Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

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at reduced speed. These defensive tactics made the missions very costly. On 23 November, II/KG40 lost half its entire strength while attacking a well-protected convoy off the Algerian coast. Hs 293s were last used in action, with some success, against Red Army forces crossing the River Oder in April 1945, when they went into action with 'Mistel' (qv) piggyback hybrid aircraft. THE BLOHM & VOSS ASMS Blohm & Voss reacted to the RLM's requirement for a sea-skimming missile with a proposal for a guided glider bomb. This incorporated a rocket motor which was only ignited by tripping a 2m- (6.5ft-) long lever hanging from its underside when the bomb came to the end of its descent. It was an ingenious solution, but proved to be unworkable. The length of time available to initiate the rocket motor was just insufficient, and the prototypes simply ploughed into the sea. Rather better conceived was the Bv 246 'Hagelkorn' ('Hailstone'), which was a pure glider and was intended specifically to attack radio stations transmitting navigational signals to RAF bombers by homing in on their very signals. The Bv 246 was a simple aerodynamic shape with a cruciform empennage incorporating a vertical control surface, and high AIR-TO-SURFACE MISSILES aspect-ratio wings designed to give it a shallow glide angle (1:25, or barely 4 degrees) and thus a long range after launch. Released at 10,500m (34,450ft), it had a range of 210km (130 miles). The original proposal was made in 1942, but there was little official interest despite the fact that the RAF had already begun to use radio as a navigational aid. It was December 1943 before 'Hagelkorn' was ordered into production and it was cancelled two months later in the February 1944 austerity drive, by which time hundreds had been built. These missiles were gradually expended in a protracted low-priority test programme which lasted until January 1945. With an all-up weight of 730kg (16001b), of which 435kg (9601b) was warhead, it was light enough to be deployed by an Fw 190. FLYING TORPEDOES The RLM did not give up its search for an air-to-subsurface weapon, and Henschel responded eventually with a variety of designs for what we may regard as guided air-launched torpedoes. The simplest of these Below: The Blohm & Voss Bv 143 was a rocket-assisted glider bomb, the powerplant of which was ignited only when the projectile had come within 2m (6.5ft) of the surface of the sea.
AIR-TO-SURFACE MISSILES Above: The Dornier Do 217 was the aircraft of choice for the deployment of the Henschel Hs 294 anti-ship missile. Perhaps 1450 of these sophisticated guided missiles were ordered but few were completed. 98 Below: This sequence shows a launch of an Hs 294 which went disastrously wrong. Having disengaged from the parent Do 217 aircraft, the missile then collided with the bomber, slicing off a tail fin.
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Roger Ford Publishing Company
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Contents INTRODUCTION 6 CHAPTER ONE
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Her scientists made an enormous and
Page 11 and 12:
JET AIRCRAFT developed during World
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JET AIRCRAFT stillborn Oil engine,
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JET AIRCRAFT the first all-jet Me 2
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JET AIRCRAFT Messerschmitt Me 262A-
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JET AIRCRAFT
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JET AIRCRAFT Above: Surrounded by J
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JET AIRCRAFT Above: The Junkers Ju
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JET AIRCRAFT one aircraft - in the
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JET AIRCRAFT DORNIER Do 335 Type: S
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JET AIRCRAFT Above: Despite its app
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JET AIRCRAFT engined bombers do. Th
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JET AIRCRAFT Above: Gotha engineers
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CHAPTER TWO Rocket-powered Aircraft
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MESSERSCHMITT Me 163B-1 Type: Singl
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50 unpowered versions were built be
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February 1945, a single, unmanned t
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for completing a test programme on
Page 47 and 48: HYBRID AIRCRAFT AND GLIDERS 1940, i
Page 49 and 50: HYBRID AIRCRAFT AND GLIDERS GOTHA G
Page 51 and 52: HYBRID AIRCRAFT AND GLIDERS 'MISTEL
Page 54 and 55: CHAPTER FOUR Rotary-win g Aircraft
Page 56 and 57: 'Drache' ('Kite'). The new aircraft
Page 58 and 59: through 90 degrees to bring them to
Page 60: universally jointed drive shaft and
Page 63 and 64: SURFACE-TO-SURFACE MISSILES THEFIES
Page 65 and 66: SURFACE-TO-SURFACE MISSILES Above:
Page 67 and 68: SURFACE-TO-SURFACE MISSILES Above:
Page 69 and 70: SURFACE-TO-SURFACE MISSILES FIESELE
Page 72 and 73: Left: A complete VI weighed some 2.
Page 74 and 75: Right: A technician is photographed
Page 76 and 77: made now of graphite rather than mo
Page 78 and 79: cooling it and supplying it with su
Page 80 and 81: SURFACE-TO-SURFACE MISSILES
Page 82 and 83: 134. Other reports suggest that the
Page 84: discussion stage. There was also ta
Page 87 and 88: Above: The simplest of all air-to-a
Page 89 and 90: AIR-TO-AIR WEAPONS aim on a target
Page 92 and 93: CHAPTER SEVEN Air-to-Surface Missil
Page 94 and 95: armoured deck slowed it down fracti
Page 96 and 97: DORNIER Do 217E-5 Type: Four-seat a
Page 100: HENSCHEL Hs 294 Type: Rocket-propel
Page 103 and 104: SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES 'Schmetterl
Page 105 and 106: SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILES Mach number
Page 107 and 108: Above: The 'Rheintochter' 1 on its
Page 110 and 111: CHAPTER NINE Artillery By the end o
Page 112 and 113: simple matter. In around 20 hours,
Page 114 and 115: third gun, which was never complete
Page 116 and 117: unlike the 'Gustav Gerät', they we
Page 118 and 119: 21CM KANONE 12 (K12) Calibre: 21.1c
Page 120: ARTILLERY 11 s
Page 123 and 124: TANKS AND ANTI-TANK WEAPONS PzKpfw
Page 125 and 126: TANKS AND ANTI-TANK WEAPONS PANZER
Page 127 and 128: TANKS AND ANTI-TANK WEAPONS Above:
Page 130 and 131: CHAPTER ELEVEN Submarines and their
Page 132 and 133: TYPE XVIIB Type: Coastal submarine
Page 134 and 135: TYPE XXIII Type: Coastal submarine
Page 136 and 137: Above: A 'Marder' ('Marten') midget
Page 138: The next step was to produce a true
Page 141 and 142: NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WE
Page 143 and 144: Page numbers in italics refer to pi
Page 145: INDEX Paris Guns 109-10 Tarsival 1
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Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

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