Enzian
The Wasserfall and Hs-117 Schmetterling anti-aircraft missile projects described in the first part of the article had one characteristic drawback. They were created, as they say, with a reserve for the future, and therefore their design was complex enough to establish production in wartime. Theoretically, in peaceful conditions it was possible to establish the production of such anti-aircraft missiles, but in the second half of the Second World War, one could only dream of such a thing. These troubles plagued the entire Luftwaffe enormously. The fact is that over time, German pilots, using equipment whose characteristics were slightly different from the enemy's, could not respond to reports of raids with the proper speed. This will be especially serious in 1945, when allied bombers will reach their targets in just a couple of hours. The problem of interception time, as it seemed then, could only be solved with the help of special high-speed missiles. In principle, this idea was correct, but it was first necessary to create these missiles and set up their production.
In 1943, on an emergency basis, the leadership of the German air force initiated the development of the Enzian rocket. The development was entrusted to the Messerschmitt firm, namely a small group of designers led by Dr. Witster, which had recently been transferred to Messerschmitt AG. It is believed that this particular translation turned out to be decisive in the fate of the Entsian project. To speed up the work on the project, Witster was required to use the maximum number of developments on the Messerschmitt projects. Considering the purpose of Enzian, A. Lippisch's work on the Me-163 Komet project turned out to be very useful. The fighter called "Comet" was supposed to fly at colossal speeds for that time, and Lippisch first prudently conducted a lot of tests in wind tunnels in order to determine the optimal hull contours, shape and profile of the wing. Naturally, Witster became interested in the Me-163 project. Ultimately, this was reflected in the appearance of the finished "Entsian".
The tailless of a mixed design was a midwing with a swept wing. At the rear of the fuselage there were two keels, one on the upper side, the other on the lower. The fuselage length relative to the "Comet" was reduced to 3, 75 meters, and the wingspan of the Enzian rocket was 4 meters. The power elements of the fuselage and its skin were made by stamping from steel alloys. To save money, it was proposed to make the wings and keels made of wood with linen sheathing. Later, at the end of 1944, an idea would appear to make the entire frame of an anti-aircraft missile wooden, and use plastic for sheathing. However, the war was already coming to an end and this proposal did not have time to really be implemented even on the drawings. To ensure the movement of the rocket in the air was supposed to be some kind of a two-stage power plant. For takeoff with a launch rail, the Entsian had four Schmidding 109-553 solid-propellant boosters with 40 kilograms of fuel each. The fuel of the accelerators burned out in four seconds, during which each of them created a thrust of the order of 1700 kgf. Then the Walter HWK 109-739 main engine was turned on and the rocket could start flying towards the target.
The tactical qualities of the new anti-aircraft missile were to be ensured, first of all, by its warhead. The latter contained almost 500 kilograms (!) Of ammotol. In the future, it was planned to equip the warhead with ready-made fragments. By donating several tens of kilograms of explosives, the designers could equip the missile with several thousand submunitions. It is not difficult to imagine what a miss the missile could afford with such a destructive potential, or what damage it would inflict, hitting exactly the order of the bombers. The detonation of the charge was to be carried out by a proximity fuse. At first, several firms were entrusted with its creation at once, but over time, taking into account the situation at the front, Vitster began to promote the idea of a radio command fuse. Fortunately for the pilots of the anti-Hitler coalition, none of the fuse types even reached the test stage.
Of particular interest is the Enzian anti-aircraft missile launcher. Fully following the principle of unification with existing technology, Dr. Witster's design team chose the 88-mm FlaK 18 anti-aircraft gun carriage as the basis for the launcher. The guide had a collapsible design, which made it possible to mount and dismantle the launcher in a relatively short time. Thus, it was possible to fairly quickly transfer anti-aircraft batteries. Naturally, if the project came to practical implementation.
