NOTS-EV-1 Pilot

Overview

The Pilot rocket came in two versions. The Pilot-1 used battleship-grade second through fifth stages and launched from the ground at China Lake for atmospheric tests. The Pilot-2 was built for air-launched orbital attempts. These orbital launches involved a stripped-down F4D-1 Skyray fighter jet taking off from Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

The jet released the rocket over the Santa Barbara Channel Drop Zone. Ten launches happened in total: four were Pilot-1s, the rest Pilot-2s. The first air-launch took place on July 25, 1958. NOTS research pilot William West, a career Navy officer, flew the mission from China Lake’s airstrip at Inyokern.

The jet climbed steeply, and at 41,000 feet the rocket released automatically. Three seconds later, the first two HOTROC motors ignited. That flight failed. The second air-launch, in August, ended when a HOTROC exploded.

On the third try, the F4D pilot reported the missile exploded again, just like the first two. Radio contact with the ground cut out during the second-stage burn, but film showed the rocket leaving over the horizon. Objects thought to be the nozzle seal and possibly fin skin separated from the missile. At the tracking station in Christchurch, New Zealand, engineer Frank St. George was the only one among four listening stations to hear a faint single beep at the predicted time during the first orbital windows.

No further signal came, so that mission was also ruled a failure. Project Pilot was canceled in August 1958 and replaced by the NOTS-EV-2 Caleb. The project stayed classified until 1994. After these tests and the follow-on Caleb program suffered many failures, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ended the Navy’s space program and gave all responsibility to the Air Force.