Missile, Air-to-Surface, Anti-Ship, Petrel

Long and cylindrical with rounded nose, a pair of rounded swept-back mid fins and a set of smaller, swept-back tail fins on the booster, with booster nozzle slightly protruding. Overall, painted gray; fins with black lettering.

Fiberglass nose, brown, with words "Hoist Sling" around periphery of nose; non-ferrous front; steel fixtures under wing; lettering, "To Remove Unfasten Here and Slide Forward"; sticker, black, E280 [serial number of missile; see Marks]; in close proximity, in white stenciling, "Drain Fuel," this wording found on both sides of missile; rubber strips, black, around wings, with minor white flaking that show signs of some deterioration; torpedo end of missile, steel; silver cylinder in interior of torpedo; vanes of torpedo, steel; two steel cables, braided, along side of torpedo; two black rubber stripes along side of torpedo.

On a section of the brown fiberglass or phenolic nose, just after the base and beyond rivets around base, is an unexpected uneven, large oval area of darker color than overall brown nose, and rough and uneven smaller oval within the larger oval, clearly indicating there was a part of this nose that had a hole or possibly a port that was deliberately removed but poorly patched up with a material of different hue than the overall nose. Furthermore, there is some adjacent lettering reading: "Hands Off Window Area." It is therefore possible there was a small port window here for a guidance system sensor device.

Top front of missile, two large braided cables; red fixture; very thin cable, steel; green chamber inside torpedo; dent on left side of missile; aluminum nose on torpedo; pipes above nose, steel; red cylinder: Assy 1335462-1; valve, green and black, on top of box.

Separate small, tear-drop-shaped device attached underneath missile, made of non-ferrous metal, with two projecting braided cables dangling underneath, each with a small flattened pad-like ending; this device, green on conical front and blue in aft end; this device also with numbers on side, in black, one forward reading: 1307287-3 Assy; the number further on back, on the side, reading: 1307288-1 Assy

This is a Petrel, an air-to-surface or air-to-underwater missile developed by the National Bureau of Standards for the U.S. Naval Bureau of Ordnance. The missile is basically a 2,000 pound airborne torpedo with semi-active automatic radar homing guidance in its warhead. The main propulsion system is a J-44 Fairchild turbojet engine and it was also fitted with a solid fuel booster. Prior to impact, the Petrel jettisoned its turbojet and attachments. The torpedo then entered the water unencumbered and made a normal run at the submarine or surface ship target. The Petrel had a brief operational life. It became operational in 1958 but target-seeking was difficult and it was cancelled in the same year. The missile was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1968 from the U.S. Navy.