Corgi Corporal Guided Missile on Mobile Launcher No.1112 Boxed Vintage 1959-61

Vintage “Corporal” guided missile and its mobile launching platform from Corgis “Rocket Age Models” range in the late 1950s, early 1960s.

The Corgi model, marketed to children as "the rocket you can launch", was timed to coincide with the British test firing in 1959.

Diecast metal mobile launcher with intact black plastic tow bar. The tow bar holds together 2 of the 4 silver stabilising and can be unclipped to release them. All 4 arms can swing out to their extended position and have stabilising feet with black cups and ridged metal thumbwheels that adjust the feet. The 2 spun metal hub wheels with their rubber tyres can be removed. The missile sits on the 2 pegs cast into the launching base and the sides are supported by 4 spring loaded bare metal support arms. The model is designed to be compatible with the Corporal Guided Missile Erector Vehicle (1113) that can lower the missile onto the launching platform.

The missile itself is an impressive 27cm long without warhead and is one-piece diecast metal painted white with a red checker pattern at the top and red-painted fins on opposite sides at the bottom. The white fins have intact NSEW decals. In the box are waxy remains of the original warhead as well as a reproduction red plastic warhead.

The lift-off lid box has some tears but comes with the original corrugated cardboard internal packing pieces.

The MGM-5 Corporal missile was an American short-range, nuclear-armed tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missile. It was the first guided weapon authorized by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead. A guided tactical ballistic missile, the Corporal could deliver either a nuclear fission, high-explosive, fragmentation or chemical warhead up to a range of 75 nautical miles (139 km). It was developed by the United States Army in partnership with Caltech's pioneering Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and initially produced by Douglas Aircraft Company. As development continued production shifted to Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (airframe) and Gilfillan Brothers Inc. (guidance). The Corporal was designed as a tactical nuclear missile for use in the event of Cold War hostilities in Western Europe. The first U.S. Army Corporal battalion was deployed in Europe in 1955. Eight Corporal battalions were deployed in Europe and remained in the field until 1964, when the system was replaced by the solid-fueled MGM-29 Sergeant missile system. The Corporal was the second in a series of JPL rockets for the US Army whose names correspond to the progression in Army enlisted ranks, starting with Private before ultimately leading to the MGM-29 Sergeant.

Launching Corporal was a complex process that took eight to nine hours. After getting within range of a target, the guidance site was selected. Then, in order for the missile to bear on the target, the portable launchpad was located at a firing site no more than 600 meters distant from the target line and no more than minus-200 to 2,800 meters from ground radar. After this was accomplished, the 4,400-pound missile body was removed from its storage container at a service site and placed on a test bed for assembly and installation of its fins. At this time, the firing station was set up. Following attachment of the missile body to a horizontal rail, the extremely hazardous fueling procedure was carried out by a crew wearing bulky protective clothing. After fueling, the systems were checked and “peaked,” and the W7 atomic warhead was mated to the body. The erector-launcher then transported the 11,400-pound, operationally ready missile to the launch site. The missile was lowered vertically onto its launchpad and a registration mark on its body was placed into correct alignment with the target in order for it to guide accurately. Following the attachment of all necessary umbilicals, pressurization, and a final check, the erector and servicing vehicles were withdrawn and the missile was launched.

The first three Corporal battalions were activated in March 1952 with an Engineer-User launch program beginning in January 1953. In the same year the Corporal II system was sold to the United Kingdom. The extremely ambitious original goal of the Corporal program was to have 16 battalions of missiles deployed by July 1954. Two batteries of Corporal I had been organized and equipped by July 1954. The 259th Corporal Battalion deployed to Europe in February 1955. It was followed by other units and by 1960 there were six battalions in Germany, two in Italy and four in the United States. Live-fire training for Germany-based US forces took place at Fort Bliss but later the British Royal Artillery Guided Weapons Range on the Scottish island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides was used. Missiles were fired toward designated target coordinates in the Atlantic Ocean. Radar on Hirta (the main island of the St Kilda archipelago of Scotland) identified missile landing points. Frequently, Soviet spy ship 'fishing trawlers' would intrude into the target area. The UK adoption of the Corporal resulted in the islet of Rockall being incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1955, the last addition to the UK, to prevent its use by Soviet observers: the UK Minister of Defence Harold Macmillan was concerned that, were they to do so, the Soviets might discover how to jam Corporal guidance and tracking radio signals.

For what was the first nuclear armed missile the Corporal I was significantly unreliable and inaccurate. The continuing development of the Corporal weapon system led rapidly to the development of the Corporal II. This was initiated while the Corporal I was still under development. Though Corporal I was deemed operable many shortcomings in both the missile and ground equipment tactical usability had become obvious during development.[16] Engineer-User trials had shown that the primary reason for mechanical and electrical causes arose because the systems of the Corporal I were too delicate.   Problems detected in the E-U trials were addressed in the Corporal II. The Type II Corporal was subsequently improved in the Corporal IIa and IIb (M2A1) versions. The first Corporal II prototype was flown on October 8, 1953. The first complete Type II system was delivered in February 1955, The Type II Corporal greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of the missile system. When compared to other early missiles the final production Corporal II was reasonably accurate. Still the aggregate accuracy of all Type IIs with a CEP (Circular Error Probable) of 350 meters which was still short of the desired 300 meters.

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