Steering and stabilization apparatus for aerial missile

An earlier missile, comprising:

• an elongated body;
• a pair of elongated vane members carried by said body, each of said vane members having an elongated planar mounting section operationally projecting substantially upwardly away from said body;
• mounting means mounting the first of said vane member mounting sections on said body for rotation about an axis extending through said first vane member mounting section perpendicularly thereto adjacent an end thereof and mounting means mounting the second of said vane member mounting sections on said body for rotation about another axis extending through said second vane member mounting section perpendicularly thereto adjacent an end thereof;
• wherein recesses are provided on opposite sides of said body, and wherein each of said vane member mounting sections is mounted within one of said recesses, said vane members being rotatable between an operating position thereof and a sheltered position thereof within said recesses wherein no portion of said vane members projects beyond the overall cross-sectional outline of said body of said missile;
• said axes intersecting at a point on the longitudinal plane of symmetry of said body and outwardly and downwardly diverging from said point of intersection thereof, each of said vane member mounting sections being rotatable about said axis extending therethrough and thereby operationally movable into and out of alignment with the flowstream moving rearwardly alongside said body when said missile is moving forwardly through the air to concurrently serve steering and rolling functions, as well as to serve pitching functions.