Dedicated on the last day of operations, Sept 25, 1962, at the Missile Support Area, 585th Tactical Missile Group, this TM-61C was later moved to Wuschein Air Station near Hahn Air Base, Germany
Forlorn and neglected, S/N 56-1794 sits at the former headquarters of the GLCM 38th TMW
The student TAC missileer's bible, manual AFM 52-31
from SET school at Lowry AFB, Colorado.
A prototype TM-61 (YB-61) Matador graces the cover.
Right turn!
Right spoilers up causes loss of lift on that wing surface, which drops that wing into a bank.
It also causes the nose to drop, causing the Variable Incidence Horizontal Stabilizer to crank
leading edge down and bring the missile nose up level and the turn is accomplished. Left
spoilers up returns the missile to level flight. The spoiler extension
was mutually exclusive, either one side up or the other, but not both.
There are monument-mounted Matadors and Maces that have both sides up.
In that case, the control links are disconnected from the yoke.
AFM 52-31 20 Sep 1957
Having ones hands or fingers
in the spoiler slot during systems checkout when the hydraulic system was at the full
1500 PSI was not a smart idea. Neither was standing on the fuselage near the
Variable Incidence Horizontal Stabilizer (VIHS) during test.
Left: Spoilers down, level flight
Right: The Plenum Chamber: How the air got in to feed
the J-33-A35 (Matador) or J-33-A41 (Mace)
jet engine
The Mace Missile Components
The Mace "A" and "B" Nose Sections
The Mace "A" ATRAN Nose Section
The TM-76 "A" Nose section
with the guidance unit closed, and, right,
open to show the components on the back of the panel.
The Airman with the big wrench is A1C John Miner.
USAF Photos courtesy of Dave Maas (DrMass@aol.com)
The JT-33 "Mace A"
"This plane was flown by a civilian crew
from Goodyear Aircraft out of Litchfield Park, Arizona. It flew
out of Sembach for about 6 months from January 1960. After that,
the crew returned to the states and the plane sat unused. I don't
know what finally happened to it. It's official designation was
a JT-33 and the serial number was 52-9375. There was a sister
ship made also that stayed in Tucson, it's serial number was
52-8919.
I flew one mission in the back seat,
the most thrilling ride I ever
had, before or since. It was all very low level and on a heading
of due east toward the east German border."
John Donovan (jonnmaryd@yahoo.com)
This image is courtesy of John Donovan,
the crew chief of this aircraft. John's feet are seen just below the other
side of the aircraft.
Our Thanks to John Donovan and to John Moore and the Sembach Veteran's Home Page
(http://www.sembachveterans.org)
The Martin B57-B ATRAN
Martin B-57 SN52-1562, shown here in a Martin Co. armaments photograph,
was later converted to JB-57B with TM-76A Mace nose after a "hard landing" at Dover on a flight from Warner Robins required extensive airframe rebuild.
After it's service as a TM-76A guidance simulator, it was later rebuilt as RB-57F 63-13290
Great Time for a New Nose
"The aircraft was 52-1565 was lost to the 38th Bomb Wing but later repaired. I saw it in North Africa as a "Shanticle" (ATRAN) airplane. They had attached a Mace nose to it and it's job was to fly the missile tracks as a missile for test purposes, I suppose."
"The serial number thing puzzles me a bit but since I'm relying on memory, you know how that goes (I'm 82). I'd change it and go... If the rest of my story jives, I'm pleased."
[According to USAF records, 52-1565 was lost in combat in Viet Nam. 52-1562 was rebuilt for the Mace program]
Martin Marietta also converted B-57B S/N 52-1539 to adapt the Mace "A" nose section to test and checkout the TM-76A guidance system.
The two aircraft were fitted with Mace nose sections incorporating the Automatic Terrain Recognition And Navigation - ATRAN guidance system. The ATRAN system employed a terrain-matching radar guidance system in which the return from a radar scanning antenna was matched with serial frames of 35mm terrain "maps" carried on board the missile.
Photo of B57 SN52-1562 on the ramp at Sembach being serviced by the Guidance Van courtesy of Fred Horky (redvette4@cox.net)
B-57B 52-1562 at Sembach
Photo courtesy of Fred Horky (redvette4@cox.net)
The Mace "B" AC Achiever Inertial Guidance Nose Section
A2c Vic Shoepe checks the theodolite during guidance systems
checkout of a TM-76B (CGM-13B) AC Spark Plug inertial guidance nose
section at Bitburg
The sound proof air conditioner rooms, where the flex hose
enters the checkout area, had to be built after it was determined permanent hearing loss would
occur if anyone was exposed to the incredible noise levels for an extended period of time, even
with the mandatory ear plugs.
Photo courtesy of Vic Shoepe (JGShoepe@cs.com)
In this USAF photo, S/Sgt Keith Hover and an unidentified A1C dismantle an AC Achiever guidance system in May, 1969, at Bitburg after CGM-13B shutdown. The size of these massive gimbals and the complexity of the heating and cooling system are readily viewable in these photos of disassembly.
A TM-76 on a Teracruzer is unloaded from a C-124 Globemaster
This first class restoration also includes the restoration of the Translauncher
"The video slide show tells most of the tale.
It is now in a temporary storage area at the Air Force base at the Cape
awaiting their new display hangar to be completed."
This page is in no way sponsored or endorsed by the United States Air Force.
Opinions and views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the
Department of the Air Force.
Web Page Design and Development by
George Mindling - Port Charlotte, Florida
Forlorn and neglected, S/N 56-1794 sits at the former headquarters of the GLCM 38th TMW
Martin Marietta also converted B-57B S/N 52-1539 to adapt the Mace "A" nose section to test and checkout the TM-76A guidance system.
