Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

HENSCHEL Hs 294
Type: Rocket-propelled anti-ship missile
Length: 6.12m (20.08ft)
Span: 4.025m (13.21ft)
Total weight: 2170kg (4784lb)
was a version of the Hs 293, and from that, in 1943,
sprang the larger and more powerful Hs 294, intended
to be used to attack armoured ships. Two versions
were produced in prototype form, one with radio
guidance, the other with a wire command link.
The Hs 294 was essentially of the same form as the
air-to-surface missile, with the addition of a long,
tapered nose cone and a second rocket unit. It was to
be flown into the sea at a shallow angle (optimum 22
degrees); the wings and the rear fuselage were mounted
so that they would break away on hitting the water,
and the warhead, with its 656kg (14451b) explosive
charge, would then be free to travel in a parabolic
path, induced by the form of its upper surface, for up
to 45m (150ft), self-destructing if it had not found its
target. It is believed that a total of around 1450 were
ordered, but few were produced.
The Hs 294 was followed by a rather more ambitious
project known as the GT 1200, which certainly
did not get past the prototype stage. GT 1200 was to
have been an unpowered glider, with the guidance
Max speed: 860km/h (534mph)
Range: 4-14km (2.5-8.7 miles)
Payload: 656kg (1445lb) of explosives
AIR-TO-SURFACE MISSILES
Above: The Hs 294 was intended to enter the water
cleanly some way from its target and strike it below the
waterline, where it was at its most vulnerable.
package of the Hs 293, but without a rocket motor to
assist its launch. Instead, the rocket motor, a standard
Schmidding solid-fuel unit, was to have been used
only during the last phase of its deployment, underwater,
when, shorn of its wings and 'fuselage' extension,
it became an otherwise conventional torpedo,
steered by small rudders on its cruciform rear-mounted
fins. There is no indication of how the missile was
to have been guided during its run through the water.
Hensehel's last foray into the field of air-launched
submarine weapons was to have been a supersonic
missile known as the 'Zitterrochen' (Torpedo Fish'),
its triangular planform wings incorporating 'Wagner
bars' - simply spoilers moved to the wing trailing
edge - instead of ailerons. The project never got off
the ground, but the control system found its way into
the Hs 117 'Schmetterling' and the Hs 298.
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