Mysterious Air-to-Ground Missile

[airborne24]

While reading American Secret Projects 5, I notice that Grumman G-97 was suppose to have carried either:
8 x Falcon AAM
4 x Meteor AGM
2 x Terrier AGM
2 x Nike AGM

Aside from the Falcon, does anyone what these other missile are? Thanks in advance.

 

[Dilandu]

Aside from the Falcon, does anyone what these other missile are? Thanks in advance.

Most likely explanation is that there was some mistake in the book, and the missiles are actually proposed AAM's types. Because:

* G-97 was planned to be a fighter, not a strike plane, and IRRC wasn't even supposed to carry any bombload;
* Most of the missiles mentioned are related to anti-air missiles, not anti-ground ones;

 

[Dilandu]

Aside from the Falcon, does anyone what these other missile are?

Purely speculatively, it's possible that Grumman during early stages of G-97 development proposed adaptations of different anti-air missile types. The "Falcon" is clear; the others could only be speculated about.

4 x Meteor AGM

It's likely AAM-N-5 "Meteor", an early 1950s project of liquid-fueled air-to-air missile with semi-active radar guidance. Was tested, but eventually cancelled in 1953, due to Sparrow family being more promising. It's highly likely that the original G-97 proposal was prepared when "Meteor" was still being developed and viewed as potential weapon system.

2 x Terrier AGM

Possibly some attempt to use RIM-2 "Terrier" (early, beam-riding/wing controlled version) upper stage as air-to-air missile. Looks at least plausible, the "Terrier" upper stage weighted about 500 kg, so at least theoretically it could fit on fighter plane;

2 x Nike AGM

No idea besides maybe some suggestion to adapt "Nike-Ajax" to air launch? Never heard about anything like that, but again, not impossible that something like that was at least briefly considered by Grumman engineers (they likely have little actual data about Nike-Ajax missile, merely it's basic parameters).

 

[airborne24]

Thanks. I originally had some similar guesses as well, but felt it was a bit too odd.

 

[Dilandu]

Thanks. I originally had some similar guesses as well, but felt it was a bit too odd.

It was early missile age, and aircraft engineers still have only partial understanding of guided missiles. So they likely were too optimistic about what kind of anti-air missiles they could adapt to the plane (especially in sales pitch for government...)