German guided air to ground missiles/bombs

windrider · December 27, 2007, 8:30pm

The X1 (fritz X) controlled trajectory bomb.
The development of this guided bomb started pre war by Dr. Max Kramer, and tests were made with radio controlled spoilers fitted to 250 kg bombs. In 1940, the RLM got interested in Dr Kramers work, and The Ruhrstahl factories in Westfalen, in coordination with Dr Kramer, were ordered to make a guided free fall weapon system of the PC 1400 bomb for attacking ships.
Fritz X, as the weapon system was called had four centrally mounted plain cruciform fins, spanning 1,35 m. The Weapon was steered by means of electrical operated oscillating spoilers and by the rather complex tail structure. The weapon was roll stabilised by a gyroscope. In the rear section was the radio link for the control system. Like the Hs 293 missile described below there was also manufactured a wire guided system, but , like the Hs 293, the majority of weapons were radio guided. The control equipment could operate on 18 different channels, making launch of more then one weapon from a flight of planes possible without control interference
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Like the Hs 293 the Fritz X was optically guided. There was a marker flare in the tail unit of the weapon. Using a joystick and a a Lofte 7D sight, the controller worked to keep the flare over the target. The maximum control of the weapon was about 500 meters to each side, to the initial aim of the launch had to be rather accurate. Compared to the free fall weapons of WW2, the Fritz X was accurate! A skilled operator could get 50% of the bombs with in a 15 m radius of the aiming point, and about 90% hit within 30 m radius. (Other sources say 60% hits within 4,6 meters radius)
The warhead could penetrate about 130 mm of armour before detonating. There was a micro delay fuse so the weapon detonated within the target. The explosive payload was 320 kg.
The weapon system did not work well when dropped below 5000 meters (other sources say 4000 meter) , and most operations was conducted above 6000 meters to help lessen the danger of AA fire.
This was particular important as the controlling plane had to keep flying level and reduce speed to keep the aim, so if it was within range of allied fighters or AA fire it was extremely exposed.

Testing of the weapon system started in spring 42, and a special unit, Erprobungs & lehrkommando 21 was formed in September 42 to test the weapon. Practice runs were made against old sunken target ships in the Baltic, 3 live drops pr. Aircraft crew. It was operational about the same time as the Hs 293 missile, and trough a more primitive weapon system than the missile, the Fritz X scored quite a few military successes. III/KG 100 was equipped with Fritz X mounting Doriners Ds 217 K2’s and started operation over the Mediterranean on 29 august 43.
The most famous is the sinking of the Italina Battleship Roma and the damaging of her sistership Italia on 9 September. Because of its success and fame, it will be described in detail.
The situation regarding the future faith of the still important Italian navy was tense during these autumn days. III/KG 100 was given the order to deal with the Italian navy “If it sails north, protect it, if it sails south, sink it”
On that day, KG 100 got the news that the Italian fleet had broken south. 3 Battleships, six cruisers and many small vessels were within hours of allied fighter cover. At 14.00 hours, 6 Do 217 took off from Istres, each carrying 2 Fritz X weapons and a full load of fuel. Lead by Oberlieutenant Heinrich Schmertz the bombers keeps low for about an hour before they started climbing to about 5500 meters. The Fleet group was sighted, and AA fire started rising. The Doriners kept level and reduced speed to 180 km/t. The Roma started turning. Schmdertz bomb aimer, Oscar Huhn steered a Fritz X bomb directly onto Romas front deck. Within 20 minutes the ship sank (one source claim the Roma was hit twice) Italia was damaged. Just 9 bombs dropped from high altitude had killed one battleship and damaged another! The attack on Roma killed 1254 sailors, including Admiral Bergamini.
The Luftwaffe, for resons of secrecy, claimed the hits were made by ordinary armour piercing bombs.
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Importance of anti shipping weapons for the German war efford were increasing in the Mediterranean theatre, as the Italian fleet now was out of action on the Axis side.
Bombers carrying Fritx X bombs went into action again at Salerno, scoring several close hits and damaged the USS Savanah and several support vessels. The Cruisers HMS Uganda and HMS Warspite was also hit. The power of the Fritz X can be seen from the hit on the Warspite, 3 bombs were launched, 2 scored near misses, while the 3 penetrated 6 decks before exploding on and blowing trough the bottom of the ship. One Boiler rooms was destroyed, all steam was lost, steering was lost and armament and radar was out of function. The Warspite had to be towed to Malta for major repairs. The cruiser USS Philidelphia was also damaged and the destroyer HMS Janus was sunk.
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*?As allied fighter cover over the bridgehead increased, Luftwaffe losses increased, and as Fritx X launching planes had to keep slow and level, they rapidly became too vulnerable and the III/KG 100 was forced to abandon it’s attacks
On April 1944 X1 bombs were launched against England for the only time, against shipping targets at Plymouth, 15 Do 217’s attacked with guided bombs, but no important targets were destroyed
It was hoped guided weapons would provide a major advantage against the expected allied invasion in France, but Allied air superiority made the slow and level approach of the guiding aircraft impossible.
?Up to December 1944 1386 bombs were made and 602 consumed in tests.

