Air launched rockets vs bomber stream

Justz a thought I had.....

Let's assume Germany has Katyusha-like rocket, similar in size, range and warhead, and they are operational. Would it be possible to mount them on larger night fighters (say Bf-110 or Ju-88s) and then use them against bomber stream? Say fire them from a distance at bomber before switching to guns to engage other bombers?
 
The 99% of misses should be fun for the folks on the ground. I thought you were trying to protect Germany, not bomb it too... :eek:
 

sharlin

Banned
They did mount some rockets on the ME-262 but it was much smaller a multi shot affair, I don't know how effective it was. They also apparently put bigger rockets on 110's and JU-88's but again i've no info regarding their effectiveness.
 

Deleted member 1487

Justz a thought I had.....

Let's assume Germany has Katyusha-like rocket, similar in size, range and warhead, and they are operational. Would it be possible to mount them on larger night fighters (say Bf-110 or Ju-88s) and then use them against bomber stream? Say fire them from a distance at bomber before switching to guns to engage other bombers?

R4M rocket:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R4M
 

Kongzilla

Banned
I think the Germans did have an Air to Air missle. It was called the X-4. They were desgined to be fired outside of the Range of a B-29's gus. I'm not sure how effective they could be but I''m sure they could force the Bombers into some uncomfortable positions.
 
The 99% of misses should be fun for the folks on the ground. I thought you were trying to protect Germany, not bomb it too... :eek:

You put self destruct mechanism in so it blows up in the air. Yes, shrapnel will come down but not likely to cause damage.
 
Justz a thought I had.....

Let's assume Germany has Katyusha-like rocket, similar in size, range and warhead, and they are operational. Would it be possible to mount them on larger night fighters (say Bf-110 or Ju-88s) and then use them against bomber stream? Say fire them from a distance at bomber before switching to guns to engage other bombers?

They had the R4M, which was designed for an anti-aircraft role and mounted to Fw 190s and Me 262s. Before that, they had Nebelwerfer-derived anti-bomber rockets.
 
I think the Germans did have an Air to Air missle. It was called the X-4. They were desgined to be fired outside of the Range of a B-29's gus. I'm not sure how effective they could be but I''m sure they could force the Bombers into some uncomfortable positions.

Wire-guided with a joystick. Please continue to move on a straight and level line and ignore the P-51 heading for you with 6 50-cals blazing...
 

Kongzilla

Banned
Was it wire guided. I thought it was just A shoot and scoot weapon. I might be thinking about the one based on the Me-262. They would fly in Shoot all the rockets and then fly away.
 
Was it wire guided. I thought it was just A shoot and scoot weapon. I might be thinking about the one based on the Me-262. They would fly in Shoot all the rockets and then fly away.

The R4M and Nebelwerfer-types had timed detonators that set off the warhead about a kilometer from the launch site. X-4 was wire guided.
 
The R4Ms seem like they were a good idea, but maybe not against bomber stream as much as against the bomber boxes. ISTM this would be a better option for the Me-262 than cannon: salvo a nose package of rockets (in the fashion of the F-94) in the few seconds you've got to engage; speed differential drops out of the equation.:cool:
 
Postwar jetfighters also used unguided rockets as main weapons against bombers. Therefore the idea was not so strange afterall, but the problem was to get the launchingplatform in range of the targetted bombrs first, which proved to be much more difficult, due to lack of enough skilled pilots so late in the war.
 
Apparently the R4M was successful during its short career.

The big rocket was the R 100 BS which weighed 240lbs, an effective range of 2000yds and with an electronic firing system fired 460 incendiary pellets when about 85 yds short of the target. If the Gewrmans had put this into wide scale serive it would have wreaked havoc until the WAllies found countermeasures for its radar/radio detonation system.
 
Apparently the R4M was successful during its short career.

The big rocket was the R 100 BS which weighed 240lbs, an effective range of 2000yds and with an electronic firing system fired 460 incendiary pellets when about 85 yds short of the target. If the Gewrmans had put this into wide scale serive it would have wreaked havoc until the WAllies found countermeasures for its radar/radio detonation system.

It was successfull when used by a handfull of the most elite pilots of the Luftwaffe, yes.
When used postwar by 'normal' pilots, even against unmanned targets (QB-17), results were abysmal, like Winston said.
 
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It was successfull when used by a handfull of the most elite pilots of the Luftwaffe, yes.
When used postwar by 'normal' pilots, even against unmanned targets (QB-17), results were abysmal, like Winston said.

I have different information from Alfred Price.
 
I have different information from Alfred Price.
I was thinking of this incident:
Interesting post on the HP and CA board on the usefulness of unguided rockets....


If anybody think that's harsh, there was a case when a QB-17 went out of control in California and two F-89Ds were ordered to shoot it down. Not only did they miss with every single shot (remember the F-89D carried 104 unguided rockets) but on numerous occasions one F-89 was endangered by out-of-control rockets fired by the other. The 'battle' finally ended when the F-89s ran out of rockets. It was concluded this was fortunate because if the 'battle' had continued any longer, the QB-17 might have won.

Bottom point still remains IMHO that you can't extrapolate the successfull use of unguided rockets by a handful of elite pilots to the same results for the rest of an airforce.
 
Postwar jetfighters also used unguided rockets as main weapons against bombers. Therefore the idea was not so strange afterall, but the problem was to get the launchingplatform in range of the targetted bombrs first, which proved to be much more difficult, due to lack of enough skilled pilots so late in the war.

Vietnamese and Israeli pilots used unguided air-to-ground rockets against planes. Can't say for Vietnamese but at least one Israeli plane (A-4 to be exact) shot down eemy fighter (MiG-15 in this case)
 
I'm afraid the Attack of the Haunted QB-17:p doesn't prove anything. Hitting any given aircraft with a salvo of rockets might be problematic; firing 104 rockets into a bomber box like one seen over Berlin, I daresay more than a few bombers would not have gotten home.
 
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