Original vintage 1960s Avco Corporation advertisement got the company's Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) re-entry vehicles.
Dimensions: 8 inches wide by 11.5 inches high.
Located in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Avco Manufacturing was the third-largest US producer of World War II materials. It became the Avco Corporation in 1959.
Avco Corporation was a US-based company that operated in the aerospace and defense industries. They manufactured aircraft engines, sensor systems, and other products to include air-launched weapons, battlefield munitions and submunitions, and ground and airborne surveillance systems. It also specialized in vehicle protection and radiation detection systems, as well as aircraft engines.
Of note, Avco was involved in the Apollo space program and the development of ICBMs, and played a major role in the legendary Apollo missions of the 1960s and early 1970s. NASA chose Avco to design and install the heat shield, and the defense company pioneered the heat-resistant material that charred to form a protective coating and block the heat from penetrating the space capsule. It also developed Chartek fire-retardant material for the Apollo spacesuit, which delayed the suit's temperature build-up during a fire and could swell to six times its thickness to create a protective barrier.
In 1985, Textron acquired Avco, which nearly doubled in size with the acquisition, transitioned the business to Textron Defense Systems which evolved into today’s Textron Systems Weapons & Sensor Systems. A leader in intelligence-gathering capabilities and advanced protection systems necessary for mission success, Weapons and Sensor Systems continues to provide these heat resistant materials—the thermal protection material of choice for the current NASA Orion Crew Exploration vehicle program.
Avco operates in the defense and aerospace industry, manufacturing air-launched weapons, submunitions, battlefield munitions and sensor systems, and ground and airborne surveillance systems. It also specializes in vehicle protections and radiation detection systems, as well as aircraft engines.
In the mid-1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a bitter arms race, and both were racing to be the first to deploy a completely new class of weapons: long-range ICBMs. The Air Force was developing Atlas (SM-65), the United States first ICBM, and in early 1958 it turned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the launch sites for its new missile.
The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational ICBM developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air Force by the Convair Division of General Dynamics at an assembly plant located in San Diego.
Development dates to 1946, but over the next few years the project underwent several cancellations and re-starts. The deepening of the Cold War and intelligence showing the Soviet Union was working on an ICBM design led to it becoming a crash project in late 1952, along with the creation of several other missile projects to ensure one would enter service as soon as possible.
The first test launch was carried out in June 1957, which failed. The first success of the Soviet R-7 Semyorka in August gave the program new urgency, leading to the first successful Atlas A launch in December. Of the eight flights of the A model, only three were successful, but the later models demonstrated increasing reliability and the D model was cleared for use.
Atlas C was declared operational in September 1959. Even at that time it was considered less than ideal as it had to be fueled immediately before launch and thus had very slow reaction times. The Air Force still saw its strategic bombers as its primary force and considered Atlas as a last-ditch weapon that would ensure a counterattack in the case the Soviets attempted a sneak attack on the US bomber bases.
The initial versions were stored at ground level and thus subject to attack by Soviet bombers, which greatly reduced their suitability for this role. Starting with the F models they were stored in underground silos that offered some protection from air attack. New designs, especially the Minuteman, rendered Atlas obsolete and it was retired from the ICBM role by 1965.
These disadvantages had no bearing on its use for space launches, and Atlas-derived launch vehicles served a long history as launchers. Even before its ICBM use ended in 1965, Atlas had placed four Project Mercury astronauts in orbit and was becoming the foundation for a family of successful space launch vehicles, most notably Atlas Agena and Atlas Centaur.
Mergers led to the acquisition of the Atlas Centaur line by the United Launch Alliance. Today ULA supports the larger Atlas V, which combines the Centaur upper stage with a new booster. Until 1995, many retired Atlas ICBMs were refurbished and combined with upper stages to launch satellites. See how the Atlas ICBM evolved here.
As the Cold War progressed and missiles became more numerous and advanced, U.S. defense planners recognized their ICBM arsenal was becoming increasing vulnerable. The limitations of liquid-fueled, gantry-launched missiles, such as Atlas and Titan sparked fears that a Soviet first strike could potentially negate the U.S. ability to retaliate effectively. With this in mind, the U.S. Air Force began the bidding and development process for the Minuteman I in 1958.
For several reasons, the Minuteman was America’s first modern ICBM. Chief among these was the missile’s use of solid fuel. Using solid fuel meant that the missile did not require fueling prior to launch, differentiating it from the Atlas and Titan. This substantially reduced the time between receiving launch orders and the missile launch. Moreover, solid fuel is generally considered more reliable – solid-fuel engines are generally less complex, which reduces the number of failure points and simplifies maintenance.
Furthermore, solid fuel is less volatile, does not leak, or require refrigeration. This stands in contrast to the liquid oxygen and Aerozine fuels which caused several major accidents with missiles like the Atlas and Titan.