Missile Assembly Laboratory
Photograph Number P-470A

In 1951, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. was awarded a sub-contract to build Corporal missiles for JPL. When completed, the missiles were delivered to the JPL Missile Assembly Laboratory -- Building 18 -- which still exists today and is seen in the 1955 photo above. They were carefully disassembled, inspected, rebuilt, JPL-built telemetering equipment was installed, and the missiles were preflight-tested. The nose section with all of the electronic equipment was then removed from each missile and airlifted to White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico. The rest of the missile was shipped to the Proving Ground on a flat-bed trailer and mated with the nose section for field tests and firing.

The Corporal was America's first tactical surface-to-surface guided ballistic missile, developed by JPL under contract to Army Ordnance. For more information about the Corporal, contact the JPL Archives.

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