Thomas W Ping wrote:
Gordon wrote:

I have a signed photo of the pilot of the
Dornier getting the Knights Cross for
spearing the Roma with the Fritz X glide bomb.

That's *way* cool.

"These first true guided missiles, by current
definition, are virtually unknown
today. They were Henschel's Hs 293A and Ruhrstahl's
SD1400X, known as "Fritz
X." Both missiles were air-launched from mother
bombers and radio-controlled
primarily against maritime targets. It is
interesting to note that of the
fifteen battleships lost to airpower (seven
in the open sea) one of these, the
41,650-ton Italian flagship, Roma, was sunk
by a Fritz X. Later, the British
battleship, Warspite, was hit by a Fritz X
and put out of action for six
months. Fritz Xs also sunk the Royal Navy
light cruiser, Spartan, heavily
damaged the cruiser USS Savannah, and hit
the cruiser USS Philadelphia. The
Hs-293, meanwhile, was responsible for military
history's first successful
guided missile attack sinking the British
sloop, Egret, on 27 August 1943."

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargra...ermany_hr.html

Superb link! Thanks a ton, Gordon.

--
Thomas Winston Ping
How did the Fritz-X and Hs-293 operators guide the weapon to the target?
There had to be some flare or other cue on the bomb to tell the bombardier
where the weapon was in relation to the target.

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