LBD Gargoyle

Following the successful use of the German Henschel Hs 293 and Fritz-X guided bombs in combat during 1943, a requirement was issued by the U.S. Navy that October for a guided weapon based on similar principles. Assigned as part of the Glomb ("glide bomb") project, the weapon was code-named "Gargoyle", and following the completion of design work in the summer of 1944, Intended for carriage by carrier-based aircraft, Gargoyle was of fairly conventional small-aircraft design, weighing when ready for launch, and fitted with a low-mounted wing and v-tail attached to a streamlined fuselage, in length, was fitted to provide terminal boost to , and guidance was by radio command, the missile being tracked visually via a flare mounted in the tail section. ==Operational history==

Gargoyle's armor-piercing capability and the fact that it could be carried by carrier-based aircraft allowed development to continue despite late-war rationalizations of missile projects, and following delivery of the first weapons to the Navy at the end of 1944 flight trials were begun in March 1945. before the program was finally terminated, the remaining RTV-N-2s being designated for scrapping. ==Surviving aircraft==

A Gargoyle that was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1974 is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. ==See also==