Editing Redstone Arsenal (section)

===Army Ordnance Corps===
At the close of World War II, a number of key German scientists and engineers were brought to the United States under [[Operation Paperclip]]. Colonel [[Holger Toftoy]] arranged for 127 individuals, including [[Wernher von Braun]], to receive contracts for work on Army missiles. In late 1945, they began arriving at [[Fort Bliss, Texas]], where, using components brought from Germany, started upgrading the [[V-2]] missile. Testing was done at the nearby [[White Sands Missile Range|White Sands Proving Ground]] in [[New Mexico]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nmsua.edu/tiopete/files/2008/12/wspgcoldbook.pdf |last1=Fidenbach |first1=Peter L. |title=A Brief History of White Sands Proving Ground 1941–1965 |publisher=Ordnance Department, U.S. Army |access-date=August 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229102456/http://nmsua.edu/tiopete/files/2008/12/wspgcoldbook.pdf |archive-date=December 29, 2010}}</ref>

On June 1, 1949, the [[Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army]] designated Redstone Arsenal as the Ordnance Rocket Center, its facility for ordnance rocket research and development. In April 1950, the Fort Bliss missile development operation, then with 130 German contract employees, 120 civil-service employees, and 500 military personnel, was transferred to Redstone Arsenal. This became the Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC), with Major James Hamill as acting commander and von Braun as technical director. An initial project was the Major tactical missile.

Upon the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, OGMC was given the mission of developing a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with an objective range of {{convert|500|mi|km}}.  Starting with an upgraded Major missile, the design went through a series of improvements and ultimately became the PGM-11 with the popular name [[PGM-11 Redstone|Redstone rocket]]. To expedite development, an existing engine was used, greatly reducing the operational range to between 58 and 200 miles.<ref>Bullard, John W. "[http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA434109 History of the Redstone Missile System]". Historical Monograph Project No. AMC23M, Historical Division, Army Missile Command, October 1965. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527164049/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA434109&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |date=May 27, 2012 }}</ref>

During the Korean War, ammunition production was resumed at Redstone Arsenal. From July 1951 through July 1955, around 38,700,000 rounds of chemical artillery munitions were produced.<ref name="baker"/>

The Ordnance Missile Laboratories (OML) was formed in 1952 to coordinate research and development within the OGMC. Holger Toftoy, who had originally recruited von Braun and his team of missile specialists, was assigned to Huntsville and promoted to Brigadier General as director of the OML. Test operations were under [[Kurt H. Debus|Kurt Debus]], who set up the [[Redstone Test Stand|Interim Test Stand]] and the launch facility at [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station|Cape Canaveral, Florida]].  Redstone static fire testing began in the spring of 1953, followed by the first launch at Cape Canaveral on August 20, 1953.<ref name=McCleskey>{{cite web |last=McCleskey |first=C. |author2=D. Christensen |title=Dr. Kurt H. Debus: Launching a Vision |url=http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/docs/pdf/debus.pdf |access-date=June 22, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080917103545/http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/docs/pdf/debus.pdf |archive-date=September 17, 2008}}</ref>

In addition to the Redstone rocket development, the OML had many other research and development programs. Under Toftoy, the organization included the R&D Division under Col. Miles Birkett Chatfield, the Field Service Division under Maj. Ben Keyserling, and the Industrial Division. In the R&D Division there were the Surface-to-Air Projects under Maj. Rudy Axelson, the Surface-to-Surface Division under Maj. Dan Breedon, and Special Projects under Lt. Colonel John O'Conner.  Projects in Surface-to-Air included the Nike B (later called the [[Project Nike|Nike Hercules]]), [[MIM-23 Hawk|Hawk]] and others.  Surface-to-Surface projects were the [[MGR-1 Honest John|Honest John]], [[MGR-3 Little John|Little John]], [[MGM-18 Lacrosse|Lacrosse]], and [[MGM-5 Corporal|Corporal Type III]]; the liquid-fueled Corporal Type III was soon canceled and the solid Thiokol fueled [[MGM-29 Sergeant|Sergeant]] project started.  The [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] (JPL) at the [[California Institute of Technology]] was an Army research operation at that time, as NASA did not exist at the time. It was JPL that designed the Corporal system and later was the R&D designer of the Sergeant.<ref name="baker"/>

At a 1954 meeting of the Spaceflight Committee of the [[American Rocket Society]], von Braun proposed placing a [[satellite]] into orbit using the Redstone with clusters of small [[solid-fuel rocket]]s on top.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Roger R. |last1=Bate |last2=Mueller |first2=Donald D. |last3=White |first3=Jerry E. |title=Fundamentals of Astrodynamics |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |date=1971 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fundamentalsofas00bate/page/152 152] |isbn=0-486-60061-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/fundamentalsofas00bate/page/152}}</ref> The proposal, [[Project Orbiter]], was rejected in 1955.