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 W�rzburg 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 
