Guided Missiles have been the most common weapon on modern military aviation, used against ground targets and other enemy aircraft as well! A missile is pretty much run on a solid or liquid propelled rocket engine. Today, it is generally guided by radar or infrared (heat seeker)
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When military aircraft became operational, all air to air combat was done with guns, and the winner was determined by your sheer dogfighting skills and your amount and caliber of your guns. And this lasted all the way up to World War II.
So who has changed the rules of air combat?? Well at the end of World War II, the Germans began developing lots of strange stuff, most of them out of desperation. But the Germans, were in fact the first to make a guided Air to Air and Air to Ground missile. I'll bet not many of you knew this, have you?
This is the X-4. This was the first guided air missile ever made, made by the Germans by Ruhrstahl manufacturer. Unlike most German projects, this missile was actually created and tested by the Germans. The only reason it didn't enter production was because the factories where it was being made got bombed by American Bombers.
This missile was wire guided, and upon firing, there was a small series of wire that extended from the missile to the aircraft. Because of this, the range of this missile was 4 kilometers. But this was more than enough from the 1 kilometer range of gunfire the bombers had. The way it was guided was by a mini joystick in the cockpit that the pilot manually steered the missile into the target. How did the pilot see what he was doing? Simple. The missile had flares on the end of it, so he can see behind the smoke trail. Just imagine being the target of that seeing a bright light fly towards you. You'd know you're a dead man.
The missile Burned a Hypergolic mixture, and was very dangerous and corrosive to deal with. But seeing as how the Germans were very limited in supplies, who can blame the use of such material. And now for the interesting information...
The missile had a 20kg fragmentation that when exploded, had a radius of 25 feet! So upon detonation of the missile, anything within 25 feet was considered to be fried. The proximity fuse was also the most interesting part of the missile's system. By using the doppler effect, it was tuned to the sound of an American B-17's engine. So as it got closer to a bomber, it would detonate when it hits the right pitch.
Just imagine what would've happened if the Americans haven't bombed this factory?? Not a single bomber would be able to get into the Heart of Germany!!!
This missile was wire guided, and upon firing, there was a small series of wire that extended from the missile to the aircraft. Because of this, the range of this missile was 4 kilometers. But this was more than enough from the 1 kilometer range of gunfire the bombers had. The way it was guided was by a mini joystick in the cockpit that the pilot manually steered the missile into the target. How did the pilot see what he was doing? Simple. The missile had flares on the end of it, so he can see behind the smoke trail. Just imagine being the target of that seeing a bright light fly towards you. You'd know you're a dead man.
The missile Burned a Hypergolic mixture, and was very dangerous and corrosive to deal with. But seeing as how the Germans were very limited in supplies, who can blame the use of such material. And now for the interesting information...
The missile had a 20kg fragmentation that when exploded, had a radius of 25 feet! So upon detonation of the missile, anything within 25 feet was considered to be fried. The proximity fuse was also the most interesting part of the missile's system. By using the doppler effect, it was tuned to the sound of an American B-17's engine. So as it got closer to a bomber, it would detonate when it hits the right pitch.
Just imagine what would've happened if the Americans haven't bombed this factory?? Not a single bomber would be able to get into the Heart of Germany!!!
