This week in Travis History: Travis B-52s are armed with Hound Dog cruise missiles

  • Published
  • By Mark Wilderman
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing History Office
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  During most of the 1960s, airlift units at Travis shared the tarmac with 15 giant Boeing B-52G Stratofortress intercontinental bombers of the Strategic Air Command 5th Bomb Wing's 23rd Bomb Squadron. The primary mission of the Travis B-52 force was nuclear deterrence to prevent a nuclear war between the Soviet bloc and the free world. If deterrence failed, B-52s were tasked to penetrate strong Soviet air defenses, consisting of hundreds of radars, fighter interceptors and surface-to-air missiles, to attack strategic targets in the Soviet Union, originally with gravity bombs.

Throughout 1961, tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union continued to escalate, especially after the August 1961 construction of the Berlin Wall. In the resulting Berlin Crisis, reinforced NATO and Soviet Bloc forces faced off within yards of each other in Berlin and all along the inner-German border.

Amidst this tension, on Sept. 29, 1961, SAC began to install the new North American GAM-77, later AGM-28, Hound Dog air-launched cruise missiles aboard the 23rd Bomb Squadron's B-52s. The Hound Dog, originally designated as the B-77 bomber, was named after the famous Elvis Presley song of the era and was designed to destroy heavily-defended Soviet ground targets. Each B-52 carried one Hound Dog under each wing on pylons mounted halfway between the fuselage and the inboard engine pod.

The Hound Dog was 42 feet, 6 inches in length with a wingspan of 12 feet, 2 inches. The missile weighed 10,000 pounds and was powered by a 7500-pound Pratt and Whitney J-52 turbojet. The missiles had a speed of 1,200 miles per hour and a range of nearly 600 miles. The operating altitude ranged from 200 to 56,200 feet. The missile allowed the B-52 to perform standoff launches hundreds of miles from the target, reducing the risk to the launch aircraft. On typical B-52 missions, the missiles would be launched at an altitude of 45,000 feet, climb to 56,000 feet, cruise to the target area and dive onto the target.

The Hound Dog had several interesting features. Its jet engines could be used on takeoff or in flight to provide extra power for the B-52. The missiles could be refueled in flight from the B-52's fuel tanks. The missile's inertial navigation system was integrated with the B-52 navigation system so the B-52 navigator could cross-check data with the automated system in each missile.

Almost 700 Hound Dogs were built before production ended in 1963. The missiles were retired by SAC in 1975 and scrapped in 1978. Although the Hound Dog era only lasted seven short years at Travis, we are fortunate to have a rare restored Hound Dog on display inside the Travis Heritage Center.