The guidance system of the Enzian complex was quite complex for that time. With the help of a radar station, the calculation of the anti-aircraft complex found the target and began to observe it using an optical device. With an estimated launch range of up to 25 kilometers, this was quite real, although inconvenient in case of adverse weather conditions. The missile tracking device was synchronized with the optical target tracking device. With the help of it, the rocket operator monitored its flight. The missile flight was adjusted using the control panel, and the signal was transmitted to the missile defense system via a radio channel. Thanks to the synchronization of optical tracking devices for the target and the missile, as well as due to the small distance between them, such a system made it possible to display the missile on the target with acceptable accuracy. Upon reaching the meeting point, the warhead was to be detonated using a proximity or radio command fuse. In addition, the operator had a dedicated button to destroy the missile in case of a miss. The self-destruct fuse was made independent of the combat one.
In the course of work on the Enzian project, four missile modifications were created:
- E-1. The original version. All the description above refers specifically to her;
- E-2. Further modernization of the E-1. Differs in the layout of components and assemblies, as well as a warhead weighing 320 kg;
- E-3. Development of the E-2 with a lot of woodwork;
- E-4. Deep modernization of the E-3 variant with an all-timber frame, plastic cladding and Konrad VfK 613-A01 propulsion engine.
Despite the seeming abundance of ideas among the designers, only the E-1 option was more or less well-developed. It was he who happened to reach the stage of testing. In the second half of the 44th, test missile launches began. The first 22 launches were aimed at testing the rocket power plant and identifying problems of aerodynamic, structural, etc. character. The next 16 launches were "left to the mercy" of the guidance system. About half of the 38 launches made were unsuccessful. For the rocketry of that time, this was not a very bad indicator. But during the tests, very unpleasant facts were revealed. As it turned out, in a hurry, the designers under the leadership of Dr. Witster sometimes openly turned a blind eye to some problems. A number of calculations were made with errors, and some of them could rightfully be considered not only negligence, but also a real sabotage. As a result of all this, several vital parameters of the rocket were calculated incorrectly and there could be no talk of any exact observance of the terms of reference. Tests of the Enzian E-1 rocket were carried out until March 1945. All this time, the designers tried to "plug" the identified "holes" in the project, although they did not achieve much success. In March 1945, the German leadership, apparently still hoping for something, froze the project. Why the project was not closed is unknown, but appropriate assumptions can be made. Less than two months were left before the surrender of Nazi Germany and, of course, the story of the Entsian project ended there.
The project documentation went to several winning countries at once. A short analysis of the drawings, and most importantly, the test reports, showed that instead of a promising air defense system, Enzian turned out to be an unsuccessful venture, which should not have appeared in peacetime, let alone a war. Nobody used Entsian's work.
Rheintochter
In November 1942, Rheinmetall-Borsig received an order to develop a promising anti-aircraft guided missile. The main requirement, in addition to the height and range of destruction, concerned simplicity and low cost. For almost the entire 42nd year, the Americans and the British were actively bombing targets in Germany. Defending against them required doing something effective and inexpensive. The price requirement had a simple explanation. The fact is that even a small number of enemy bombers that reached the target could complete their combat mission and destroy any object. Obviously, a large number of missiles would have cost a pretty penny. Therefore, the anti-aircraft missile had to be as cheap as possible. It should be noted that the designers of Rheinmetall succeeded quite well.
The designers of Rheinmetall-Borsig first analyzed the requirements and developed an approximate appearance of the future rocket. They came to the conclusion that the main "enemy" of an anti-aircraft missile is its size and weight. The dimensions to some extent worsen the aerodynamics of the rocket and, as a result, reduce the flight characteristics, and the large weight requires a more powerful and expensive engine. In addition, the large weight of the rocket makes corresponding requirements for the launch of the entire ammunition. In most German projects, SAMs were launched using solid-propellant boosters. However, the designers of Rheinmetall were not satisfied with this, again, for weight reasons. Therefore, in the Rheintochter project (literally "Daughter of the Rhine" - the character of R. Wagner's operas from the cycle "The Ring of the Nibelungen"), for the first time in the field of anti-aircraft missiles, a solution was used, which later became one of the standard layouts of missiles. It was a two-stage system.