Pictures:
1-The Fritx X weapon. Drawing from flying review
2- Fritz X weapon mountedbeneath a He 177
3- Hits on the Roma
4- Hits on the Warspite. Taken from attacking German planes, shows simultaneous hits

windrider · December 27, 2007, 8:33pm

The Henschel Hs 293
The work on the guided glider weapon against shipping started early in the war. The RLM urged for a weapon that would level out right at sea level(or just enter the water) but that was deemed too advanced since there was so little experience with guided weapons.
The first model build of the Hs 293 glider weapon was the HS 293 Vss, and examples of this was tested for control tests. It was designed in 1940. The same year, in july, the V3 design, still without any engine, was being tested. By the end of 1940 ,the Hs 293 A-0 had been produced with a underlsung rocket engine, giving the possibility of a low level release and still an acceptable gliding distance before contact with the target. The 18 of December a version was launched with success.
During the entire Hs 293 development program about 1900 weapons were build purely for testing and modifications. Some of these were modified for active service later.

HS 293 from his brilliant site
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The production model, Hs 293 A1 was a small glider with stubby wings. In the front was a 500m kg warhead with 295 kg of HE explosive. The warhead was thin walled and mainly good for light or non armoured targets as it lacked armour penetration capacity (unlike the Fritx X weapon) and in the rear of the fuselage was the controls: Aierons operated by electromagnets and an elevator operated by a electric motor. The Weapon was stabilized by a gyroscope that took control of the aerilions when no guidance signal came from the launch plane.Beneath the body was a Walter 109 507 B liquid rocket , that could provide 600 kg of trust for 10 seconds. This could boost the launch speed by about 200 km/h. This made the weapon clear the launch plane fast and made the visual controls possible.

HS 293 weapon system
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After launch the bomber reduced speed about 25% to let the weapon get velar, this had the added advantage of keeping the plane further away from a targets AA envelope.
Aiming the weapon was line of sight. In the rear of the weapon was, for day operations,5 flare candles, and for night operations, flashing lamps. The operator in the launch plane could then, using a Joystick and radio control, guided the weapon towards the target. The control equipment could operate on 18 different channels, making launch of more then one weapon from a flight of planes possible without control interference. Although primitive compared to modern guided weapons, it was possible for this method to be fairly accurate, but demanded quite some skill from the operator.

