17. The Bug was the Army’s first black program
The plan to rapidly develop and deploy a new type of weapon, designed and built jointly and in secrecy between a small Army team and civilian engineers and scientists, can rightly be called America’s first black program. It remained classified after the war, but the Bug’s existence was known to a greatly expanded community. Army personnel were assigned to the program, assisted by engineers and technicians from Dayton. Kettering’s lack of interest in continuing the project was discouraging to the Army proponents of the Bug, but Midgley remained with the program, the only engineer who fully understood the sensitive flight control system.
Engine problems continued, mostly based on lack of quality control when the engines were built at DePalma. Ford assembly line construction likely would have resolved the engine problems, but the Army had no reason to order a large quantity of Bugs, thereby justifying Ford’s involvement. Ford could deliver the engine at significant cost savings per unit, but it was not to be. The Bugs flew four times at Amityville. Three of the flights were failures, and only one was deemed to be a partial success. Problems with the launching rail, engine control, and flight control haunted the Bugs, and the Army canceled further testing at Amityville. Further tests, if any, were determined to be better conducted away from the inquisitive eyes of the Navy, with whom the Army competed for post-war budgets.
