On Oct. 11, 1945, the team from Calcech launched the first fully fueled Wac Corporal, round 5.
Ignition of the Tiny Tim booster started the Wac up its 100 foot launch tower. The sudden acceleration of the Wac opened an inertia valve, allowing compressed air into its propellant tanks. This action in turn sent red fuming nitric acid oxidizer and an aniline/furfuryl alcohol mixture into the Wac Corporal’s combustion chamber. After 0.6 seconds, the booster burned out and fell from the sustainer, leaving the liquid fueled stage to continue its 47-second burn. At an altitude of 15 miles, the Wac exhausted its fuel, and the ground crew lost sight of the vehicle. Radar tracked the vehicle to an altitude of 43 1/2 miles.
When the rocket arced over to horizontal at the peak of its flight, a gyroscope was to eject the nose cone filled with radar “window” (radar reflective material to aid tracking) and deploy the recovery system. Unfortunately, the nose failed to eject, and the first full-charge Wac Corporal crashed into the ground 7 1/2 minutes after launch, less than a mile from the launcher.