Convair/General Dynamics B-65/SM-65/CGM-16/HGM-16 Atlas ICBM

[NMaude]

There doesn't appear to be an Atlas ICBM thread I've opened one in the Military forum for discussions including books and videos concerning this historic ground-breaking ICBM along with its latter and highly successful use as a satellite launcher.

From the Atlas ICBM wikipedia article:

B-65/SM-65/CGM-16/HGM-16 Atlas

Size
Associated rockets
Launch history
Boosters
First stage
Atlas 2E missile, San Diego Aerospace Museum
Function	Intercontinental Ballistic Missile(ICBM)
Manufacturer	Convair / General Dynamics
Country of origin	United States
Height	75 ft 10 in (23.11 m) 85 ft 6 in (26.06 m) in ICBM configuration
Diameter	10 ft (3.0 m)
Width	16 ft (4.9 m)
Mass	260,000 lb (117,900 kg)
Stages	1½
Family	Atlas
Status	Retired April 1965
Total launches	24
Success(es)	13
Failure	11
First flight	11 June 1957
Last flight	24 August 1959
No. boosters	1
Powered by	2
Maximum thrust	300,000 lbf (1,300 kN) Atlas D
Total thrust	360,000 lbf (1,600 kN) Atlas D
Propellant	RP-1/LOX
Powered by	1
Maximum thrust	60,000 lbf (270 kN) Atlas D
Propellant	RP-1/LOX

 

[NMaude]

Here are some interesting films uploaded onto YT concerning the Atlas:

"First Atlas Launch & Blowup" old 1957 film 06/11 Convair Astronautics US Air Force; 1st US ICBM Test

Basically the Atlas test-flights started with a Big Bang.

ASM_011: 1958 film about testing an Atlas ICBM. Narrated by William Conrad. As well as flight hardware, quite a bit of 1950s ground support equipment shown. This includes equipment at downrange tracking sites at San Salvador, Antigua, Ascension, and Fernando de Noronha.

From Pre-Title Slide...

"The complex flight test documented in this film is part of a continuing research and development program to prove and improve new models of Atlas. Operational Atlas ICBMs are now on battle-ready status with the United States Air Force. They can be launched in minutes -- should that be necessary -- by small Air Force crews using automatic launch equipment."​

Film End Credit: "Convair [Astronautics] Division General Dynamics Corporation".

ASM Film Preservation Project Film # ASM_011.

Compilation of all ten Atlas B test launches between 1958 and 1959, based on existing historical footage and narration (where available). Interestingly, some performance details are censored - the source audio mutes when numbers are mentioned. When no audio existed ambient sounds were added.
_______________________________________________________

CHAPTERS
00:00 Atlas B Objectives
03:06 Atlas 3B (Failure)
05:23 Atlas 4B
09:56 Atlas 5B
11:31 Atlas 8B
12:21 Atlas 6B (Failure)
14:50 Atlas 9B (Partial Failure)
15:53 Atlas 12B
17:11 Atlas 10B (SCORE satellite)
22:04 Atlas 13B (Failure)
23:33 Atlas 11B
24:14 Atlas B Results
______________________________________________________

The Convair SM-65B Atlas, or Atlas B was a prototype of the Atlas missile. First flown on 19 July 1958, the Atlas B was the first version of the Atlas rocket to use the stage-and-a-half design with an operational sustainer engine and jettisonable booster engine section.

Ten flights were made. Nine were sub-orbital test flights of the Atlas as an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, with five successful missions and four failures. The seventh flight, launched on 18 December 1958, was used to place the SCORE satellite into low Earth orbit, the first orbital launch conducted by an Atlas rocket.​

The Atlas B was the first Atlas model to have its' sustainer engine installed.

 

[NMaude]

Restored 1960 USAF documentary giving an overview of the hardware logistics of the Atlas missile system. An Atlas launch is shown towards the end of the documentary.

 

[NMaude]

A 1959 statur report concerning the Atlas flight-test programme covering the last of the Atlas Bs and the initial Atlas C test-flights:

The sound is unfortunately muffled.

 

[TwoTribes]

Two types of Atlas sites.

1. Clyde, Texas, the 578th Strategic Missile Squadron, photographed on January 15, 1965.


Lawn, Texas, the 578th Strategic Missile Squadron, photographed on January 16, 1966.




2. Missouri Valley, Iowa, the 549th Strategic Missile Squadron, photographed on April 29, 1965.


Arlington, Nebraska, the 549th Strategic Missile Squadron, photographed on April 29, 1965.

 

[NMaude]

I understand that some former Atlas F launch-sites (The Atlas F was stored in a silo) have been converted into luxury bunkers/condos.

 

[NMaude]

This film I suspect was one of the original project Atlas films:

Film from the Atlas Centaur Heritage Film Collection which was donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum by Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance. The Collection contains 3,000 reels of 16-millimeter film.

 

[JimK]

A couple of Atlas D cutaways done by John Marsden for Flight magazine in the early '60s: