PGM-11 Redstone Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Operational Markings

These are 1/72 scale decals for the PGM-11 Redstone ballistic missile in the operational markings of the 333rd Artillery Regiment, United States Army — America's first operational nuclear-armed ballistic missile, deployed to Europe at the sharpest edge of the Cold War confrontation with the Soviet Union.

The PGM-11 Redstone was developed by Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama, entering service in 1958 as the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. Powered by a Rocketdyne A-7 engine burning liquid oxygen and ethyl alcohol — the same propellant combination used in the German V-2 that von Braun had developed during World War II — the Redstone could deliver a W39 thermonuclear warhead to targets up to 330 kilometers away. It was a direct descendant of the V-2 in both technology and lineage, representing the maturation of von Braun's rocket engineering from wartime weapon to Cold War deterrent.

The 333rd Artillery Regiment was one of the U.S. Army field artillery units equipped with the Redstone, deployed to West Germany as part of NATO's nuclear deterrence posture facing the Warsaw Pact. Redstone batteries in Europe stood ready to strike Soviet and Warsaw Pact targets in the event of a conventional breakthrough — a visible and potent symbol of American nuclear commitment to the defense of Western Europe during one of the most dangerous decades of the Cold War. The missile's size and liquid-fuel handling requirements made it a complex system to operate in the field, and the soldiers of units like the 333rd trained extensively to bring it to readiness under combat conditions.

The same Redstone that armed the 333rd in Europe also launched Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom into space — a remarkable dual legacy as both nuclear weapon and space launch vehicle. Please allow some time for decal printing and shipping.