11 September 1953: At Naval Ordnance Test Station China Lake, the experimental Philco/General Electric XAAM-N-7 “Sidewinder” heat-seeking air-to-air missile scored its first “hit” when it passed within 2 feet (0.6 meters) of a radio-controlled Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat. The missile was fired from a Douglas AD-4 Skyraider flown by Lieutenant Commander Albert Samuel Yesensky, United States Navy, the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Guided Missile Unit SIXTY-ONE (GMU-61).
XAAM-N-7 Sidewinder mounted under the right wing of Douglas AD-4 Skyraider Bu. No. 123920 (U.S. Navy)
This black-and-white photograph of a Philco/General Electric Sidewinder I missile shows better detail. It is mounted under the left wing of Douglas AD-4 Skyraider, Bu. No. 123920, circa 1952. (U.S. Navy)
This sequence shows the effects of a hit on an F6F-5K drone by an experimental XAAM-N-7 Sidewinder missile. (U.S. Navy)