of detecting targets at sufficient range to utilize the full capabilities of the missile, rendering it impractical for operational use. Kingfisher F Kingfisher F was in some respects a powered version of the Kingfisher B; the missile's intended payload was, like Kingfisher B, a plunge bomb, and the missile was fitted with a pulsejet engine for a range of up to from its launching aircraft at a speed of Mach 0.7, with guidance via active radar homing. Built by McDonnell Aircraft and given the designation AUM-N-6 Puffin, the missile began flight testing in 1948, and was considered for carriage by United States Air Force bombers as well as U.S. Navy aircraft. Trials demonstrated, however, that Puffin did not meet the Navy's changing requirements, and it was cancelled in October 1949. Aftermath Although Project Kingfisher largely failed to result in the operational weapons it had been intended to produce, with only Kingfisher C, the AUM-N-2 Petrel, seeing operational service, much was learned about the issues of aerodynamics and control of guided weapons; while the U.S. Navy chose to use fully ballistic rocket-powered weapons for antisubmarine use, developing the RUR-5 ASROC as its standard anti-submarine missile, the concept of an unpiloted torpedo-carrying aircraft-type missile was developed by other nations, with the French Malafon missile and Australian Ikara being markedly similar in concept to the Kingfisher E/Grebe. See also GT-1 (missile), glide torpedo similar in concept to Kingfisher A References Citations Bibliography Anti-submarine missiles of the United States Anti-ship missiles of the United States Unmanned aerial vehicles of the United States World War II guided missiles of the United States Aerial torpedoes