let me go back with some background history...

Intial trials with the R4M folding fin air to air missile had begun in late October 1944 at the Strelna firing range near Brünn. The weapon proved extremely promising, although its realibility at this time was suspect. following trials by E-Stelle Tarnewitz and Abteilung E6 at Rechlin in November, the latter issued the following report.
"Maunufacturing defects were discoverd on delivery; out of true tubes with unequal thicknesses, nozzles installed incorrectly with poor interior finish. the poor ballistics of the rockets test fired from the ten metre rail were traceable to these defects. Several of the rockets wieth folding fins demonstrate inadequate fin strength and some were lost on the rails due to faulty spot welding."
By the end of January 45 most of these technical problems had been overcome by the manufacturer, Deutsche Waffen and Munitions Fabrik (DWM) at Läbeck, but difficulties were still being experienced with uneven ignition and burning of the propellant. Early February a number of rockets were delivered to jagdgruppe 10 for testing. based at Redlin, this unit was charged with evaluating various types of fighter weapons......similar to NJGr 10 with the nf's / One of the major probelms discovered by the unit was the designe of a suitable launcher.
Karl Kiefer, JGr 10's Technical Offizier reported:
"As we had been notified that the first live rockets would be arriving in march 45, there was nothing left to do but to improvise with what we had. Acting largely on the concept that this weapon was supposed to achieve a large caliber shotgun effect, we decided on a wooden rack with 12 rockets mounted side by side. We completed the necessary drawings and had the first example built by a small joinery firm in Schwerin, using simple curtain rods for the guiding mechanism. After wiring up a rack, we mounted it beneath the wing of an Fw 190, took cover as a precaution and ignited the rockets electrically. As we hoped rounds slid smoothly from their rails. Our improvisation worked perfectly, but not the rockets. they smoked in wild curves around the entire area. We thought at first the guide rails had been installed incorrectly, but soon found that igniting all the rockets simultaneously produced strong vortices during the firing phase which changed the flight paths of the rockets. We finally solved this problem by using two relays, launching two groups of 6 rockets at a time."
Following this successful test, major Georg Christl, commanding JGr 10, suggested that the two racks each carrying 12 R4M's be mounted beneath each wing of one of III./JG 7's Me 262's. The modification was carried out on Leutnant Karl Schnörrer's machine, and to flight rest the new combination, Fritz Wendel appeared from Augsburg at the instigation of the Gruppen Kommanduer Major Sinner who reported :
"Without further ado, Wendel tested the converted machine. No adverse changes in flying qualities were discovered, except for perhaps a minor loss of airspeed in the climb. On 8 march, Lt. Schnörrer carried out the first firing test. This did not go quite as planned as several rockets failed to leave their rails or burned out on the rack, fortunately without exploding. A second attempt by Schnörrer went smoothly that his 9th staffel immediately began to convert the other a/c and steps were taken to convert the other Staffel ( 10th and 11th staffels) plus I. gruppe/JG 7."

Classic Pubs, Me 262, volume 3

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