Enzian
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(January 2013) |
TheEnzianwas a GermanWWIIsurface-to-airanti-aircraftmissile that was the first to use aradio controlledguidance system.[1]During the missile's development in the late stages of the war it was plagued by organisational problems and was cancelled before becoming operational.
It was named for agenusof mountain flower, in English theGentian.
Development
[edit]As early as 1943 it was becoming clear thatMesserschmitt'sMe 163interceptorwould be difficult to use in combat. After flying to the 25,000–30,000 ft (7,600–9,100 m) altitude of allied bombers, it had only a few minutes to find them and make an attack before running out of fuel. Even if the aircraft did accomplish this, it then had the additional problem of lacking a weapon that could be aimed effectively while closing on the target at some 400 mph (640 km/h; 350 kn).
Dr. Herman Wurster of Messerschmitt proposed an answer in the form ofFlak Rakete 1(FR-1) in 1943. Instead of tracking down the planes, the rocket would fly just in front of the target and thendetonatea 500 kg (1,100 lb) warhead, in the hope of bringing down several bombers at once.[2]With no human pilot on board, and thus no need to limit takeoff acceleration, the rocket could use solid fuel boosters (fourSchmidding 109-553s,for a total of 7,000 kg (15,000 lb) of thrust, grouped around the exterior),[3]reducing the amount of fuel needed for the rest of the climb by thesustainer motor,aWaltherRI-10B.[4]Theliquid fueledsustainer used a combination ofSV-StoffandBr-Stoff(petrol), catalyzed by an amount ofT-Stoff.[5]The result, even with the heavy warhead, was that a much smaller airframe was needed to carry the required fuel – so small it could be portable and launched from a modified88 mm gunmounting.[6]
The design made as much use of wood as possible,[7]due to the need to conserve other "strategic" materials in the rapidly deteriorating war situation. For the same reasons a new type ofWalterrocket was envisioned, a modification of the engine in the Me 163 that would burn coal-gas (benzine) instead of thehydrogen peroxideused in other Walter designs (although a small amount of peroxide was used to drive the fuel pumps). Thrust was also reduced in flight, from 2,000 kg (4,409 lb) to 1,000 kg (2,205 lb).[8]
The missile, which strongly resembled theMe 163(with swept wings andelevons)[9]would be guided primarily underradio controlfrom the ground. The operator would fly the missile into the vicinity of the bombers, then cut the engine and let it glide. This presented a real problem in theEnzian.Other German missiles were high-speed designs that could be flown directly at their target along the line of sight, which is fairly straightforward even for an operator on the ground. The Enzian would instead be approaching its target from somewhere in front, which is considerably harder for the operator. Many experiments with radio and wire-guided missiles had demonstrated real problems with last-minuteterminal guidancecorrections.
The initial plans for solving this problem were rather advanced. The large airframe left plenty of room in the nose, which the designers intended to fill with a self-contained radar unit calledElsass.[10]In the short term it was planned to use some sort[which?]ofproximity fuzewhile flying the missile through the bomber stream.[citation needed]The warhead, of which several were studied, was to have a nominal lethal radius of 45 m (49 yd).
Several elaborations of the basic design were carried out, resulting in the FR-1 through FR-5. The FR-5 was considered to be a reasonable starting point, so development commenced on the newly namedEnzianE.1 (and its engine) in September 1943. By May 1944, 60 airframes were complete, awaiting their engines. In order to gain flight test data they were fitted withRATOunits instead.[clarification needed]
A series of 38 flight tests[11]commenced with generally favourable results, but the engine still lagged. Finally Dr. Konrad, the designer of the engine of theRheintochter missile,was asked to modify his design for use in theEnzian.On consideration, it appeared this was a much better (and cheaper) solution anyway, and after January 1945 there were no plans to use the Walter design. The resulting E-4 version with the Konrad engine was considered the production version.
Because of difficulties in perfecting the proximity fuze, an infrared homing system,Madrid,was proposed, allowingEnzianto be flown right to the target.[12]However the system was never actually developed beyond a test-bench mockup.[13]
On 17 January 1945, all development projects were cancelled by theLuftwaffein order to concentrate all possible efforts on only two designs, theMesserschmitt Me 262and theHeinkel He 162.Although this was the official story, many in theNaziandLuftwaffehierarchy had their own pet projects continue.Enzianwas judged further from completion thanHenschel'sSchmetterlingmissile,so it was cancelled. Messerschmitt engineers continued some low-level work on the project, hoping it would be re-funded, but by March it was clear the cancellation order would not be rescinded (although it had been for other designs) and all development efforts ceased.
Survivors
[edit]Only twoEnzianmissiles are known to have survived the war. One is on display at theRoyal Air Force Museum Cosford[14]and the other is in storage at theAustralian War Memorial'sTreloar Resource Centreafter being displayed for many years at theRoyal Australian Air Force Museum.[15]
Cultural references
[edit]"Enzian" is the name of the foil character inThomas Pynchon'sGravity's Rainbow,contrasted against the main character Slothrop's association with theV-2.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Enzian Surface-to-Air Missile".wehrmacht-history.Archived fromthe originalon 9 February 2011.
- ^Christopher, John.The Race for Hitler's X-Planes(The Mill, Gloucestershire: History Press, 2013), p.144.
- ^Christopher, p.144.
- ^Christopher, p.144.
- ^Christopher, pp.144-5.
- ^Christopher, p.144.
- ^Christopher, p.144.
- ^Christopher, p.144.
- ^Christopher, p.144.
- ^Christopher, p.145.
- ^Christopher, p.145.
- ^Christopher, p.145.
- ^Christopher, p.145, says it was never operational.
- ^"Holzbrau-Kissing Enzian (Gentian Violet) - Surface to Air Missile".Royal Air Force Museum. Archived fromthe originalon 5 May 2013.
- ^"REL33903 - Enzian anti-aircraft missile".Australian War Memorial. Archived fromthe originalon 26 November 2012.Retrieved13 September2012.