Scarce 1955 U.S. Army Missile Testing Documentation Featuring V-2, NIKE, and HONEST JOHN Rockets

White Sands

First Edition

This is White Sands Proving Ground. White Sands, NM: U.S. Army Ordnance Corps, 1955. First edition. 11" x 8.25" saddle stapled wraps, 47 pages. Scarce Cold War military, found in just 3 libraries worldwide per OCLC Worldcat at the time of this writing. A rare and visually rich internal-use Army pamphlet documenting the operations, infrastructure, and technological missions of the White Sands Proving Ground (WSPG), the largest overland rocket and guided missile testing area in the United States during the Cold War. Created by the Public Information Office for incoming personnel and scientists, this 1955 publication offers a detailed portrait of a classified weapons research site at the height of America’s postwar missile race. The booklet introduces WSPG as “the Army Ordnance Corps rocket and guided missile testing center and upper air research facility where the groundwork may be prepared for man’s first flight into outer space.” Designed as both orientation manual and propaganda document, the pamphlet illustrates how civilian scientists, Army officers, and military dependents lived and worked at a frontier of U.S. rocket science.

The text describes the site's selection for its isolation and geographic advantages: “The site was chosen in 1945 after a painstaking search for a location where cloudless skies permitted year-around operation, and where there were no nearby centers of population to limit missile firings.” Accompanying aerial relief maps and photos depict the basin's strategic layout between Las Cruces, Holloman AFB, and Alamogordo. Multiple pages show housing units, blockhouses, trailers, and buses transporting hundreds of workers to and from El Paso and Las Cruces. Civilian integration is emphasized: “Unlike other military installations, White Sands Proving Ground is an integrated range used by the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy,” with civilian employees playing “an important part in carrying out the mission.” The missile testing section showcases American deployment of former German V-2 rockets and the first generation of U.S. Cold War armaments. One caption notes: “This remotely controlled U.S. Army Ordnance launcher poises a partially erected NIKE missile against the New Mexico sky.” Another dramatic image reads: “Figure 34 – ‘Operation Blowup With German V-2,’” documenting the explosive failure of a captured Nazi rocket. Other photos show “HONEST JOHN Roars Skyward,” referring to the newly deployed tactical nuclear rocket, and recovery operations involving helicopters and high-speed sleds “capable of speeds up to 1,400 miles per hour.” Security, fire control, and weather balloon launches are also featured. As the pamphlet concludes: “Research and development on weapons for defense will continue at White Sands Proving Ground so long as there is a threat of war, but meanwhile scientists and other experts continue their search for the secrets of the Universe around us.” Light age toning to covers, slight edgewear. Interior bright and clean with no markings. Overall very good condition.

Item #22370

Price: $225.00