BOMARC

[Sferrin]

Is there a SAM today that can kill a target at 446 miles and over 100,000 feet? (It's a rhetorical question. There isn't.)

 

[Ronny]

Is there a SAM today that can kill a target at 446 miles and over 100,000 feet? (It's a rhetorical question. There isn't.)

There are: SM-3, 51T6, PRS-1M

 

[Archibald]

Since this is the closest we have from a BOMARC thread...

A simple question. WTH did BOMARC A had a conventional warhead and not "Super" BOMARC B ?

I ask this for a poor man with the name of Diefenbaker, John G. - once Canada PM.

Because, GO FIGURE...

- 1 In 1959 he scrapped the beloved and mythical Arrow for BOMARC and gained eternal hate and damnation by aviation buffs - only matched by Sandys and McNamara

- 2 He picked the BOMARC B variant...

- 3 Only for his government in 1960-63 to explodes on its unability to assume the BOMARC B nuclear warheads

- 4 When, remember...
-the freakkin' BOMARC A had a 1000 pounds non nuclear warhead
AND it had already got direct hits on targets during testing
AND the BOMARC B guidance system was even better

So please somebody explains me why Diefenbaker did not picked BOMARC A 1000 pounds non nuke warheads to put on his BOMARC B... and save his governement in 1963 ???!!!!

Many people loath Diefenbaker for the gutting of the Arrow. But his absurd fall - related to the Starfighters and BOMARC nukes - really, but REALLY more than avenged Avro and the Arrow evisceration.

 

[Kiltonge]

Av Week August 1958 article about Boeing proposing IM-99B Super Bomarc as basis of NATO long-range SAM belt to supplement Nike Ajax.

• Map indicates proposed locations including Aberdeen, Whitby, Milford Haven and Dover in UK
• Sweden also briefed on Bomarc
• IM-99B noted as having design speed close to Mach 4, compared to 2.5 for 99A

 

[Sferrin]

Av Week August 1958 article about Boeing proposing IM-99B Super Bomarc as basis of NATO long-range SAM belt to supplement Nike Ajax.

• Map indicates proposed locations including Aberdeen, Whitby, Milford Haven and Dover in UK
• Sweden also briefed on Bomarc
• IM-99B noted as having design speed close to Mach 4, compared to 2.5 for 99A

And 100,000ft cruise altitude and 400+ miles range.

 

[Ronny]

And 100,000ft cruise altitude and 400+ miles range.

Everything from the cold war sound so extreme

 

[Sferrin]

Everything from the cold war sound so extreme

And it had a nuclear warhead.

 

[Kiltonge]

Looking at a plan view of Bomarc it appears to have been designed for a Mach angle of 18 degrees, correlating to Mach 3.23. The estimates of 'nearly Mach 4' might be a tad high.

 

[riggerrob]

Ottawa has always struggled with the concept of nuclear weapons based on Canadian soil. They never told the Canadian public the whole truth.
Canadian politicians down-played the notion of nuclear-armed BOMARCs based at North Bay, Ontario.
I caught glimpses and heard rumours during my CAF service during the 1970s and 1980s.
Canadian peace-niks protested on the Halifax Court House lawn, many miles away from where visiting submarines docked.
Rumor had it that nuclear depth-charges were held at the Bedford Basin bomb-dump in Nova Scotia.
While jogging around CFB Comox, B.C. I saw USAF Air Police behind a chain-link fence, so I guessed that they were guarding nuclear-tipped genie missiles for CF-101 Voodoo interceptors.
I was posted to CFB Baden-Sollingen, West Germany just as the last few. f-104 Stardighters retired, so nuclear bombs were gone, but I heard rumours.

 

[Sferrin]

Looking at a plan view of Bomarc it appears to have been designed for a Mach angle of 18 degrees, correlating to Mach 3.23. The estimates of 'nearly Mach 4' might be a tad high.

What would you say the X-15s was, based on the Mach angle?

 

[SCAT-15F]

Av Week August 1958 article about Boeing proposing IM-99B Super Bomarc as basis of NATO long-range SAM belt to supplement Nike Ajax.

• Map indicates proposed locations including Aberdeen, Whitby, Milford Haven and Dover in UK
• Sweden also briefed on Bomarc
• IM-99B noted as having design speed close to Mach 4, compared to 2.5 for 99A

I read in a couple places that the B model was tested to mach 4 and was capable of mach 4 operationally. In any case, the Marquardt ramjets were capable of slightly more than mach 4.

 

[TMD]

Bomarc Marquardt RJ 43 ramjet engine. March AFB Museum.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Box Art

 

[NMaude]

Here are some BOMARC YouTube videos:

When the Soviet Union acquired nuclear weapons, the United States decided to field nuclear surface to air missiles to defend against Soviet bombers. Less than a year after being deployed, one of those missiles caught fire and exploded in rural New Jersey. The History Guy recalls a forgotten accident that occurred at the height of Cold War tensions.​

This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.​

The film of the bunkers at McGuire AFB today is available here: https://dod.defense.gov/News/Special-...

Back-to-back, two “Cold War” computing films that complement each other. First, IBM’s commercial for the SAGE computer system built in the 1950’s for U.S. defense. SAGE was used by NORAD and included the BOMARC missile system, which is the subject of film #2 “The Armored Sky” from 1958. (see info below)​

Topics:

SAGE
IBM AN/FSQ-7
BOMARC IM-99 B weapon system
NORAD (North American Air Defense Command)
B-52 aircraft; Texas Towers (RADAR)
RC-121 in flight; four F-1O2A's in flight




​

{IBM film copyright © IBM. BOMARC film produced by Boeing under contract to U.S. Air Force. Courtesy of National Archives, VHS tape, USAF #31456.}​

BOMARC relied on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) computer system (MIT, IBM) used by NORAD for detecting, tracking and intercepting enemy bombers. SAGE allowed for remote launching of the BOMARC missiles, which were housed in 14 individual launch shelters in remote areas of the U.S. and two in Canada. Boeing built over 570 BOMARC missiles.​

There were over 25 individual SAGE building sites called Direction Centers, each one with two SAGE AN/FSQ-7 computers installed. SAGE was the world’s largest computer, with 60,000 vacuum tubes, 13,000 transistors and 175,000 diodes.​

Pieces of the SAGE can be seen in various old TV shows, such as “Time Tunnel”, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” and many others.

IBM Archives online
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/historyhttps://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...tp://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history&v=qrpYXn2RxLQ

SAGE/BOMARC Air Defense Weapons (60 pg manual, 1958)
ftp://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/ibm/sage/SAGE_BOMARC_Defense_System_1958.pdf

http://ed-thelen.org/index.html#historyhttps://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...d-thelen.org/index.html#history&v=qrpYXn2RxLQ
https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/20...

This Bomarc Annual Report was prepared for US Air Force leadership in 1953, and is taken from the rocket.aero DVD "Bomarc: IM-99 Sentinel." For more information, visit: www.rocket.aero

A Boeing film about the BOMARC ground to air missile. C. 1960. From the archives of the San Diego Air and Space Museum http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/re...