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The R4M rocket

Discussion in 'Wonder Weapons' started by T. A. Gardner, Apr 27, 2008.

  1. T. A. Gardner

    T. A. Gardner Genuine Chief

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    As an innovation, the R4M certainly has had its impact. Post war it is likely one of the most copied ideas for unguided munitions there is. Its successors are still going strong in the realm of ground attack.

    But, in terms of WW 2 the R4M was intended first as an Air-to-Air weapon. Coming into service very late in the war there is little evidence of its effectiveness in this role. As I understand it, the rocket is attributed just one kill early in 1945.
    Post war, the US more or less copied the R4M as the FFAR 2.75" rocket. During the late 40's and 50's this weapon was in widespread use as an AAM. It reached an extreme on aircraft like the F-89 where some models carried over 100 and could blanket a square of airspace bigger than a football field.
    By the late 50's however, the FFAR had fallen virtually out of use completely as an AAM; replaced by guided weapons and a new generation of rapid fire cannon. Having seen little, if any, actual aerial combat it is a bit difficult to rate the FFAR in effectiveness as with the R4M.
    What I have been able to uncover about its performance was that the velocity was too low and the rocket too light to be really accurate in operational use. Hence the need for lots of them to be salvoed to get a hit. Both gravity and wind / air motion had substancial effects on the FFAR.
    The R4M likewise was no doubt similarly effected. The Germans countered part of the gravitational effect by putting an 8 degree elevation on launchers relative to the aircraft's line of flight.

    As a WW 2 weapon I think the R4M had real potential as a bomber buster. Although it had a claimed range of 1000 meters I would think that a 500 meter firing range would have done better in terms of both ensuring a hit. Pilots could have very likely scored on a bomber using this weapon from that range given a salvo of about 20 to 30 rockets. A pilot could also have been easily trained to make high side head on deflection passes against bombers to make defensive fire less effective, something that the average pilot would have difficulty doing with guns alone.
    The big advantage for the Germans is that their two mainstay fighters could have carried 20 to 30 of these rockets for a total weight of about 350 lbs load. There would also have been a slight drag penality involved. But, this is offset by reducing the gun armament to just sufficent for defense against escort fighters.
    With each defending fighter making a single pass and then leaving the combat area the Germans could have minimized flight times and exposure of their fighters to the bomber escorts.
    If one assumes even low kill rates of say, 10 to 20% of the firing passes this equates to a substancial number of losses. When the Germans were putting up several hundred fighters this means that as many as 20 to 80 bombers would go down. The upper end of this scale is beyond acceptable losses. The R4M just might have succeeded; at least for a time.
     
  2. Erich

    Erich Alte Hase

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    Terry

    the first action was on the 18th of March 45 and continued into April of 45 with R4M's. Over 8 B-17's were downed the first action by III./JG 7 and later in March/April I./JG 7 joined in with the R4M and 3cm attacks. Due to the chaos many US after action reports mentioned terrible flak hits and downings that were actually attributed to the effects of the R4M
     
  3. Erich

    Erich Alte Hase

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    I'll give you a friends impressions from LEMB web-site

    and he does not even cover all of it from the JG 7 point of view

    To answer the question regarding if the R4M was a weapon used frequently - or only taken from a received truck load of rockets blasted off, and…..period - I went through some of my books to see how often the use of R4M is mentioned. Below you will find extracts from seven books on the subject and I hope the authors will bear with me for quoting their words, with my due credits of course, as I saw this as the most convincing way by using information from renowned books and authors.
    I noted with interest that Walter Schuck in his book on his Luftwaffe career, “Abschuss!” does not refer to the R4M despite that he several times gives a detailed description of the devastating effect from the MK 108, despite that other sources indicates he must have participated in Me 262 units attacking with R4M rockets.

    I have not been able to consult my “Messerschmitt 262 vol 1-4” by Smith and Creek released by Classic Publications, as they are on another continent when writing this.

    I hope the below can be of interest to you and readable despite its length. This is the first time I have seen a compilation on R4M operational use from available literature sources why I have enjoyed doing it, and at the same time forming my own conclusions about the battle value and usage of the R4M.

    In order to give it some structure I have arranged it chronologically and added some of my comments at the end. There were of course action on other days than the ones listed below, but I have only (mostly) included dates where rockets are mentioned in the reference books.

    Enjoy! [​IMG]
    Goran

    "After a short test period 20.000 were ordered. Out of these only 12.000 were made by the companies DWM, Schneider KG and LGW in Hakenfelde" (Ref 1)
    Comment: Number of manufactured rockets might have little in common with how many actually reached front line units due to disruption of communications.

