Neosho Missouri

Neosho, Missouri is located in the southwest corner of the state, some 20 miles south of Joplin (the latter made famous by "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66").

According to The First Fifty Years in Spacetown USA (published by Premier Turbines in 2006), Neosho was home of a Rocketdyne engine facility from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, building and testing engines for the Redstone, Jupiter, Thor, and Atlas missiles; building and testing Saturn I/IB H-1 engines; producing components for F-1 and J-2 engines (including F-1 LOX domes and J-2 turbopump components); and manufacturing and testing Atlas and Thor vernier engines.

I'm a bit skeptical regarding production of Redstone engines, as ground was not broken for the plant until April 21, 1956, which would seem to be a bit late for the production of Redstone engines. Various references (Rocketdyne: Powering Humans into Space, Missiles and Rockets magazine) refer to production of Atlas, Jupiter, and Thor missile engines at Neosho, but only refer to production of Redstone engines at Rocketdyne's various California plants and testing at Santa Susana and White Sands. Spacetown USA lacks any photos of Redstone engines being manufactured or tested. Additionally, this plant was built by the Air Force, and Redstone was an Army missile (the Jupiter also started out as an Army missile but was transferred to the Air Force; additionally, the Thor, Jupiter, and Atlas booster thrust chambers were virtually identical).

For additional information about Rocketdyne's Neosho plant, see the articles from a number of issues of Missiles and Rockets magazine which I've reproduced: July 7, 1958; July 21, 1958; October 20, 1958; and August 1, 1960.

After Rocketdyne vacated the facility in 1968, it was used for jet engine turbine repair and component overhaul by a number of companies including Continental/Teledyne, Sabreliner, and Dallas Airmotive/Premier Turbines.

It was announced in June 2014 that Premiere Turbines would cease operations in Neosho in the first quarter of 2015, although at least some operations appeared to have continued until at least early 2016.

Today, the visible portion of Rocketdyne's legacy is limited to a marker in the park, a street named "Rocketdyne Rd.," the former plant, and the remains of the test area.