I am building a diorama for the Maine Air Museum which includes the SM-62 Snark missle. This based on the old Lindberg kit which is molded in red plastic.
USAF pictures firing tests in which the Snark seems to be painted white. Does anyone have any idea what color the deployed missles actually were?
The one at the USAF Museum looked to be silver lacquer overall, with white RATO bottles. IIRC, test and evaluation examples were red with white photo-reference stripes.
A google search should turn up a ton of stuff.
Phil
It was a light gray if I remember correctly. I lived on Presque Isle AFB in Maine back in 1959-60. I have a picture of me when I was five years old holding a Snark model while standing in front of a static Snark display at the base. The red Snarks were test models. (I had to give the little model back after the picture was taken, DAG!)
I have tried to figure out the operational color schemes for several years. Most photos that exist are from the test days at Cape Canaveral and show either the red or a gray scheme. I contact the research section of the USAF museum about this two or three years ago, and even they don’t have any photos of operational Snarks at Presque Isle! (They attributed it to SAC’s policies at the time and that it was the first operational intercontiental missle). I have located a few photos in some various books that still haven’t cleared anything up for me yet:
On page 108 of “Peace was their Profession. Strategic Air Command: A Tribute” by Hill & Campbell (1995, Schiffer Publishing) there is a black and white photo of a Snark in a very dark and flat paint scheme and completely devoid of any markings. The caption doesn’t really identify where the photo was taken, but it doesn’t appear to be at an air show. The boosters appear to be a white, light gray or silver color and the rear portion of the fuselauge is an even lighter shade of something!!
A postcard I bought on ebay with a Boston printer shows an overall light gray missile with white boosters, a white band just forward of the wing root, and three narrow angled red stripes below the tail fin (turbine warning stripes??) but without any other markings. Not sure where the photo was taken. I’d like to belive it was at Presque Isle, but I have the feeling it was the Cape as well.
I have recently ordered a CD-ROM from the Air Force Missiliers Association that has photos of the Snark, Mace, and other early missile systems. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find an operational bird on it!
By the way, what is a “snark”?
I thought the Snark was a member of the Jaberwocky family.
sts51,
I see you are having the some problem with the Snark that I am having with the Regulus One[banghead][banghead][banghead]
The best I could do for you was to come up with this web site
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app1/sm-62.html
I would go with the grey one as I know for a fact that the red one was for testing and evaluation[8D]
Let me know how you make out[:D]
Richard
I finally received the Snark/Mace/Matador CD from the Association of Air Force Missileers (www.afmissileers.org). Low and behold, there are photos of dismatled Snarks (apparently at Presque Isle AFB) awaiting the smelter or other fate. They do appear to be light gray in color and wear standard USAF markings for the period. US Air Force on the warhead section, the SAC badge and milky way behind it (still on the warhead section), stars and bars and USAF on the wing surfaces, buzz number on the tail, and three angled thin stripes (red in the postcard that I mentioned earlier) in the engine area.
I’m new to the Forum (and to Windows XP) and can’t quite figure out how to paste the image on the forum. Will work on it some more and try to get it on here for you.
Just picked up the May 2004 Airpower magazine. Has photos of the Snark in the operational scheme. They match the dismantled Snark photos on the AAFM CD.