Launch of HS 293
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The weapon was not accurate at gliding ranges below 3000 meters. Ranges for the weapons depended on launch attitude. At 1400 meters, it was 12 km, at 6000m meters, it was 16 km. The was no maximum attitude for launching, but the weapon was not effective if the dive was steeper than 30 degrees, as the speed then made the weapon uncontrollable. For all ranges, the guidance was dependent on good visibility of the target.
The radio system was moderated during the productions to render it more immune from jamming. A wire guidance system where a small wire was unwound from the rear of the missile was tested and about 100 weapons were modified to the 293 B standard with wire guidance.
A later and even more advanced control system was introduced on the 293 D model described later.
During 1941, Luftwaffe personnel was trained on the weapon system. Mass production of weapons started in January 1942. In September 42 the Lehr and Eprobungs commando 36 was formed to introduce the weapon in service and to work on tactics.
The weapons were first used in action on the 25 of August 1943, by II/ Kg 100 based at Cologne deploying the missile from their Doriner Do 217 E-5s bombers. The unit was formed in the spring of 43, and the Do 217’s were modified to carry a Hs 293 missile beneath each wing.
The first mission was an attack against Royal navy vessels in the Bay of Biscay. The attack damaged a corvette. 2 days later a more successful mission was flown, where the corvette Egret was sank after a missile hit and a destroyer was damaged.
On the 7 of September the group was transferred toIstres, to provide attacks against the allied invasion forces in the Mediterranean sea. Here the problems of the weapon system was shown, as it was dangerous to deploy the bombers when there was a heavy fighter cover, especially since the bomber guiding the missile could not make too large evasive manoeuvres and still hit the target, so II /KG 100 mainly flew might missions.
Another unit the II KG 40 was also deployed, using Heinkel He 177 A5’s against convoys in the Atlantic. Their first mission on the 21 November 43 was quite a failure due to bad weather. II KG 40 was transferred to the Mediterranean theatre, while III Kg 40 continued to use Hs 293 missiles against shipping from FW 200 C-3 Condors. These missions were kept at a low intensity, and they never became a major treat to allied shipping.
In the Mediterranean theatre there was some success, but at the 26 November, half of II/Kg 40 was destroyed during an attack on a convoy off the Algerian coast.
Hs 293 missiles were deployed against the Allied landing at Anzio (as did the Fritz X bombs) in January 44 , but allied fighter cover, radio jammers and smoke screens made the missiles a lot less effective. But the Cruiser HMS Spartan was hit by a missile and sank. (other sources claim the kill was made by a X1 guided bomb)
As with the Fris X bomb, much hope was given to the missiles use against shipping when the major allied Invasion of Europe came. But as shown before, the Bombers had a hard time performing when there was little or no Luftwaffe fighter cover, and the planes were either brought down or forced to abandon the target run before the missile struck home.
The missiles continued to see some use during the closing months of the war, the last attacks being carried out by a special unit of KG 200 that attacked bridges across the Oder with Do 217’s in april 45. (According to James Lucas, on his work on the KG 200, some or all of those attacks were actually carried out with 6 Mistrel combination aircraft weapon systems, were only 3 arrived at target)
An interesting development of the missile system was the Hs 293 D . It was a standard HS 293 A1 missile with an extended nose and fuselage center, build to carry Television equipment, thereby removing the need for the carrier plane to keep line of sight to the target. In the rear section of the missile was an antenna sending signals to the carrier plane. The television equipment, K11, was crude compared to todays guided weapons, 224 line pictures been screened at a frequency of 50 pictures a second. Test flight were carried out in 1944, but the development program never really took off. The TV guiding by Joystick required quite some skill from the operator, and for the program to work there needed to be a large amount of simulator training. Range for the TV signal was about 4 km.
There was also the 293 F model with a delta wing and no tail unit, and 2 schmidding SG 33 rocket units for power that gave 1855 kg of trust for 3,5 sec , the extent of progress on this type is unknown.
The 293 G model was designed for vertical attack, to gain some of the advantage the Fritz X weapon had for anti shipping warfare. Only 10 were produced.
The 293 H model were designed to be an anti air weapon against bomber formation, to be detonated inside or close to the bomber formations, both infrared proximity fuses and TV guidance was planned. There was even a 293 HV 5 version planned for the high speed Arado 234 twin engine Jet.
The Hs 295 was a redesign to carry a larger armour piercing warhead with 580 kg of explosives. No quantity production was started.
The Hs 293 was ain innovative weapon system, but it’s weaknesses when faced with bad weather or enemy fighter cover made it less of an treat than it could have been. Apart from the ships mentioned above, at least 5 other destroyers and numerous escort and transport ships were sunk by the Hs 293 missiles.
One can’t help but to speculate. Had these weapon systems been available earlier in the war, both from The Condors roaming the Atlantic and the Luftwaffe planes attacking the Malta Convoys it might have made a somewhat larger impact. But, like many other special german weapon systems, it was a case of too little and too late.
Still, it did show the shape of things to come, were guided Air to ground weapons became way more important. Today, guided missiles with TV cameras in the nose is on the cutting edge of airpower.
Other prototype weapon systems worked on this angle, Especially the Blohm & Voss Bv 246 Hagelkorn, that was a radio beam guided unpowered gliderbomb with a 435 kg warhead. (Not unlike later versions of the Allied gilderbombs) It was suggested that the radio guidance on this weapon could be “turned on” to the transmitter stations in Southern England that were providing navigation aids for the allied bomber fleets. More than 1000 were manufactured, and there was even planned versions for carrying chemical weapons, but none were deployed in active service.
Sources:
J.R Smith & Anthony L. Kay: German Aircraft of the second world War
Alfred Price :Guided missile Genesis, in Flying Review international Nr 10 1964
Walt Boyne: Missiles against the Roma. in Flying Review international Nr 2 1968
Chris Bishop: Encyclopedia of weapons of world war 2”
The Oxford companion to world war 2
Roger Ford “Germany’s secret weapons in world war II”
James Lucas : “Kommando, German special forces of world war two”

