F-102 with winged Bumper missile
Hi all,
the little known RTV-G-4 Bumper missile was a 2-stage sounding missile, obtained by the combination of the A-4 german missile and the WAC Corporal missile. It performed 8 launches between May 1948 to July 1950.
I found some evidence concerning the proposal to launch Bumper from an aircraft to increase missile's performance. Some images show a Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, probably the chosen aircraft for this task; but there are at least two oddities. First of all, the Convair F-102 became available when the Bumper program was already terminated. Second, the comparison between the aircraft and the missile suggest that there was a certain kind of size incompatibility...
However, on this second aspect there is a document written by the Italian physicist Aurelio Robotti about the proposal to modify the missile to create a pair that could take off from the ground (Mistel like). He called it "the space station at 14000 meters in altitude" and the photos show a wing structure with rockets and take-off cart in which the Corporal stage had to be hosted. A second variant shows 2 aircraft over a bigger unit.
Anyone knows more?