Republic-Ford JB-2
| JB-2/KGW Loon | |
|---|---|
_USAF.jpg)
Republic/Ford JB-2 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
|
|
| Type | Cruise missile |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1945–50 |
| Used by |
United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force United States Navy |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer |
Republic Aircraft Willys-Overland Ford Motor Company |
| Produced | 1944–45 |
| No. built | 1,391 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) |
| Length | 27 feet 1 inch (8.26 m) |
| Diameter | 34 inches (860 mm) |
| Warhead | High explosive |
| Warhead weight | 2,000 pounds (910 kg) |
|
|
|
| Engine |
Ford PJ31 pulsejet 660 lbf (2.9 kN) |
| Wingspan | 17 feet 8 inches (5.38 m) |
|
Operational
range |
150 miles (240 km) |
| Speed | 425 miles per hour (684 km/h) |
|
Guidance
system |
Radio command |
| Accuracy | 0.25 miles (0.40 km) at 100 miles (160 km) |
The Republic-Ford JB-2, also known as the KGW and LTV-N-2 Loon, was a United States copy of the German V-1 flying bomb. Developed in 1944, and planned to be used in the United States invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall), the JB-2 was never used in combat. It was the most successful of the United States Army Air Forces Jet Bomb (JB) projects (JB-1 through JB-10) during World War II. Postwar, the JB-2 played a significant role in the development of more advanced surface-to-surface tactical missile systems such as the MGM-1 Matador and later MGM-13 Mace.
The United States had known of the existence of a new German secret weapon since 22 August 1942 when a Danish Naval Officer discovered an early test version of the V-1 that had crashed on the island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea between Germany and Sweden, roughly 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of the V-1 test launch ramp at the Peenemünde Army Research Center, on Germany's Usedom Island. A photograph and a detailed sketch of the V-1 test unit, the Fieseler Fi 103 V83 (Versuchs-83, the eighty-third prototype airframe) was sent to Britain. This led to months of intelligence-gathering and intelligence-sifting which traced the weapon to Peenemünde, on Germany's Baltic Coast, the top-secret German missile test and development site.
As more intelligence data was obtained through aerial photography and sources inside Germany, it was decided in 1943 for the United States to develop a jet-powered bomb as well. The United States Army Air Forces gave Northrop Aircraft a contract in July 1944 to develop the JB-1 (Jet Bomb 1) turbojet-powered flying bomb under project MX-543. Northrop designed a flying-wing aircraft with two General Electric B1 turbojets in the center section, and two 900 kg (2000 lb) general purpose bombs in enclosed "bomb containers" in the wing roots. To test the aerodynamics of the design, one JB-1 was completed as a manned unpowered glider, which was first flown in August 1944.
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