windrider · January 2, 2008, 4:41pm

The Blohm & Voss BV 246 “Hagelkorn” (Hailstone) was originally known under the designation of the BV 226. Designed by Dr. Richard Vogt, the designation was changed to the BV 246 on December 12, 1943 when series production was ordered. Basically, the idea behind the BV 246 was to attack targets from the air at a distance, allowing the bomb to glide to the target, while keeping the carrier aircraft out of anti-aircraft fire range.
The “Hagelkorn” had a clean, cigar-shaped fuselage and a twin fin and rudder arrangement for the tail. The wings were shoulder mounted, and were very long and thin. A very interesting design feature was that the wings were constructed of die-cast concrete, the purpose of which would “spring” the “Hagelkorn” away from the carrier aircraft when released. The glide ratio on the BV 246 was approximately 1:25, thus if the BV 246 was dropped from an altitude of 7000 meters (23100 feet), the “Hagelkorn” could glide as far as 175 kilometers (109 miles). The glide bomb was originally meant to be guided by a radio link from the carrier aircraft, but interest waned as the British began successfully countering German radio navigational aids. The BV 246 “Hagelkorn” program was canceled on February 26, 1944, due to the overall down sizing of the entire German missile programs, although testing continued at Karlshagen by KG101.
The BV 246 was revived in early 1945 to use the “Radieschen” (Radish) ultra-short wave passive homing device which would home into enemy radars. The new BV 246 had a modified nose to house the “Radieschen”, and it acted on the gyroscopic control equipment for the rudders and elevator. Ten of the modified BV 246 “Radieschen” equipped glide bombs were tested on the Unterlüss test range, but due to the new equipment being under development, eight of the tests failed, although two of the tests were successful, landing within two meters (6 feet) of the target. Although over 1000 BV 246 glide bombs were produced, none were used operationally.

Panzerknacker · January 3, 2008, 10:26pm

Very interesting Topic winrider, thanks.
here a image of the sad end of the Battleship Roma, sunk by a Fritz-X guided bomb launched form a Do-217 of KG 100.

windrider · January 4, 2008, 12:32am

Thanks Panzerknacker
Another one of those “crazy Nazi wastefull ressource” topic.
It is amazing that they had started the developpment of a radar homing bomb in 1945. They would have liked to have it working in 40-41. A good thing for the Brits it never was…

Maybe someone here will know what was the first effective weapon of that sort ?

Major_Walter_Schmidt · January 5, 2008, 6:11pm

Were the Mistel bombers guided?

Twitch1 · January 8, 2008, 5:42pm

Here is some more that may be useful-

SURFACE TO AIR- LAND
GERMANY
Today’s surface-to-air missiles owe their beginnings to genius German technology of WW II. Even before massive Allied bombing raids were crumbling Germany, several projects were commenced. The weapons systems would be cheap compared to interceptor aircraft and no pilots’ lives would be risked. Ground radar guidance or telescopic human visual guidance would have directed them to targets. Safer, solid fuel powered them.

Before the Feuerlilie (Fire Lilly) Rheinmetall-Borsig did some research on a project missile called the Hecht (Pike). It was an 8.1-foot missile weighing 309 lbs. but little else survives of data.

The Feuerlilie F.55 took shape beginning in 1942. It featured a length of 15.75 feet and had a tail fin spanning 8.2 feet. It weighed 1,036 lbs. and its four liquid fuel Rheinmetall 109-515 motors of 13,970 lbs. thrust propelled it to 932 MPH by the end of its 15-mile flight to target guided by autopilot and radio command carrying a 220 lb. warhead. This SAM did not reach operational status. Two test firings were made.

