I watch a lot of history channel and whenever they show footage of missiles/rockets fired from a WW2 or modern jet, I wonder how are they aimed or guided? When was guidance or heat-seeking added? I can’t imagine a Hellcat et al hitting anything under combat conditions. I guess I could look it up, but I prefer not to have to wade thru a 50 page PDF. Insights and references welcome.
Uh, Wikipedia?
There were only a handful of guided weapons in WWII, and those were air to surface. They were usually guided by radio control by the bombardier in the launching aircraft who would keep visual track of a flare in the tail of the weapon and make corrections via a joystick. Guided air to air weapons did not appear until the 1950s.
look for something having to do with adding guidance to the 5 inch HPAG. that is a rocket longer than the HVAR, and the HPAG is the motor body used in the creation of the Sidewinder by adding a guidance packet onto the HPAG. As Stik says, this was in the 1950’s, post Panther (good Panther books show the HPAG and the HVAR mounting, not just one of them) and early Cougar and Cutlass days. VA-86 changed names to the Sidewinders by being one of the earliest Sidewinder missile carrying units, while equipped with the Cutlass.
I don’t know of any “one stop” book or website with this info in it, though
Rex
The standard rockets found on Fighters in WWII were spin stabilized and followed a ballistic trajectory just like a bullet. The only advantage these had over the machine guns and cannon on the aircraft was the rockets had a large exposive warhead. I’ve read that a full rack of these was equivalent to a USN Cruiser’s broadside (which had what, 8 inch guns?), so they didn’t have to be very accurate to be effective in most cases.
There were some experimental guided missiles and guided bombs, but these were radio controlled (like an R/C plane) and were actually flown by someone with a joystick controller in the aircraft that fired it, or another flying along. They sometimes had a flare on the back to make them easier to see as they “flew” it in.
Radar and IR guided weapons came along well after WWII. I believe China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station developed the first IR guided missile in the 1950s, which became the AIM-9 Sidewinder. There was an article about this in Finescale a few years back.
There were experiments underway on IR heat seekers, but they did not become operational during the war. The only guided air-air and air-ground missiles were the radio guided ones mentioned above and wire guided missiles. There are still many wire guided missiles in current inventories. At the back of the missile is a small coil of wire, carefully packed. It is held on the outside, the inside open, and the wire departs through that open middle “core.” The Germans did have a wire guided air to air interceptor missile. No Hellcats were fitted with guided missiles- those were all guided. More of the guided missiles were fin stabilized than spin-stabilized. Some had folding fins, some were fixed fins. Some had fins that spun the missile so they were finned spin-stabilized.
Radar guided missiles were also in development during the war, but I don’t believe any were fired operationally.
The first non RC Air to ground missile was developed by Lear Aviation corporation after the war my uncle was on the design and engineering teams that created it.
While we are on the subject, is there a difference between aircraft launched missiles and aircraft launched rockets?
All the common missiles seem to be rocket powered.
Are missiles guided and rockets are not?
You pretty much have it, Dave.
There are exceptions that blur the lines a bit,such as Walleye,an AGM, Air to Ground Missile, that doesn’t have a motor. There were also guided rockets, I don’t recall the designations, though. They were guided the same way as guided artillery shells, if I recall correctly, and may have been experimental only.
Rex
Well lets think of the basic definition of a missile- it is a projectile. It does not have to have a power source or guidance once launched… By definition. Now once you start going into ordnance types you start to get into various sub categories- guided glide weapons such as the Walleye, Paveway, & HoBos, plain old gravity dumb bombs, which by the basic definition of missile can be considered as such, powered weapons such as unguided air launched rockets of assorted types for both sir to air and air to ground use, and guided powered weapons be they command guided such as the Bullpup, Radar guided like Harpoon & Exocet, image guided ( either Imaging IR or TV) like the Maverick, or Laser Guided. There have even been millimeter wavelength seekers, a type of radar, and laser guidance seekers added to artillery rounds and their sub munitions. As well as rocket assisted projectiles to increase their range. We have come a long way from the missiles in the age of the ancients whose missiles were launched by slings, bows, or catapults.
There were and are some aircraft launched missiles that are/were propelled with jet engines. And the Bomarc was a surface to air missile that was jet powered. I cannot recall any air to air missiles that were jet, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. Also I think one could include guided bombs and guided glide weapons in the term “missile.”
Quail and Hound Dog were two jet powered missiles.
I guess missile was the better term because it does exclude propulsion power from the equation.
Initially, rockets were unguided (thikbottle rockets, point in the general direction and saturate), whereas missiles were guided.
In general, missiles are usually more complex, rockets less so. I believe the big differentiation now is that missiles are capable of changing directions to chase a target, whereas rockets are not.
Groot
the definition of missile has nothing to do with guidance.
mis·sile
ˈmisəl/
noun
-
an object that is forcibly propelled at a target, either by hand or from a mechanical weapon.
- a weapon that is self-propelled or directed by remote control, carrying a conventional or nuclear explosive
I’m not sure about that. Is a Tiny Tim a missile or a rocket? How about a Zuni?
If they aren’t missiles, why not? They are both self propelled and carry an explosive warhead.
Tiny Tim and Zuni are both rockets. As are Genie, HVAR, HPAG and Mighty Mouse. Non of these are guided, they all depend on the pilot for aiming the aircraft and then firing them in the direction he wants them to go.
I think the guidance thing is mostly right. There are of course guided Zuni rockets.
by definition those are missiles, but they are not guided missiles. They also can be called rocket projectiles. Now by US military nomenclature they are not referred to as missiles even though they fit that description by definition.
Looks like anything I could add has already been said. However! My wife has a Master’s in history, and while the History Chanel is good at providing general education and encouraging passion in history, I have seen her and my best friend, who is also has a Master’s in history, laugh at the inaccuracies that plague many of their shows.
word.[:D]
Me too.