Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

ANTIAIRCRAFT DEFENSE THROUGH WORLD WAR II
The Germans introduced technological improvements to increase
flak efficiency. In 1941, flak units began to get gun-laying
radar. Radar was a major advance over sound detectors, the
existing system used to detect and track aircraft. The older device
suffered from short range and erratic performance. However,
the German introduction of radar was slow, for as late as
August 1944, the GAF was still using over 5,500 sound detectors.
61 Another improvement was the introduction of grooved
projectiles. These shells fragmented into 80- to 100-gram pieces
instead of the usual 1 to 7 grams, therefore causing much
greater damage. 62 Incendiary shells also increased flak efficiency
by three times, according to German estimates.
Fuzes were another important advance. The Germans requested
double fuzes (contact and timed) in 1943 and introduced
them into combat in late 1944. These fuzes increased the
effectiveness of 88 mm guns five times; 105 mm guns, three
times; and 128 mm guns, twice. But the Germans did not make
the big change in fuzes; instead, the Allies introduced proximity
fuzes. After the war, an American study calculated that had the
Germans used proximity fuzes, they could have increased their
flak efficiency by a factor of 3.4, making B-17 operations very
hazardous and B-24 operations impractical. 63
The Germans also experimented with a number of novel approaches
to ground-based antiaircraft systems. They tested
squeeze-bore and sabot devices, systems that fired a shell of
smaller size; for example, an 88 mm shell from a 105 mm gun.
Such shells achieved greater velocities than they would have
otherwise, as more powder pushed a smaller projectile. Neither
system got into service.
The Germans examined yet another concept—flak rockets
(later known as surface-to-air missiles or SAM). Although the
Germans realized few positive results with the program in the
1930s, they still gave the new technology consideration for the
task of combating Allied air attacks. In early 1941, Gen Walter
Dornberger, one of the key German decision makers in rocket
and missile development, ordered a study of an antiaircraft
missile with an altitude capability of up to 60,000 feet. Werner
von Braun, chief of missile research at the Peenemünde test
site, instead proposed using a rocket-powered interceptor.
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