Genie

The AIR-2A Genie

Nuclear Weapons Historical Series

USAF Nuclear Weapons Specialist Home Page

In 1964 I was transferred from Germany to Minot AFB, North Dakota. I'll have to admit, I'm not sure whether it was the difference in weapons systems that threw me the most or the change in the weather. In either case, I learned what the difference between a missile and rocket was. It did seem strange that we would put a nuclear warhead on a rocket motor and fire it at a group of enemy bombers without the ability to control it after it left the aircraft. But, as is always the case, the system was well designed and did function as advertised.
The AIR-2A was launched from a fighter aircraft at a formation of enemy aircraft. The launching aircraft's firing control system calculated the speed, distance, aspect, etc., of the enemy formation then input the correct information to the AIR-2A Firing Mechanism through the umbilical cable connection. Upon launch, the firing mechanism would start a countdown and at the appropriate time, send a fire signal to the warhead. As I said above, the AIR-2A is a rocket which means once it leaves the launch aircraft, there is no active guidance. The launching aircraft had to assume the rocket flight would be straight and this was assured by using spin tabs in the rocket exhaust. Four spin tabs were mounted in the exhaust area at a slight angle. When the rocket exhaust blew over the tabs, that angle forced the rocket to rotate and provide a ballistic path, assuring a straight and predictable flight.

For all you 331X0's and 463's that came into the career field later and didn't have the opportunity to work on weapons that had to be completely disassembled, inspected, tested, and reassembled, then the AIR-2A would be a joy to work on. Every 180 days (I think the period between inspections changed periodically) each rocket had to be brought into the maintenance bay, disassembled, inspected, tested, and reassembled, just like the old bombs. The major components were the Nose Section, Umbilical Cable, Firing Mechanism, Warhead (W25), Rocket Motor, and Rocket Motor Igniter. Although everything electrical was tested, the tests weren't long or overly complicated. Continuity checks were done on the warhead, igniter, and rocket motor, and the firing mechanism was thoroughly checked using the AN/GWM-1 test set.

Although the system was in fact fairly simple and straight forward, the nature of it created some unique concerns. First, the rocket motor was a solid propellant type which is susceptible to damage during rough handling and in the case of certain models the propellant was prone to cracking if subjected to a crtain range of low temperature. And yes, we did experience temperatures in the forbidden range in the northern areas of North America where most of the "Genies" were stationed. The motor did have a heater blanket installed, and this was used to maintain a certain minimum temperature when required.

Part of the rocket motor inspection was to visually inspect the propellant for damage. This was done by looking into
the motor from both the igniter port in the front of the motor and through the exhaust port from the rear. Since solid propellant was used, the motor was kept sealed except when the inspection was done and during removals and installation of the rocket motor igniter. The igniter sealed the motor in front and the exhaust port was sealed with a clear plastic piece that was positioned in the rear of the motor.

One of the field modifications we performed was a replacement of the weather seal. The original weather seal apparently did not completely disintegrate upon rocket motor firing and the pieces would be ingested by aircraft possibly damaging the jet engine and taking the aircraft down.

When testing the igniter, we inserted it into a pipe that went through the maintenance bay wall, made a 90 degree turn straight up and extended several feet in the air. The idea was that if the igniter initiated during this phase, the blast would be directed safely up in the air away from everybody. Of course as is always the case, we were a little skeptical about this. That's why when the the AIr Force decided to actually run a test firing of an igniter to ccheck out the integrity of the system we were very happy to participate. Fortunately, the design was good and when we fired the igniter in the test pipe (from a distance) everything functioned as designed.

AIR-2A on MF-9 trailer

Another modification we performed in the field was to add certain safety components to the warhead. Like many earlier systems, with schematics and a little knowledge and access, a person could access electrical circuits without disassembling individual components. This field modification eliminated that problem by adding an electrical circuit that interrupted certain pathways.
We all know that maintenance is only one part of a 463X0's job. With the AIR-2A we all did a lot of handling for maintenance reasons, deliveries to the flight line and re-positioning from trailer to support stand, and vice versa. The rocket was stored on either an MF-9 trailer or an MB-1 storage pallet. The MF-9 trailer was used to store, transport, load, and unload the rocket. It was hydraulically actuated for weapons loading/unloading and transferring. In Minot, we had F-106 Delta Darts, so each aircraft could carry one AIR-2A and up to four AIM-4 missiles. We did however support F-101 Voodoo's from other bases, so in that case each aircraft could carry two AIR-2A's. We towed the trailers with Ford tractors and each tractor could tow up to four MF-9 trailers with AIR-2A's.

F-106 firing AIR-2A training rocket (ATR)

In my assignment to Minot, the Loading Section (462X0's) was short of personnel and since we had more than authorized, we had to give the loading section four 463's to train and utilize during alerts and exercises. This meant that I had to report to the loading section whenever an exercise took place, load aircraft, and then report back to the Weapons Section after the exercise and help with post load inspections. All of this usually happened during the coldest weather.
Although I was happy to get out of Minot after three long and sometimes cold years, it seemed that once you were assigned to an ADC unit, you were destined to return to the fold each time you returned from overseas. That destiny resulted in many assignments to AIR-2A units including Hamilton Field in California, Duluth IAP in Minnesota, and Goose Bay in Labrador.

In Duluth IAP I had the privilege of working in a co-located USAF/ANG Weapons Shop. We had roughly half active duty and half ANG full time technicians working in the section. The only difference was we also had two 463X0 advisors to provide USAF custody when necessary.

As I think back on my AIR-2A days, I really fell that they were some of the most interesting and fun times I had in my 21 years of active duty. ADC was a well run organization and standardized wherever possible making a transfer from one AIR-2A unit to another almost seamless.

"Background Information on the W25 Warhead"
by M.H. Maggelet

The W25 warhead was deployed from May 1957 to December 1984. Designed by Los Alamos National Labs, it has the distinction of being one of the first sealed pit fission warheads. I never worked the Genie in the field, but as Al Hall states above, it was easy to work and one of the first training weapons we disassembled, tested, and reassembled at Lowry.
XW25 warheads were tested at the Nevada Test Site and Pacific Proving Grounds to confirm one point safety concerns and to verify design and yield data. During Operation Redwing, a W25 warhead was proof tested in a Mk7 bomb case during the Osage shot (dropped from a B-36 on 16 July 1956).
On 24 April 1957, a one point safety verification test with a war reserve warhead was conducted during Project 57 at the Nevada Test Site (Area 13).

The first live launch of an AIR-2A Genie with W25 warhead
occured on 19 July 1957 from an F-89J Scorpion during
Operation Plumbbob, Shot John. The warhead detonated
at 18,500 feet after travelling 13,907 feet in 4.5 seconds
(about Mach 3). That very aircraft once sat atop the
guard shack at the Great Falls, Montana IAP ANG base gate.

An additional test was conducted during Operation Hardtack
in the Pacific Proving Ground, shot Yucca I on 28 April 1958.
The device was hoisted aloft by balloon and detonated as an airburst.

Finally, the W25 had the distinction of being used during very high
altitude shots in Operation Argus in 1958, documentation which can be read
at the Nuclear Weapon Archive website.

W25 warhead trainer
(Defense Threat Reduction Agency)

Source- Nuclear Weapon Archive.