German Anti-Shipping Rocket

I could've sworn that a couple of years ago, I read somewhere of a
German rocket powered (don't *think* it was an air breather), possibly
radio controlled, air launched (H-111H variant?) anti-shipping missile
that saw a *bit* of use toward the end of WWII. I can't, for the life
of me, come up with anything via Google. Did I dream this?

--
Thomas Winston Ping

Thomas W Ping wrote:

I could've sworn that a couple of years ago, I read somewhere of a
German rocket powered (don't *think* it was an air breather), possibly
radio controlled, air launched (H-111H variant?) anti-shipping missile
that saw a *bit* of use toward the end of WWII. I can't, for the life
of me, come up with anything via Google. Did I dream this?

piggybacking on my own message

Naturally, a matter of minutes after posting this question, I found what
I was thinking about: the Fritz X missle.

--
Thomas Winston Ping

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.

"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

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR Aircrew

"Got anything on your radar, SENSO?"
"Nothing but my forehead, sir."

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

Superb link! Thanks a ton

No problem, Thomas. I looked 'im up - Bernard Jopp, Dornier 215 squadron
commander. The other photo he sent me was taken upon landing - Jopp had just
deplaned and was in the middle of being heartily congratulated by his fellow
aircrews. A single moment in history, when iron bombs saw the use of their
first true replacement, a guided weapon.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR Aircrew

"Got anything on your radar, SENSO?"
"Nothing but my forehead, sir."

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.

Posted via www.My-Newsgroups.com - web to news gateway for usenet access!

On 25 Oct 2003 04:00:44 GMT, 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.

"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."

There's an article on Wikipedia about Fritz X, Hs 293, and related
missile projects, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_missiles_of_WW2

--
"It's easier to find people online who openly support the KKK than
people who openly support the RIAA" -- comment on Wikipedia
(Email: , but first subtract 275 and reverse
the last two letters).

On 25 Oct 2003 00:20:49 GMT, Thomas W Ping wrote:
Thomas W Ping wrote:

I could've sworn that a couple of years ago, I read somewhere of a
German rocket powered (don't *think* it was an air breather), possibly
radio controlled, air launched (H-111H variant?) anti-shipping missile
that saw a *bit* of use toward the end of WWII. I can't, for the life
of me, come up with anything via Google. Did I dream this?

piggybacking on my own message

Naturally, a matter of minutes after posting this question, I found what
I was thinking about: the Fritz X missle.

There was also the Hs 293.

Both were used mostly in the middle of the war, 1943, in the
mediterranean.

--
"It's easier to find people online who openly support the KKK than
people who openly support the RIAA" -- comment on Wikipedia
(Email: , but first subtract 275 and reverse
the last two letters).

phil hunt wrote:

On 25 Oct 2003 00:20:49 GMT, Thomas W Ping wrote:
Thomas W Ping wrote:

I could've sworn that a couple of years ago, I read somewhere of a
German rocket powered (don't *think* it was an air breather), possibly
radio controlled, air launched (H-111H variant?) anti-shipping missile
that saw a *bit* of use toward the end of WWII. I can't, for the life
of me, come up with anything via Google. Did I dream this?

piggybacking on my own message

Naturally, a matter of minutes after posting this question, I found what
I was thinking about: the Fritz X missle.

There was also the Hs 293.

Both were used mostly in the middle of the war, 1943, in the
mediterranean.

Yep. Found a lot of stuff on those, too. Fascinating stuff.

--
Thomas Winston Ping

In article ,
Thomas W Ping wrote:
I could've sworn that a couple of years ago, I read somewhere of a
German rocket powered (don't *think* it was an air breather), possibly
radio controlled, air launched (H-111H variant?) anti-shipping missile
that saw a *bit* of use toward the end of WWII. I can't, for the life
of me, come up with anything via Google. Did I dream this?

The Germans made a moderate amount of use of two types of ASM from
1943 to mid-1944, after which ECM and fighter opposition pretty well
ruled further use out. The teo types were the Henschel;193 (293?),
which was a rocket-assisted HE weapon, first used in 1943, with the
first sinking being HM sloop Egret in the Bay of Biscay (my father's
old ship - he'd left a couple of months before), with HMCS Athabaskan
damaged in the same action. Admiralty was aware of the problem posed
by these weapons - Egret had an admiralty ECM team aboard at the time of
her loss (none of them got out - in fact the doctor was the only
man to escape from below deck). There were a few more successes for the
weapon - notably the cruiser Spartan - but jamming measures rapidly
rendered it useless.
The other weapon - Fritz-X - was a guided bomb, intended for use against
armoured ships. Sank the Italian battleship Roma and crippled Warspite,
but again was rapidly rendered ineffective by ECM.

--
Andy Breen ~ Interplanetary Scintillation Research Group
http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/
"Time has stopped, says the Black Lion clock
and eternity has begun" (Dylan Thomas)