The Schmetterling (Butterfly) Hs 117 was close to entering service by the end of the war. This one was 14 feet long with a 6.5-foot fin span. It weighed 981 lbs. at launch with its 55-pound proximity fuse warhead.

After the two Schmidding 109-553 launch boosters accelerated it to 680 MPH they separated and the 827 lb. thrust BMW 109-558 sustainer held a constant 537 MPH over the course of its 20-mile range. Guidance was radio link where the operator steered the missile to a bomber formation with the aid of a 10x telescope. Launch was experimented with using He 111s. From the ground an altitude of 32,808 feet could be reached.

Fifty-nine were test fired and plans for 150 per month initially in March 1945 would rise to 3,000 per moth by November 1945. Sixty sites were earmarked for launch locations.

Rheintochtor (Daughter of the Rhine) R I was more ambitious a missile from Rheinmetall-Borsig. It was a two-stage bird with an overall length of 20.75 feet and had stub wings measuring 87.4 inches in span. Dual boosters gave the missile a 165,344 lb. kick for 0.6 second. The sustaining motor pushed at 8,818 lbs. thrust for ten more seconds.

The R III was lighter by 500 lbs at 3,307 lbs. and had a 16.25-foot length. Both models had a 25-mile range but the R III could ascend to 49,213 feet where the R I could hit just 19,685 feet. The R I carried a 220 lb. warhead while the R III had one of 351 lbs. Neither saw service.

Eighty-two launches were made in test.

The Wasserfall (Waterfall) was a relatively large and sophisticated missile that came from Wernher von Braun and the Peenemunda team that worked on the A-4. It went from concept in 1942 to first launch in March 1944. Guidance was a combination of visual and electronic with the Kehl-Strassburg radio control system. Like all the missiles employing proximity fuses, the operator detonated on command or the fuse did so automatically when close to target. Warhead weight was 518 lbs.

The Peenemunda P IX motor developed 17,160 lbs. thrust for 42 seconds running on Visol (vinyl isobutyl ether) and SV-stoff, which was Salbei, or fuming nitric acid. The rocket was 25.6 feet long with an 8.2-foot fin span. All up it weighed 8,400 lbs. and reached out 22 miles at 1,700 MPH and hit an altitude of 58,071 feet but never reached the production lines.

Thirty-five were tested.

Holzbrau-Kissing took Messerschmitt’s converted Me 163 design turned it into the Enzian (Gentian, violet-like flower). Models ran from the E-1 to the E-6. The end result looked little like the rocket fighter, save for the 13.1-foot wings, perhaps. The Walter 109-502 rocket of 3,300 lbs. thrust ran on the same C-stoff/T-stoff fuel that the Me 163 used. T-stoff was hydrogen peroxide and C-stoff was a nasty blend of 30% hydrazine hydrate, 57% methyl alcohol and 13% water.

The 11.5-foot was three feet in diameter and it weighed 4,350 lbs. at launch with its 550 lb. proximity fuse warhead. The E-4 was 7.9 feet long weighing 3,968 lbs. To launch this SAM four Schmidding 109-553 solid fuel boosters of 3,850 lbs. thrust each for 4.0 seconds were lit. Then the Walter ran for 70.0 seconds. 600 MPH was achieved but range was just 15.25 miles. Vertical altitude of over 50,000 feet was possible though.

The Enzian used Kehl-Strassburg or Kogge-Brigg command radio guidance systems. But more advanced hardware was planned with a Madrid IR (infrared) homing device, Moritz radar and even the Archimedes acoustic homer.

Thirty-eight trial firings were made.

Messerschmitt had a final missile planned, the E-6, which was a wire-guided anti-tank missile but no details are available.

The Taifun (Typhoon) was a last minute missile by Peenemunda at unguided, inexpensive technology. The idea was that only 1.1 lbs. of explosive was actually needed to bring down a bomber so at a cost of sixty-two 1945 US cents the 76-inch, 46.3 lb. missile was viable.

The little Visol/SV-stoff motor accelerated it to 2,237 MPH in 2.5 seconds with accuracy to aim point. Though range was but about five miles 49,213 feet in altitude was achieved. The concept was to launch salvos of these missiles against incoming bombers. Effectiveness was as good as conventional anti-aircraft guns. 600 were produced though not used.

