THE
LIBRARY—REVIEWS
telemetry capable of withstanding the high accelerations
imposed by gun launching, there is the possibility of obtaining
much detailed information from a model in flight. Some
excellent work on real gas effects carried out at N.O.L. by
firing spheres into different gases deserves to be more widely
publicised. The use of light gas guns to obtain hypervelocities is also covered in the papers.
Of the remaining papers, there is an excellent summary by
Rinehart of meteorites which includes an account of ablation
characteristics and of the nature of impact craters, a paper on
the scaling of underwater explosions and water entry cavities,
and, rather as an outsider in this volume, the paper by Tesson
on the theory of ram-jets—in particular the secondary
stability effect arising through the displacement of combustion surfaces relative to the structure.
The AGARDograph series is excellently produced, and
this volume deserves to be read carefully by aerodynamicists
concerned with missile development. It is a great pity that
the gap between conferences and the publication of the
proceedings seems to be an ever-increasing one.—R. N. COX.
F U N D A M E N T A L S O F G U I D E D MISSILES. Air Training
Command, United States Air Force and Technical Staff, Aero
Publishers, Los Angeles, 1960. 575 pp. Illustrated.
$12.50.
This mammoth work has been written primarily for
training "thousands of skilled technicians and engineers" of
the United States Air Force who are to be employed in
maintaining and servicing guided missiles in the field. In
simple and non-mathematical language, it attempts to explain
from very basic principles how and why guided missiles work.
The intention is to give to the specialist technician a greater
depth of understanding of the importance of his own personal
contribution to the serviceability of the complete missile.
In this country the book will certainly prove of interest to
those concerned with the training of Service tradesmen.
Additionally it could be recommended to any newcomer to
the guided missile industry for general background reading, or
indeed to anyone who has only a passing interest in guided
missiles. Its great merit lies in the fact that it can be read by
anyone without a host of supporting reference books at his
elbow. However it is disappointing that the book was not
written for a wider audience. The weight given to each
technology reflects its usefulness to the service technician on
an operational site. Consequently aerodynamics and propulsion are dealt with superficially and structures not at all.
The resulting unbalance seriously detracts from the value of
the book to other potential readers, such as members of the
industry and higher ranking planners in the Services. It will
also be a disappointment to some readers that, although
considerable sections are devoted to components, no details
or illustrations of actual missile components are given.
(Possibly this was to be expected on security grounds.) The
text is restricted to describing the general principles of their
operation, and illustrations are limited to functional diagrams.
A criticism is that the arrangement of the book could be
greatly improved. The logical development would have been
from a classification of missiles according to their operational
roles. Consideration of possible guidance techniques would
have led to further sub-classification. Trajectories, aerodynamics, structures and propulsion could then follow,
indicating techniques appropriate to each sub-classification.
Having thus developed the various possible missile configurations, the scene would have been set for guidance and
control. Instead no real attempt is made to classify missiles
until chapters 8 and 9, after aerodynamics, propulsion and
control have been dealt with. The result is some confusion,
considerable repetition, and to a large extent the reader is left
to build his own missiles.
571
The section on control is worthy of especial mention. The
treatment is unusual in that it attempts to explain, without
recourse to mathematics, the complex techniques used by
designers in order to achieve stable and accurate control.
On the whole it is successful, although there are occasions
when verbosity and repetition give the impression that the
author himself lacked full understanding.
Elsewhere there are unusual explanations and strange
concepts such as the explanation of Coriolis effect and the
concept of "apparent precession", but, generally speaking,
the book achieves what it sets out to do, namely to provide
a general background of the basic principles of guided
missile design using non-specialist language. Like all
American books of its type it is lavishly illustrated but,
lacks a bibliography for further reading.—E. J. HOLDEN.
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R O C K E T T E C H N O L O G Y . V. I.
Feodosiev and G. B. Siniarev. Translated by S. N. Samburof.
Academic Press, New York, 1959. 344 pp. Illustrated.
$9.50.
The title of this book adequately describes its contents.
The authors, in their preface, state that the book represents
their attempt to introduce the reader to the general subject
of rocket technology without demanding of him serious
preparation, particularly in the specialised fields of aero-gas
dynamics and thermodynamics.
Others have attempted to write an introductory book of
this type, for which an undoubted need exists. The reviewer
feels that this attempt is more successful than most, probably
because the authors have selected their material, and its
treatment, specifically for the third year engineering or
science student who is preparing to specialise in some branch
of rocket technology. Such a student, before beginning his
specialisation, needs first a long view of the whole field of
rocketry in order to give his later studies some perspective.
This book is intended to satisfy that need, while demanding
no more of its reader than the sound working knowledge of
higher mathematics, physics and chemistry which he might
be expected to have acquired at this stage in his studies. Thus,
throughout the book, theoretical treatment of material is
always adequately supported by such basic information on
rocket hardware as would be indispensable to the newcomer.
The text divides broadly into two parts; the first six
chapters cover topics related to rocket propulsion, and the
next three chapters deal with the dynamics and control of a
rocket in flight. A final chapter describes ancillary ground
equipment.
A brief resume of the contents of the book indicates its
scope: After an initial chapter in which the basic equations of
reactive motion are derived, there follow two largely descriptive chapters, the first on types of rockets, past and present,
and the second on the construction and mode of operation of
rocket motors. Progressing from the essentially practical
content of these two chapters, the topics developed in the
following three chapters are the more theoretical technicalities of motor fuels, the processes of combustion in the
chamber and their control by suitable injector and chamber
configuration, and the gas- and thermo-dynamics of the motor
efflux. A discussion on the theory and properties of critical
and supersonic nozzles concludes this section on motors.
The three chapters comprising the second section of the
book are devoted to various topics related to the kinematics
of a missile in flight and its control. Following a much
abbreviated primer on aerodynamics and the special features
of supersonic flight, methods of calculating trajectories are
discussed in some detail, both for powered and free-flight
vehicles; some of the problems involved in putting a satellite
into orbit are demonstrated quantitatively. A short conventional treatment of rocket stabilisation and control is
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