- Schmetterling
The Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling (German for "
Butterfly ") was a Germansurface-to-air missile project developed duringWorld War II . There was also an air-to-air version.The operator used a telescopic sight and a
joystick to guide the missile byradio control .History
In
1941 , Professor Herbert Wagner (who was previously responsible for theHenschel Hs 293 anti-ship missile) invented the Schmetterling missile and submitted it to theReich Air Ministry (RLM), who rejected the design because there was no need for more anti-aircraft weaponry.However, by
1943 the large-scale bombing of Germany caused theRLM to change its mind, andHenschel was given a contract to develop and manufacture it. There were 59 experimental firings, of which 34 failed.In May 1944 23 Hs 117 missiles were successfully tested. Mass production was ordered in December1944 , with deployment to start in March1945 . In January 1945 a prototype for mass production was completed, but on6 February SS-ObergruppenführerHans Kammler cancelled the project.Variants
The Hs 117H was an air-launched variant, designed to be launched from a
Dornier Do 217 ,Junkers Ju 188 , orJunkers Ju 388 aircraft. The Hs 117H was designed to attack an enemy aircraft up to 5 km above the launching aircraft.Characteristics
* Primary Function: surface-to-air missile
* Contractor:Henschel
* Power Plant:
** booster rockets: 2Schmidding 109-553 solid-fuel boosters, giving total 17.1 kN (1750 kgf) thrust for 4 s
** main rocket: liquid fuelBMW 109-558 rocket motor giving 3.7 kN (375 kgf) for 33 s, followed by 588 N (60 kgf) for 24 s
* Propellants:nitric acid , Tonka* Length: 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
* Diameter: 350 mm
* Wing Span: 2 m
* Launch Weight: 420 kg (presumably excluding boosters, which weighed a total of 170 kg)
* Speed: 183 m/s (not sure about this) [tests showed 304m/s initial, slowing to 270-210m/s ]
* Warhead: 100 or 250 kg explosive (different sources give different figures)
* Range: 32 km (20 mi)
* Altitude: 10.7 km
* Fuzes: Foxproximity fuze
* Guidance system:MCLOS ; visual guidance, radio controls* Unit Cost:
* Date Deployed: never
* Users:Germany . The Soviet Union used Hs-117 in post war tests as the R-105, in order to develop an air-defence system.See also
*
Henschel Hs 293
*Wasserfall
*List of World War II guided missiles of Germany External links
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y93nUa_RfSk Video of Schmetterling missiles being fired]
* [http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=26 Henschel Hs117 Schmettering (Butterfly) - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)]
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