Had any mixture of these land-based SAMs been in service sooner they would have caused some damage to Allied bomber strikes. Batteries of missiles would have freed up fighters to clean up after formations were split after missile barrages and not take the brunt of the bomber boxes’ defensive armament.

For a variety of reasons German SAM programs never made it to operational status. There was just too much to do in too short a time.

SURFACE TO SURFACE- TACTICAL
Early tactical missiles had simple guidance systems to enable them to hit their targets with relatively good accuracy.

GERMANY
The Rhienbote (Rhine Messenger) was produced by the same company that manufactured the excellent 30 mm aircraft cannon, Rhienmetall-Borsig. In 1942 it was realized that a lesser missile than the A-4 was needed as an artillery weapon. Conversions of 88 mm flak gun frames were originally used as launchers for the 37.5-foot, 4-stage missiles.

The first stage was powered by diglycol propellant thrusting through six nozzles, which gave a whopping 88,774 lb. thrust for a second whereupon the successive stages gave thrust from single nozzles. Aiming was via the launcher using its degree settings as required and the autopilot made course corrections. The Rhienbote had a range of 135 miles and reached the incredible speed of 4,224 MPH. This velocity was not exceeded until post-war ICBMs existed.

It was produced in the several hundreds and used notably against Antwerp in late 1944.

UNDERWATER LAUNCHED
There were no missiles that can trace their beginning to WW II, which were launched from submarines with the exception of the Dornier Do touched on earlier in this work. It was a test vehicle that was to pave the way for submarine launchings of A-4s off the US coast it was figured. The Do missile was a prototype for evaluation of surface to air and surface-to-surface roles. It successfully launched from fifty feet below the surface.

The Do was about 6.5 feet long and 8.4 inches in diameter and does hold the distinction of being the first to be launched from a submerged U-boat, the U-511 in 1942. Strangely enough, the U-511 was given to the Japanese to become the RO.500 in 1943.

U-9, U-19 and U-24, old Type IIBs, all launched missiles against Russian harbor facilities in the summer of 1944. U-9 was sunk by Russian aircraft. Though excessive damage was not done it is the first known combat uses of submarine-launched missiles.

The sea-launched A-4 was to be towed in a cylindrical container that would counter flood to stand on end with the end out of the water and thus be launch-able.

These ideas would launch the way to the modern missile submarines we know today.

Firefly · February 8, 2008, 8:35pm

I agree mate. If there was one sure thing the Nazis were trying to do IT WAS NOT trying to win a war.

Although some of their tech stuff was innovative, they could have used their very limited resources to much more effective use.

Their complete lack of any direction never fails to amaze me.

Panzerknacker · February 8, 2008, 11:51pm

Were the Mistel bombers guided?

Not really, it was more or less aimed by the aircraft who dropped it, there was however a future variant with radio control, but never entered in action.

1000ydstare · February 9, 2008, 9:41am

I’ve got a thread on here somewhere about the mistel. It wasn’t guided as such. The “parasite” either a 190 or 109 would “aim” the “mistel” (not neccesarily at the target, as the mistel followed a prescribed path).

On release a gyroscopic guidance package carried the mistle to it’s target. There were cables between the fighter and the bomber, these were literally mains plugs that were taped in position. They pulled out or snapped on realease. The pilot could make limited adjustments, prior to realease. However, I have a feeling (I’ll have to check it up) that this was only a last minute calculation of height and direction of realease and the direction of “attack” required.

Interestingly enough, the original mistel design was for the fighter to be carried on the back of a long range bomber, on attack the fighter would seperated, defend the bombers then fly home.

The whole mistle combination was said to be flyable from the fighters engine.

1000ydstare · February 11, 2008, 8:51am

Incidentally, though this configuration was conceived and designed by the Nazi’s towards the end of the war, it never flew. Towards the end, all aircraft had potential for mistle use, for desparation than anything. If it was an airframe it could be used. But the later models and particularly the ones that didn’t fly have taken the modeling world by storm. Possibly because they use the more “sexier” Luftwaffe aircraft or Luftwaffe '46 models.

