The MGR-1 Honest John rocket was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface rocket in the United States arsenal. Originally designated Artillery Rocket XM31, the first unit was tested on 29 June 1951, with the first production rounds delivered in January 1953. Its designation was changed to M31 in September 1953. The first Army units received their rockets by year's end and Honest John battalions were deployed in Europe in early 1954. Alternatively, the rocket was capable of carrying an ordinary high-explosive warhead weighing 1,500 pounds (680 kg).
MGR-1A (M31 series) "Honest John" rocket on the M386 transporter/launcher truck of the Royal Netherlands Army
Honest John test launch
"It's no secret we're in the 'missile business' to stay..." Douglas Aircraft Company ad in the California Institute of Technology 1958 yearbook
Honest John warhead cutaway, showing M139 sarin bomblets (photo c. 1960)
Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a host to over 75 tenant agencies including the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and NASA's largest field center, the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Redstone Arsenal Sign, Gate 9
1940s munitions production at Huntsville Arsenal
RSA commander Maj. Gen. John Medaris, Wernher von Braun, and RSA deputy commander Brig. Gen. Holger Toftoy (left to right) in the 1950s
1956: Redstone missile testing on Static Test Stand
