REGULUS I SUB-SYSTEMS

Nose Boom

The nose boom was a flight test device used to place pitch and yaw vanes and pitot and static air pressure ports in a forward position in “clean air” for flight test instrumentation. Booms were used only in flight test applications and were not applicable to tactical operations.

Wing and Fin Fold

In keeping with typical Navy operations, there was a powered wing fold system to reduce the size of the stored missile and consequently reduce the size of the submarine containers. Location of the fold point was changed from Wing Station 70-54 to accommodate the smaller hangar dimensions on the submarines Grayback, Growler, and Halibut.  The system was air operated and automatic through the use of sequence valves to unfold the wings and extend the lock pins into position.

In contrast to the powered wing fold, the fin fold was entirely manual.  When in storage position, the fin was held in place on the top of the aft section by a small screw type attachment.  To place the fin in the flight position, the operator released the small attachment and manually placed the fin in position, forced it downward into a socket and locked it in that position.  The lower fin was seldom seen and only twice used, but was also a manual system.


More Regulus I:

General Characteristics for an Interim Guided Missile
Able, Backer, Charlie and FTV-1
FTV-2
Operation Splash and FTV-3
Regulus I and II
Regulus I Subsystems
Airframe, Engine and Fuel Systems
Autopilot, Radio Control, Guidance and Instrumentation
Landing Gear and Hydraulic Systems
Nose Boom, Wing and Fin Fold
Warheads
Launch Slippers, Parabrake, Smoke Systems and Jato
Interesting Statistics