More here on gliding/guided bombs.

http://www.luft46.com/armament/are377.html

http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Mistel-Bomber/info/info.htm

http://aerostories.free.fr/appareils/compopara/page15.html

Pic USAF. February 1945: near Boizenburg Northern Germany, Mistel 1 pursued and shot-down by Mustangs of the 8th Air Force. There is another Mistel to the front of the one being engaged.

Pic Archives Blitz. Alledged first test of the realease of a mistel. Note the “Bomb” aircraft is still glazed and doesn’t feature a war head nose. The “Bombs” were flown to the “Mistle” airfields like this, and then converted for use.

In this case it doesn’t say whether the bomber is crewed or not, nor does it say if this is hte testing of the concept of the piggy back fighter (where the mistle derived from) or a test of the actual mistle concept.

A picture of a mistle on the ground. Not very clear because this photo was taken on the run at Saint Dizier on July 17th 1944 by a member of the French resistance. Between the trees a Bf 109 mounted atop a Ju 88 can be seen. For the Allied information’s services, it was the first photo of a Mistle taken on the ground.

Major_Walter_Schmidt · February 18, 2008, 5:09pm

There is lots of “the fairy tales of luft46” like the He 162 Mistel by DML (He 162 on top, Me262 on bottom). I wonder… how much of is legend and how much is fact?
This would be funny. A He 177 or Do217 on top of a Ju390Z (maybe not Zwilling) full of explosives or nuke.
This could bomb NYC or D.C…

Anyway, Japan had something like this- the rocket poe
wered MXY7 Ohka “Baka bomb”. A small plane, no bigger than a car was to be strapped under a Betty and released near an AC and hit it Kamikaze style (well it was Kamikaze).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohka

Also the Daimler Benz Projekt series were kinda like it.
http://www.luft46.com/db/db.html

Twitch1 · February 18, 2008, 7:32pm

Any vehicle with its own power could conceivably work as as a Mistel whether they actually were or not. There is no reason why a pilotless 262 airframe would not work. If you’re simply looking at it that way opposed to what someone may or may not have actually thought up, it’s fun. Let’s get crazy and imagine He 111Zs guided by an Me 163!

In actuality though any V-1 that could possibly be carried aloft by a “mother” craft would make a great weapon as did the He 111-launched examples. Once you hit 150 MPH the ramjet will function on its own and you could launch anytime as needed within range of the target. The crude distance calculator in the V-1 worked well enough to target a city-sized target and we know the damage they caused.

It IS a puzzlement as to why Mistels were used for pinpoint attacks only since a few dozen Ju-88 airframes crammed with explosives sent to a target would have a reasonable chance of getting through- less than a V-1 but greater than a piloted bomber.

windrider · February 20, 2008, 7:36pm

Amazingly, the U.S. Air force had something similar to the Mistel…
from http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_usa.html
I suggest you visit this site, it’s full of interesting and rare information…
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (BQ-7 Flying Bomb)

Approximately 25 high-time Fortresses (mainly B-17Fs) were converted into radio-controlled flying bombs under the designation BQ-7. They were designed to be used against German V-1 missile sites, submarine pens or deep fortifications that had resisted conventional bombing.

The name of the USAAF officer who first thought of the idea of using war-weary B-17s as flying bombs has been lost to history, but the plan was proposed to Maj. Gen. James Doolittle under the code name Operation Aphrodite, and he approved it on June 26, 1944.

Responsibility for preparing and flying the drone aircraft was given to the 3rd Bombardment Division, which passed the job down to the 388th Bombardment Group, which in turn passed responsibility down to the 562nd Squadron based at Honington in Suffolk.

The B-17s selected for the project were stripped of their normal military equipment and packed with up to 9 tons of explosives. Each pilotless bomber was fitted with a radio-controlled flight system known as Double-Azon and a television camera was placed on the flight deck so that an image of the main instrument panel could be sent back to a controlling aircraft.

A second TV camera was installed inside the Plexiglas nose which gave a television monitor in the controlling aircraft a view of the ground so that the robot machine could be directed onto the target.

It was planned that a volunteer two-man crew would get the ship off the ground and up to an operational altitude of 2000 feet, point the aircraft in the general direction of the target, arm the explosives for an on-impact detonation, hand over control to the director aircraft that was flying above at 20,000 feet, and then parachute to safety while still over England.