The initial acceleration of the R-1 modification rocket was entrusted to the detachable first stage. It was a simple steel cylinder with a wall thickness of about 12 mm. At the ends of the cylinder there were two hemispherical covers. The top cover was made solid, and seven holes were cut in the bottom. Nozzles were attached to these holes. Interestingly, the main central nozzle was made replaceable: in the kit, each rocket was supplied with several nozzles of various configurations. As conceived by the designers, depending on the weather conditions, the calculation of the anti-aircraft battery could install exactly the nozzle that gives the best flight characteristics under the existing conditions. Inside the first stage at the plant were placed 19 powder bills with a total weight of 240 kilograms. The fuel supply of the first stage was enough for 0.6 seconds of operation of the solid-fuel engine. Next, the fire bolts were ignited and the second stage was disconnected, followed by starting its engine. So that the first stage does not "hang" on the rocket with a conventional accelerator, it was equipped with four arrow-shaped stabilizers.
The design of the second stage of the R-1 rocket was more complex. In its middle part, they placed their own sustainer engine. It was a steel cylinder (wall thickness 3 mm) with a diameter of 510 mm. The second stage engine was equipped with a different kind of gunpowder, so a charge of 220 kilograms was enough for ten seconds of operation. Unlike the first stage, the second had only six nozzles - the placement of the engine in the middle of the stage did not allow for a central nozzle. Six nozzles around the circumference were installed on the outer surface of the rocket with a slight camber outward. The warhead with 22.5 kg of explosive was placed in the rear of the second stage. A very original solution, among other things, it improved the balancing of the stage and the rocket as a whole. In the bow, in turn, control equipment, an electric generator, an acoustic fuse and steering machines were installed. On the outer surface of the second stage of the R-1 rocket, in addition to six nozzles, there were six arrow-shaped stabilizers and four aerodynamic rudders. The latter were located at the very nose of the stage, so that the Rheintochter R-1 was also the world's first anti-aircraft missile, made according to the "duck" scheme.
The missile guidance was planned to be carried out with the help of commands from the ground. For this, the Rheinland system was used. It consisted of two target and missile detection radars, a control panel and a number of related equipment. In case of problems with radar detection of the rocket, two stabilizers of the second stage had pyrotechnic tracers at the ends. The combat work of the air defense missile system with R-1 missiles was supposed to go like this: the calculation of the anti-aircraft battery receives information about the location of the target. Further, the calculation independently detects the target and launches the rocket. By pressing the "start" button, the first stage propellant bombs are ignited, and the rocket leaves the guide. After 0, 6-0, 7 seconds after the start, the first stage, having accelerated the rocket to 300 m / s, separates. At this point, you can begin targeting. The automation of the ground part of the air defense missile system monitored the movements of the target and the missile. The operator's task was to keep the light spot on the screen (missile mark) in the crosshair in the center (target mark). Commands from the control panel were transmitted in encrypted form to the rocket. The detonation of its warhead took place automatically with the help of an acoustic fuse. An interesting fact is that in the first moments after the launch of the rocket, the antenna of the missile tracking radar had a wide radiation pattern. After removing the missile at a sufficient distance, the tracking station automatically narrowed the "beam". If necessary, optical observation equipment could be included in the "Rheinland" guidance system. In this case, the movement of the sighting device of the optical system was synchronized with the antenna of the target detection radar.
The first test launch of the Rheintochter R-1 was made in August 1943 at a test site near the city of Liepaja. During the first few starts, the work of the engines and the control system were practiced. Already in the first months of testing, before the beginning of the 44th, some of the shortcomings of the used design became clear. So, within the line of sight, the missile was guided at the target quite successfully. But the rocket was moving away, gaining altitude and accelerating. All this led to the fact that after a certain range limit, only a very experienced operator could normally control the rocket flight. Until the end of the 44th year, more than 80 full-fledged launches were made, and less than ten of them were unsuccessful. The R-1 missile was almost recognized as successful and necessary by the German air defense, but … The second stage engine thrust was too low to reach an altitude of more than 8 km. But most of the Allied bombers have already flown at these altitudes. The German leadership had to close the R-1 project and initiate the beginning of a serious modernization of this rocket in order to bring the characteristics to an acceptable level.
This happened in May 44, when it became clear that all attempts to improve the R-1 are useless. The new modification of the missile defense system was named Rheintochter R-3. Two modernization projects were launched at once. The first of them - R-3P - provided for the use of a new solid-propellant engine in the second stage, and according to the R-3F project, the second stage was equipped with a liquid-propellant engine. Work on the modernization of the solid propellant engine yielded almost no results. The then German rocket powder for the most part could not combine high thrust and low fuel consumption, which affected the altitude and range of the rocket. Therefore, the focus was on the R-3F variant.
