In 1944 the U.S. Navy and the National Bureau of Standards initiated Project Kingfisher,[1] intended to develop a family of missiles for attacking enemy ships and surfaced submarines with torpedoes or other weapons intended to strike below the waterline, while allowing the launching aircraft or ship to avoid exposing themselves to enemy defensive fire. Four missiles reached the development stage as a result of the program: the surface-launched Kingfisher E, and the air-launched Kingfisher C, D, and F.[2]
Work on Kingfisher F began on 5 February 1947.[2] Weighing 1,300 pounds (590 kg),[1] the missile was of conventional small-aircraft design with a high-mounted wing and V-tail, a pulsejet engine being mounted in the rear of a streamlined fuselage.[3] Guidance was by active radar homing; after release from the launching aircraft, the missile – redesignated AUM-6 in September 1947, and AUM-N-6 Puffin in 1948 – would cruise at an altitude of 200 feet (61 m),[3] traveling up to 20 miles (32 km) at Mach 0.7.[1] The onboard radar in the missile's nose selecting a target and steering the missile into position to release its payload, carried in the mid-fuselage;[3] while some sources state that a torpedo was intended to be carried,[3] the specification for Kingfisher F called for the missile to carry a 500-pound (230 kg) plunge bomb, intended to be dropped alongside the target ship and detonate underwater, holing the target vessel below the waterline and causing flooding.[2][4]
Construction of Puffin was contracted to McDonnell Aircraft;[3] flight tests of XAUM-N-6 missiles began in 1948.[1] Tests did not demonstrate that the weapon was suitable for service, and on 1 October 1949 the AUM-N-6 program was cancelled.[2]
Friedman, Norman (1982). U.S. Naval Weapons: Every gun, missile, mine, and torpedo used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the present day. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-0-87021-735-7.
Ordway, Frederick Ira; Ronald C. Wakeford (1960). International Missile and Spacecraft Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill. ASINB000MAEGVC.
Parsch, Andreas (6 January 2003). "NBS/McDonnell AUM-N-6 Puffin". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 1: Early Missiles and Drones. Designation-Systems. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
Yenne, Bill (2006). Secret Gadgets and Strange Gizmos: High-Tech (and Low-Tech) Innovations of the U.S. Military. Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press. ISBN978-0760321157.