Corporal
The first nuclear missile
Weapon Specifications
Note that the relationship between explosive power and destruction is not linear—a weapon’s destructive effects grow far more slowly than its explosive power.
Explosive Power
20 kt.
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
1.33x
Dimensions
45 ft, 4 inches x 30 inches
Weight
5.5 tons
Year(s)
1954-1964
Range
30-75 miles
Purpose
First guided nuclear missile
NukeMap
Simulated destruction of the Trinity Device at the Trinity Ground Zero Obelisk, in the Alamogordo Desert. Click on the map to change parameters.
Videos
These curated videos provide additional context for this weapon — showing test footage, deployment scenes, technical explanations, interviews, or other historical material, allowing viewers to go deeper into the weapon’s design, use, and place in nuclear history.
1955 US ARMY FILM “THE CORPORAL STORY”, 16 minutes
PeriscopeFilm: This film depicts the MGM-5 Corporal Missile produced by the US Army in partnership with Caltech’s pioneering Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was initially manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company and was to be for use in Cold War hostilities.
Launching of United States Army’s Dart, Corporal, and Sergeant missiles, 2 minutes
Critical Past: Missiles are launched to attack a target area. A smoke column rises from explosions. A Corporal missile carrying a nuclear warhead is mounted on a trailer. It is moved towards a launch pad. Soldiers operate switches to launch the missile. Corporal and Sergeant missiles are launched. Location: United States. Date: 1955.
Air News – The “Corporal” Missile Aka Guided Missile (1957), 1 minute
Preparations to launch a US Army Corporal Missile at what appears to be a British military base.
Corporal missile story, Oro Grande Range, New Mexico, 13 minutes
Preparations for launching a US Army Corporal Missile.
History in Our Backyard Webinar- The Corporal Missile- August 11, 2022, Just over 1 hour
Southeastern Pennsylvania Cold War Historical Society: Fascinating history of the Corporal Missile– America’s first ballistic missile. Historian Greg Kennedy reviews the history of this oft-overlooked weapon.
M65 280mm Atomic Cannon & Corporal Missile 42nd Artillery Group c 1956 US Army, 29 minutes
The Big Picture: Viewers will see the 42nd Field Artillery Group in Germany wheel two of its most formidable weapons — the “Corporal” guided missile and the 280mm cannon–into action for a test alert.
Further Reading
- Wikipedia
- Nuclear historian Brian Burnell has an extraordinarily good page on the Corporal, covering not only the weapon and its development in clearly written detail but also does two things that are oddly rare: he offers a comparison to the relevant Soviet weaponry (in this case the Scud missile) and explains why the US military wanted this particular weapon in the first place. Well worth a look.
- Two other histories of the Corporal might be of interest: “The Corporal M2 Missile” by Peter A. Goetz in WarefareHistoryNetwork.com offers a survey of the missile’s development (and a few nice photos of the Corporal) while “The Corporal Family of Rockets and Missiles” published by the White Sands Missile Range Museum delves deeper into the pre-history of the Corporal, covering not only earlier missiles and rockets but the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s role in the research ad development of this new technology.
- The Army which, despite shortcomings of the Corporal, sees the weapon as the beginning point of later achievements, has its own history in the oddly named “Development of the Corporal: The Embryo of the Army Missile Program” and its supporting documents.
- For a sense of the weapon’s difficult birth (without diving deep into one of the histories listed above) look at the US Army’s chronology, put out by the Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command. Also, as an indication of the weapon’s importance in terms of technology development, note how many times the word “first” appears.
- The Corporal was a difficult (and dangerous) weapon to use as suggested by this graduation photo from the 1952 class of the The Corporal Guided Missile Training School at White Sands–two years before the Corporal entered service. Also note this photo, made at the University of Illinois, of a mobile Corporal unit erected on campus in 1960 order to gin up interest among the students in a career in the military. This photo shows what appears to be that same missile at another location on campus.
- The folks at Jet Propulsion Laboratory had a sense of humor, it seems, and produced this humorous version of a standard Air Force reel.
- The Corporal used a W7 warhead, a modification of the Mark 7 bomb, which was also used for Honest John, BOAR, the early version of the Nike Hercules, the “Betty” nuclear depth bomb, and the ADM (Atomic Demolition Munition). [Links to American Nukes forthcoming.]