- Year
- 1956
- By
- Parson, Nels A., Jr.
- Published
- Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (distributed in Great Britain by Oxford University Press).
- Edition
- English. First edition, HC, DJ.
- Ciancone
- 180.
- Shelf
- R7
- Catalog
- Catalog D · Prelude to Sputnik
Copyright 1956 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. A note states that the book was reviewed by the Department of Defense and released for open publication, and that the opinions are the author’s. The foreword is by General John E. Dahlquist, Continental Army Command, who describes guided missiles as the most radical change in weapon systems since gunpowder. The preface explains that the book grew out of two graduate papers at the University of Southern California, one of them an introduction to guided-missile training for Army students.
Ten chapters begin with “Your Acquaintance Is Inevitable” and “Why Guided Missiles?,” trace the history in “From Wan Hu to von Braun,” explain propulsion in “Flying Cuspidors and Stovepipes” (pulse jet, ram jet, solid and liquid rockets), and then treat missiles in air, naval and land warfare. The last chapter, “Missiles of Peace,” takes up space travel, and the book closes with references and a bibliography. Dornberger’s V-2, an account of the German wartime program, is also in this catalog.