The R-3F second stage was based on the corresponding part of the R-1 rocket. The use of a liquid engine required a significant redesign of its design. So, now the only nozzle was placed in the bottom of the stage, and the warhead was moved to its middle part. I also had to slightly change its structure, because now the warhead was placed between the tanks. Two options were considered as a fuel pair: Tonka-250 plus nitric acid and Visol plus nitric acid. In both cases, the engine could deliver up to 2150 kgf thrust during the first 15-16 seconds, and then it dropped to 1800 kgf. The stock of liquid fuel in the R-3F tanks was enough for 50 seconds of engine operation. Moreover, in order to increase the combat characteristics, the option of installing two solid-propellant boosters on the second stage, or even completely abandoning the first stage, was seriously considered. As a result, the reach height was brought up to 12 kilometers, and the slant range - up to 25 km.
By the beginning of 1945, one and a half dozen missiles of the R-3F variant were manufactured, which were sent to the Peenemünde test site. The start of testing a new missile was scheduled for mid-February, but the situation on all fronts forced the German leadership to abandon the Rheintochter project in favor of more pressing things. The developments on it, as well as on all other projects, after the end of the war in Europe, became the trophies of the Allies. The two-stage design of the R-1 rocket attracted the interest of designers from many countries, as a result of which, over the next years, several types of anti-aircraft missiles with a similar structure were created.
Feuerlilie
Not all German developments in the field of anti-aircraft guided missiles managed to get out of the design stage or undergo full-fledged tests. A characteristic representative of the latter "class" is the Feuerlilie program, which created two missiles at once. In some way, the Feuerlilie rocket was designed to compete with the Rheintochter - a simple, cheap and effective air defense tool. Rheinmetall-Borsig was also commissioned to develop this rocket.
By its design, the first version of the Feuerlilie rocket - the F-25 - simultaneously resembled both a rocket and an airplane. At the rear of the fuselage there were two semi-wing stabilizers with steering surfaces at the trailing edge. Keel washers were located at their ends. The warhead of the rocket according to the project weighed about 10-15 kilograms. Various types of control systems were considered, but in the end the designers settled on the autopilot, into which the flight program corresponding to the situation was "loaded" before launch.
In May 1943, the first prototypes of the F-25 were delivered to the Leba test site. About 30 launches were made and their results were clearly insufficient. The rocket accelerated only up to 210 m / s and could not rise to an altitude of more than 2800-3000 meters. Of course, this was clearly not enough to defend against the American Flying Fortresses. Completing the bleak picture was a monstrously ineffective guidance system. Until the fall of the 43rd, the F-25 project did not "survive".
Rheinmetall, however, did not stop working on the Feuerlilie program. A new project was started with the designation F-55. In fact, these were three almost independent projects. Basically, they went back to the F-25, but had a number of differences both from the previous "Lily" and from each other, namely:
- Prototype # 1. A rocket with a solid propellant engine (4 checkers) and a launch weight of 472 kg. On tests, it reached a speed of 400 m / s and reached an altitude of 7600 meters. The guidance system for this missile was to be radio command;
- Prototype # 2. The development of the previous version is distinguished by its large size and weight. The first test launch was unsuccessful - due to several design flaws, the experimental rocket exploded at the start. Further prototypes were able to demonstrate flight characteristics, which, however, did not change the fate of the project;
- Prototype # 3. An attempt to reanimate the rocket engine in the Feuerlilie program. The rocket # 3 is similar in size to the second prototype, but has a different power plant. The start was to be carried out using solid propellant boosters. In the fall of the 44th prototype prototype # 3 was transported to Peenemünde, but its tests were not started.
At the end of December 1944, the military leadership of Nazi Germany, taking into account the progress of the Feuerlilie project, the failures and the results achieved, decided to close it. At that time, the designers of other firms offered much more promising projects and because of this it was decided not to spend energy and money on a deliberately weak project, which was the "Fire Lily".
