TUNNEL TESTS OF THE AIRPLANE INTERFERENCE ON A 0.17-SCALE MODEL OF THE XAAM-N-4 ORIOLE MISSILE AND COMPARISON WITH THE AIRPLANE INTERFERENCE ON A 0.17-SCALE MODEL OF THE XAAM-N-2 SPARROW I MISSILE. PART I. MISSILES IN THE PROXIMITY OF A 0.15-SCALE MODEL OF THE F3H-1 AIRPLANE

 
Ed Dempsey said:
Martin XAAM-N-4 Oriole air to air missile, 1952 Martin Co. photo courtesy of Glenn L. Martin MD Aviation Museum, Baltimore, MD.
View: https://flic.kr/p/2oZyitc

Ed Dempsey said:
Martin XAAM-N-4 Oriole, an early air to air missile built by Martin, for USN, mounted on an F3D aircraft on 1/22/1952 for testing. MARTIN CO PHOTO Courtesy of Glenn L Martin MD Aviation Museum, Baltimore, MD.
View: https://flic.kr/p/2oZAEfF

Ed Dempsey said:
Martin XAAM-N-4 Oriole, an early air to air missile testing in 1952. Martin Co. photo shows equipment to be removed from a previously modified B-17 aircraft for use in Oriole tests. Martin Photo courtesy of Glenn L Martin MD Aviation Museum, Baltimore, MD.
View: https://flic.kr/p/2oZzd7g

Ed Dempsey said:
A PO-1W, modified B-17 for use in Oriole air to air missile test as a test bed. Note Martin Company control tower in left background. 1952 Martin Co. photo courtesy of Glenn L Martin MD Aviation Museum, Baltimore, MD.
View: https://flic.kr/p/2oZzptz
 
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