Original vintage 1959 North American Aviation (NAA) advertisement for the company's GAM-77 Hound Dog air-to-ground supersonic, turbojet-propelled, nuclear armed, air-launched cruise missile - "When {Strategic Air Command] slings a pair of GAM-77 Hound Dog air-to-ground missiles under the wings of the new B-52G bomber, it has what amounts to a brand-new manned weapon system.  For the Hound Dog's jet engine drives it at supersonic speed to a target hundreds of miles away.  Its self-contained inertial autonavigator, set before launch by the B-52's crew, can't be jammed, can't be decoyed."
 
Dimensions: Approx. 8 inches wide by 11.25 inches high.
 
The NAA's GAM-77 Hound Dog Air-to-Ground Missile 
The NAA AGM-28 Hound Dog was a supersonic, turbojet-propelled, nuclear armed, air-launched cruise missile developed in 1959 for the United States Air Force.  It was primarily designed to be capable of attacking Soviet ground-based air defense sites prior to a potential air attack by B-52 Stratofortress long range bombers during the Cold War. 
 
The Hound Dog was first given the designation B-77, then redesignated GAM-77, and finally AGM-28.  It was conceived as a temporary standoff missile for the B-52, to be used until the GAM-87 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile was available.  Instead, the Skybolt was cancelled within a few years and the Hound Dog continued to be deployed for a total of 15 years until its replacement by newer missiles, including the AGM-69 SRAM and then the AGM-86 ALCM.
 
During the 1950s, the U.S. became aware of the Soviet Union's surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), notably at large installations being constructed around Moscow.  At the time, the entire nuclear deterrent of the United States was based on crewed strategic bombers, both with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy. 
 
The deployment of large numbers of SAMs placed this force at some risk of being rendered ineffective.  One solution to this problem is to extend the range of the bomb, either through glide bomb techniques, or more practically, by mounting them in a short-to-medium-range missile.  This allows the weapon to be fired while the bomber remained outside the range of the enemy's defensive missiles.
 
Since the Soviet air-defenses were static and easy to spot from aerial reconnaissance or satellite reconnaissance photos, the USAF planned to use a long-range cruise missile to attack the air-defense bases before the bombers got within their range.  The weapon needed to fly fast enough and far enough that the bomber was at a safe distance when the weapon reached the target.  If the American missile was to be used to attack enemy air bases as well, an extended range of several hundred kilometers would be needed due to the much longer range of the fighters compared to the SAMs.
 
The answer?  The GAM-77 Hound Dog missile.
 
On December 21, 1959, General Thomas S. Power, the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC), formally accepted the first production Hound Dog missile.  Just two months later in February, SAC test-launched its first unarmed Hound Dog at Eglin Air Force Base.
 
The Hound Dog was used on airborne alert for the first time in January 1962. In 1962, SAC activated missile maintenance squadrons to provide maintenance for both the Hound Dog and the ADM-20 Quail decoy missile (find a vintage advert for the Quail here).  Full operational capability was achieved in August 1963 when 29 B-52 bomber wings were operational with the Hound Dog.
 
After thirteen years of service with the Air Force, the last Hound Dog missile was removed from alert deployment on June 30, 1975, and the last Hound Dog was retired for scrapping on June 15, 1978, from the 42nd Bomb Wing at Loring Air Force Base, Maine.  No Hound Dog missile was used in combat, as it was strictly a weapon for nuclear warfare.
 
North American Aviation & It's Missile Division
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft.  Its products included the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, the B-1 Lancer, the Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, and the Space Shuttle orbiter – among many other airframes.
 
Autonetics was a missile division of NAA that produced various avionics but is best known for their inertial navigation systems used in submarines and ICBMs.  Its 188-acre facility in Anaheim, California, with 36,000 employees, was the city's largest employer.  Through a series of mergers, Autonetics – like NAA – is now part of Boeing.
 
In 1955, the rocket engine operations were spun off into a separate division as Rocketdyne.  This division furnished engines for the Redstone, Jupiter, Thor, Delta, and Atlas missiles, and for NASA's Saturn family of launch vehicles.  NAA designed and built the airframe for the X-15, a rocket-powered aircraft that first flew in 1959 – and whose pilots also were issued the Bulova Accutron electric watch.
 
In 1959, NAA built the first of several Little Joe boosters used to test the launch escape system for the Project Mercury spacecraft.  In 1960, the new CEO Lee Atwood decided to focus on the space program, and the company became the prime contractor for the Apollo command and service module, a larger Little Joe II rocket to test Apollo's launch escape system, and the S-II second stage of the Saturn V.