In Service: 1943 to 1945
First Flight:
Manufacturer: Henschel
Number built:
Type: Surface-to-Air Missile
Guidance system: radio controlled
Length: 4.30 m
Wingspan: 2 m
Diameter: 0.35 m
Weight: 420 kg
Engine: 1 ×
BMW
109-558 liquid fuel rocket engine producing up to 375
kg of thrust 2 ×
Schmidding
109-553 solid fuel rocket engine producing up to 1,750
kg of thrust
Maximum speed: km/h
Range: 32 km
Warhead: 25 kg
Fuze: proximity
Launch Platform: 3.7 cm gun carriage
Operators: Luftwaffe
Variants:
Hs 117
Hs 117H
Other: Missiles
Articles:
The Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling (Butterfly) was a subsonic
missile. Designed and developed by
Henschel
und Sohn in 1941 under the leadership of Dr.-Ing.
Herbert
Alois Wagner.
The Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling was a subsonic missile was
shaped like a small aircraft with swept back wings and cruciform
tail unit. The nose was asymmetric and divided into the warhead
extension on the starboard side and a shorter extension for
a generator propeller on the port side. Aerodynamic control
was by means of solenoid operated Wager bars at the trailing
edges of the wings and tail plane, and no rudder was required.
To launch a Henschel Hs 117 a modified 3.7 cm gun carriage
was used, which formed two crutches, on which the wings rested.
For takeoff boost, 2 ×
Schmidding
109-553 solid fuel rocket engine producing up to 1,750
kg of thrust. Once expended the boosters fell away to ignite
the main engine, which was 1 ×
BMW
109-558 liquid fuel rocket engine producing up to 375
kg of thrust, an alternative main engine could be used, which
was the
Walter
109-729. An automatic system was employed to ensure that
the missile flew at its correct, Mac number and that the correct
airspeed was obtained.
The Henschel Hs 117 was intended for low and medium altitude
interceptions it was expected that visual line of sight guidance
would be sufficient, using already available equipment in
order to get the missile operational in the shortest time.
The Hs 117 was sighted visually use in a 10 × telescope. Two
operators were needed one to search and set the telescope
in the approximate direction given by the standard optical
flak predictor, and the other to control the missile into
a line of sight using a joystick control. The control link
was along similar lines to the Kehl-Straßburg (designed
and developed by Telefunken) system.
Under Blind conditions. It was hoped to use the mannheim Riese
ground radar systems whereby both target and missile were
showed on cathode ray tubes, and the operator applied control.
Testing of the Henschel Hs 117 began in May 1944 at
Karlshagen
on the Baltic coast, and by September twenty two. Hs 117 had
been launched including the ones launched by
He
111.
The first blind tests was simulated with Würzburg radar equipment
when the missile was released from an
He
111 and controlled from the ground, with acceptable results.
According to pilots observations. Other tests were made from
September 1944, by the Luftwaffe's flak units, which had the
task of appraising the flak missiles and formulating techniques
for their utilisation.
Production of the Henschel Hs 117 was ordered in December
1944 and projected to start in March 1945 with a starting
figure of 150 per month, and slowly rising to 3,000 a month.
By November of that year. The first launching site was projected
for March 1945 with 60 sites to set up by November. Plus 10
a month after this, although the Henschel Hs 117 came nearest
of all German ground to air missiles to being operational.
The
Hs
117H was an air launched variant, designed to be launched
from a
Do 217,
Ju 188,
or
Ju
388 aircraft.
The Warplanes of the Third Reich.
ISBN-10: 0385057822
German Aircraft of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0370000242
Hitler's Luftwaffe.
ISBN-10: 051718771X
For a complete list of
sources
