Glider Bombs
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Glider Bombs
Fritz X was the most common name for a German guided anti-ship glide bomb used during World War II. ''Fritz X'' was the world's first precision guided weapon deployed in combat and the first to sink a ship in combat. ''Fritz X'' was a nickname used both by Allied and ''Luftwaffe'' personnel. Alternative names include Ruhrstahl SD 1400 X, Kramer X-1, PC 1400X or FX 1400 (the latter, along with the unguided PC 1400 ''Fritz'' nickname, is the origin for the name "Fritz X"). History ''Fritz X'' was a further development of the PC 1400 (''Panzersprengbombe, Cylindrisch'' 1,400 kg) German Wikipedia's WW II PC-series bomb specifications, German for "armor-piercing bomb, cylindrical". armour-piercing high-explosive bomb, itself bearing the nickname ''Fritz''. It was a penetration weapon intended to be used against armored targets such as heavy cruisers and battleships. It was given a more aerodynamic nose, four stub wings, and a box-shaped tail unit consisting of a roughly 12-si ...
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Anti-ship Missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good number of other anti-ship missiles use infrared homing to follow the heat that is emitted by a ship; it is also possible for anti-ship missiles to be guided by radio command all the way. The first anti-ship missiles, which were developed and built by Nazi Germany, used radio command guidance.https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/bomb-guided-fritz-x-x-1/nasm_A19840794000#:~:text=The%20Fritz%20X%2C%20also%20known,the%20Henschel%20Hs%20293%20missile. These saw some success in the Mediterranean Theatre during 1943–44, sinking or heavily damaging at least 31 ships with the Henschel Hs 293 and more than seven with the ''Fritz X'', including the Italian battleship ''Roma'' and the light cruiser . A variant of the HS 293 had a TV ca ...
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Henschel Hs 293
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German radio-guided glide bomb. It is the first operational anti-shipping missile, first used unsuccessfully on 25 August 1943 and then with increasing success over the next year, ultimately damaging or sinking at least 25 ships. Allied efforts to jam the radio control link were increasingly successful despite German efforts to counter them. The weapon remained in use through 1944 when it was also used as an air-to-ground weapon to attack bridges to prevent the Allied breakout after D-Day, but proved almost useless in this role. Development The Hs 293 project was started in 1940, based on the "Gustav Schwartz Propellerwerke" pure glide bomb that was designed in 1939. The Schwartz design did not have a terminal guidance system; instead, it used an autopilot to maintain a straight course. It was intended to be launched from a bomber at sufficient distance to keep the aircraft out of range of anti-aircraft fire. A Henschel team, under Dr ...
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Heinkel He 177
The Heinkel He 177 ''Greif'' (Griffin) was a long-range heavy bomber flown by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. The introduction of the He 177 to combat operations was significantly delayed, by both problems with the development of its engines, and frequent changes to its intended role. Nevertheless, it was the only long-range, heavy bomber to become operational with the ''Luftwaffe'' during the war. The He 177 had a payload/range capability similar to that of four-engined heavy bombers used by the Allies in the European theatre. Work on the design began in response to a 1936 requirement, known as Bomber A, issued by the RLM for a purely strategic bomber. Thus the He 177 was intended originally to be capable of a sustained bombing campaign against Soviet manufacturing capacity, deep inside Russia. In contrast to its heavy payload and very wide, planform, the specifications called for the design to have only two very powerful engines. To deliver the power ...
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Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after the First World War prohibiting bombers, it was presented solely as a civil airliner, although from conception the design was intended to provide the nascent Luftwaffe with a heavy bomber. Perhaps the best-recognised German bomber of World War II due to the distinctive, extensively glazed "greenhouse" nose of the later versions, the Heinkel He 111 was the most numerous Luftwaffe bomber during the early stages of the war. It fared well until it met serious fighter opposition during the Battle of Britain, when its defensive armament was found to be inadequate. As the war progressed, the He 111 was used in a wide variety of roles on every front in the European theatre. It was used as a strategic bomber during the Battle of Britain, a torpedo bo ...
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Dornier Do 217
The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II as a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bomber but not meant to be capable of the longer-range missions envisioned for the larger Heinkel He 177, the Do 217's design was refined during 1939 and production began in late 1940. It entered service in early 1941 and by the beginning of 1942 was available in significant numbers. The Dornier Do 217 had a much larger bomb load capacity and had much greater range than the Do 17. In later variants, dive bombing and maritime strike capabilities using glide bombs were experimented with considerable success being achieved. Early Do 217 variants were more powerful than the contemporary Heinkel He 111 and Junkers Ju 88, having a greater speed, range and bomb load. Owing to this it was called a heavy bomber rather than a medium bomber. The Do 217 se ...
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Kampfgruppe 100
''Kampfgruppe'' 100 (KGr 100) was a specialist unit of the Luftwaffe during the early stages of World War II. It is best known as the first unit to use the "pathfinder" concept, with its aircraft being equipped with the latest radio navigation aids to find their targets and then dropping flares on them to mark the target for the following bombers. The unit first formed out of parts of ''Luftnachrichten Abteilung 100'' at Köthen on 18 November 1939 with a HQ unit and two squadrons, 1./ and 2./KGr 100. In keeping with typical Luftwaffe organization, Kampfgruppe 100 was later expanded to three squadrons, all flying the Heinkel He 111H. On 15 December 1941 the unit was used as the basis for the greatly expanded Kampfgeschwader 100 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 100 (KG 100) was a ''Luftwaffe'' medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II and the first military aviation unit to use a precision-guided munition (the Fritz X anti-ship glide bomb) in combat to sink a warship (the Itali ... ...
