General Electric Summer Theater segment (1960s)

at General Electric progress is our most important [Music] product the General Electric summer theater presents your favorite stars in the most popular stories from the General Electric Theater evening friends this is red bber you know what this is nope it isn't a spaceship to the moon it's a model of a new weapon for our army called a guided missile what's a guided missile well technically it's a weapon with an explosive charge up here in its nose that can be launched and sent through the air to destroy an enemy Target it has its own power plant and it has the controls built into it to change its course and Direction while it is in the air now there are many different types of guided missiles built for different purposes but tonight let's take a look at just one type a missile designed to be launched from one point and another Point here this is called a surfac to surface missile that's nothing new you say artill shells have been doing that for 200 years that's right they have but the range and striking power of these shells are limited now it would take a mighty big gun to power a shell the size of our guided missile here far enough to be effective so big in fact that it wouldn't be fra also the farther the shell is fired the more wind air density temperature and so on tend to throw it off its course well this guided missile is an attempt to overcome these limitations no gun fir it takes under its own power using a built-in propulsion system and once in the air it uses its automatic controls to correct for a changing atmospheric condition and keep it on course to its taret sound simple doesn't it but the building of a practical accurate guided missile of this type has turned out to be a real tough problem our Forward Thinking Armed Forces turned to American industry with contracts to develop guided missiles way back in world War II General Electric for instance working closely with the Army Ordinance Corps Organized an intensive research and development program a separate guided missile Department was established and the race to perfect the guided missile was on the job was anything but easy however by combining the knowhow of GE scientists and engineers in such Fields as chemistry Electronics rocket propulsion guidance and flight control aerodynamics progress has been made toward systems of high accuracy and reliability perhaps someday these advances in the field of Rocket flight will Pro to be the first steps in the conquest of space itself but whatever future scientific and Engineering developments are made you may be confident that General Electric will play an important part in making them because alwayss in peace and when necessary for a defense at general election progress is our most important product