The canopy was removed from each aircraft, creating an open cockpit so that the two-man crew could parachute to safety with minimum delay once they had completed their task. The controlling B-17 would then direct the BQ-7 to the target area over the Continent and lock its controls into a crash course into the target before turning to escape.

Upon completion of the training program, the squadron with its 10 drones and four command ships moved to an airfield at Woodbridge, which was a few miles from the Suffolk coast northeast of London. They then moved to a small satellite air field at Fersfield, 25 miles from Woodbridge, in a very isolated area that was well away from any civilian areas.

The first mission took place on August 4. The target was a V-1 site in Pas-de-Calais. In the first phase of the mission, two mother ships and two drones took off. Unfortunately, one of the drones went out of control shortly after the first crewman had bailed out.

It crashed near the coastal village of Orford, destroying two acres of trees and digging an enormous crater. The body of the other crewman was never found. The second drone was successfully dispatched toward the Pas-de-Calais. Unfortunately, clouds obscured the television view from the nose just as the drone approached the target site, and the target was missed by 500 feet.

The second phase of the mission fared little better. One robot BQ-7 had a control malfunction before it could dive onto its target and was shot down by German flak. The other one missed its target by 500 yards.

On August 6, another task force of two robots and four command ships was sent out against V-1 targets in France. The crews parachuted clear without incident, but within minutes one of the drones went out of control and crashed into the sea.

The other drone decided to develop a mind of its own and the explosives-packed aircraft began to circle the industrial area of Ipswich before flying out to sea, where it was harmlessly ditched.

After these early failures, General Doolittle decided that it might be a good idea to suspend further missions until it could be determined what was going wrong. Most of the advisers pointed the finger at the Double-Azon radio-control system and recommended conversion to a new system known as Castor.

The first Castor raid was an attack on targets at Heligoland. Unfortunately, the parachute of the pilot of one of the drones failed to open, and he was killed. The drone made it to Heligoland, but crashed some 100 yards short of the target, probably a victim of flak.

The next mission was against targets on Heide/Hemmingstedt. The first robot crashed short of its target because of director disorientation caused by image distortion in the television monitor, whereas the second robot malfunctioned and had to be ditched at sea.

Further sorties against Heligoland took place in October, but yielded little success. One drone was shot down by flak, whereas another went out of control and ended up over the North Sea where it finally ran out of fuel and crashed into the water.

A third drone failed to locate its target due to low visibility. The exasperated director crew pointed the BQ-7 in the general direction of Berlin and let it go. The fourth drone actually crashed near its target and caused some serious damage and fairly heavy casualties.

On October 27, the headquarters of the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe concluded that these attacks by BQ-7s against hard targets were not yielding much success, and decided that further targets for the BQ-7s would be industrial targets in large German cities.

The next sortie was on December 5, the target being railroad marshaling yards west of Hannover. Bad weather hampered the mission. The first robot could not find the primary target, and was shot down by flak while approaching the secondary target.

The second robot failed to explode when it crashed, leaving the Germans with a relatively undamaged aircraft with a complete set of remote-controls that they could examine.

The last Aphrodite mission was on January 20, 1945, against a power station at Oldenberg. Both drones missed their targets by several miles. After this last effort, the Aphrodite concept was abandoned as being unfeasible.

In retrospect, the Aphrodite concept was a costly failure, and was often more dangerous to the crews which operated the drones than it was to the Germans. The hardware available in 1944 was simply not good enough to do the kind of job that was required.

BQ-7
War weary Fortresses were also put to use as BQ-7 radio-controlled flying bombs in Project Aphrodite. These aircraft were stripped of armament, filled with 9 tonnes (20,000 pounds) of explosive, and fitted with radio control. They were to take off with a pilot and copilot who directed them toward the target and then bailed out. The BQ-7s were to then be directed to the target by a controller aircraft. The cockpit of the BQ-7 was cut open at top to make bailing out easier.

The BQ-7s were intended to be used on V-weapon sites in northern France. They were a dismal failure, with few of the handful of missions performed ending in success. One is said to have crashed after takeoff and blasted a crater 100 ft (30 meters) in diameter, while another one broke lock and circled around in English skies for an hour.

windrider · February 20, 2008, 8:08pm