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Kampfgeschwader 100
''Kampfgeschwader'' 100 (KG 100) was a ''Luftwaffe'' medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II and the first military aviation unit to use a precision-guided munition (the Fritz X anti-ship glide bomb) in combat to sink a warship (the Italian battleship ''Roma'') on 9 September 1943. History KG 100 was created from ''Kampfgruppe 100'', a specialist pathfinder unit formed on 26 August 1938 as ''Luftnachrichten Abteilung'' 100 at Köthen. On 18 November 1939 it was renamed K.Gr. 100.de Zeng, Stankey, Creek 2008, p. 265. It was the first unit to use Y-''Verfahren'' (Y-Control) navigation aids. It spent the inter-war years training on high-altitude flights to North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and northern Finland. K.Gr. 100 participated in all of the continental campaigns from 1939 to 1941, in medium bomber and maritime interdiction operations. Stab./KG 100 was formed on 29 November 1941 at Châtres, France and placed under the command of ''Oberst'' Heinz-Ludwig von H ...
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Fritz X Guided Bomb USAFM
Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin and, less commonly, Francis. Fritz (Fryc) was also a name given to German troops by the Entente powers equivalent to the derogative Tommy. Other common bases for which the name Fritz was used include the surnames Fritsche, Fritzsche, Fritsch, Frisch(e) and Frycz. Below is a list of notable people with the name "Fritz." Surname *Amanda Fritz (born 1958), retired registered psychiatric nurse and politician from Oregon *Al Fritz (1924–2013), American businessman *Ben Fritz (born 1981), American baseball coach *Betty Jane Fritz (1924–1994), one of the original players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League *Clemens Fritz (born 1980), German footballer *Edmund Fritz (before 1918–after 1932), Austrian actor, film director, a ...
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Unguided Bomb
An unguided bomb, also known as a free-fall bomb, gravity bomb, dumb bomb, or iron bomb, is a conventional or nuclear aircraft-delivered bomb that does not contain a guidance system and hence simply follows a ballistic trajectory. This described all aircraft bombs in general service until the latter half of World War II, and the vast majority until the late 1980s. Then, with the dramatically increased use of precision-guided munitions, a retronym was needed to separate "smart bombs" from free-fall bombs. "Dumb bomb" was used for a time, but many military circles felt it sounded too trite, and eventually "gravity bomb" gained popularity. Bomb casings for unguided bombs are typically aerodynamic in shape, often with fins at the tail section, which reduce drag and increase stability after release, both of which serve to improve accuracy and consistency of trajectory. Unguided bombs typically use a contact fuze for detonation upon impact, or some milliseconds after if a penetration ...
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Bat (guided Bomb)
The ASM-N-2 Bat was a United States Navy World War II radar-guided glide bomb which was used in combat beginning in April 1944. It was developed and overseen by a unit within the National Bureau of Standards (which unit later became a part of the Army Research Laboratory) with assistance from the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Bell Telephone Laboratories. It is considered to be the first fully automated guided missile used in combat. Background In January 1941 RCA proposed a new TV-guided anti-shipping weapon, called Dragon, for which an operator would use the TV image sent from the nose of the weapon and operate aerodynamic controls during the weapon's fall. The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) would provide the airframe for use with a standard bomb, and was the same guidable ordnance airframe design used for the earlier, abortive Project Pigeon weapons program. The Pelican was a June 1942 modification using semi-active radar h ...
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Flare
A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications. Flares may be ground pyrotechnics, projectile pyrotechnics, or parachute-suspended to provide maximum illumination time over a large area. Projectile pyrotechnics may be dropped from aircraft, fired from rocket or artillery, or deployed by flare guns or handheld percussive tubes. History The earliest recorded use of gunpowder for signaling purposes was the 'signal bomb' used by the Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279) as the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) besieged Yangzhou in 1276. These soft-shelled bombs, timed to explode in midair, were used to send messages to a detachment of troops far in the distance. Another mention of the signal bomb appears in a text dating ...
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Fritz-X Tail Control Setup
Fritz X was the most common name for a German guided anti-ship glide bomb used during World War II. ''Fritz X'' was the world's first precision guided weapon deployed in combat and the first to sink a ship in combat. ''Fritz X'' was a nickname used both by Allied and ''Luftwaffe'' personnel. Alternative names include Ruhrstahl SD 1400 X, Kramer X-1, PC 1400X or FX 1400 (the latter, along with the unguided PC 1400 ''Fritz'' nickname, is the origin for the name "Fritz X"). History ''Fritz X'' was a further development of the PC 1400 (''Panzersprengbombe, Cylindrisch'' 1,400 kg) German Wikipedia's WW II PC-series bomb specifications, German for "armor-piercing bomb, cylindrical". armour-piercing high-explosive bomb, itself bearing the nickname ''Fritz''. It was a penetration weapon intended to be used against armored targets such as heavy cruisers and battleships. It was given a more aerodynamic nose, four stub wings, and a box-shaped tail unit consisting of a roughly 12-sid ...
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