    "Under the leadership of Major Christl, the easy to manufacture air-to-air rockets, were thoroughly tested by Erprobungskommando 25, from which later Jagdgruppe 10 was erected. It was established that the R4M reached a speed of 540m/s in only 0.8 s. The effective range was 500 to 600m" (Ref 1)

    15 March
    “The first problem-free launchings on March 15, 1945, led Major Christl to propose the R4M as a supplementary armament for the Me 262, as had been requested by Major Sinner, among others. Agreement was reached and a rack was installed each wing of the Me 262 belonging to the technical officer of 9. Staffel, Lt. Schnörrer, at nearby Parchim.
    ………A second attempt, likewise by Schnörrer, went so smoothly and satisfactorily that the Staffel immediately began converting the other aircraft, and the necessary steps were taken initiated to convert the other Staffeln as well as I.Gruppe (of JG 7) (Ref 5 page 116)

    18 March
    "On 2 November 1944 the R4M was first launched from a Me 262 which was equipped with temporary launch rails. The first operational mission with R4M was flown on 18 March 1945 by JG 7. Also the well known Oberstleutnant Heintz Bär, at the time Kommandeur III./EJG 2, undertook several test flights with a Me 262 with modified launch rails in between operational missions. As the rockets several times got stuck on the rails when launching and could not come free, the unit was quickly revised." (Ref 1)

    Also commented on in another source:
    “March was also the month that JG 7 first used R4M air-to-air rockets…..on the 18th of the month when a dozen 4 kg rockets were fitted to some 54 jets – a further 6 aircraft from 9.Staffel received a 24-shot fitment. …A total of 13 kills were credited to JG 7 for the loss of three pilots and five jets. (Ref 3, page 56-57)

    And yet again
    At about 11.20 the Me 262s of 9.Staffel joined the battle, and they were armed with a new weapon whose density of fire, ballistics, spread and destructive power made it probably the ideal offensive armament for the Me 262: the r4M air-to-air rocket.
    (Ref 5 page 111)

    The new Weapon received its baptism of fire on March 18, 1945, six aircraft of 9.Staffel, each with twenty-four R4M rockets beneath the wings, attacked enemy aircraft over Rathenow. The pilots were Lt. Schnörrer, Oblt. Seeler, Ofhr. Windish, Fhr. Ehrig and Ofhr. Ullrich. Leading the formation was Oblt. Wegmann.
    The impact of the rockets, which were launched from about 400meters was devastating. “Shattered fuselages , broken-off wings, ripped out engines, shard of aluminium and fragments of every size wirled through the air” stated one of the participating pilots, “it looked as if someone had emptied out an ashtray” (Ref 5 page 116)

    Also on the same days events

    “Günter Wegmann made one attacking run to fire hisR4M rockets saw a B-17 go down, then turned for a second pass. He attacked another B-17, saw cannon hits on the starboard wing, but was caught in crossfire from the formation……Claims by III./JG 7 pilots totalled 12 heavy bombers and three escort fighters; the Americans had lost twelve B-17s and one B-24. Fifteen further bombers were classified as ‘write-offs’ after returning,….” (Ref 4 page 179 and 181)

    19 March
    “Meanwhile, B-17s of the 3rd Air Division were engaged north of Chemnitz by Me 262s of III./JG 7. Due to bad visibility, only28 of the 45 airborne jets found the American bombers……When the P-51s eventually found the Fortresses, six had already fallen to R4M rockets” (Ref 4 page182)

    20 March
    "Hamburg was the target for the 1st Air Division and 22 Me 262s of JG 7 were in the air, intercepting over the target area at around 16.00 hours…….Two B-17s of the 303rd Bomb Group were among the first of nine to to fall to the jets’ rockets and cannon fire. Claims for B-17s destroyed were submitted by Fähnrich Ehrig (Three), Feldwebel Pritzl (Two), Oberfähnrich Pfeiffer, Oberfeldwebel Heisser, Fähnrich Christer and Oberleutnant Sturm, while Oberfeldwebel Buchner reported a Herausschuss.” (Ref 4 page 184)

    21 March“The American forces dispatched heavy raids to south and eastern Germany. Thirty-one Me 262s were scrambled by JG 7 and were many combats took place…..a further two B+17s fell to R4M rockets before the Messerschmitts turned on aircraft of the 100th Bomb Group, destroying one with cannon fire….the main opponents of the bomber force were Stab and III./JG 7 and many claims were submitted by the jet pilots….”
    (Ref 4 page 187 and 191)

    24 March
    At about 12.00 (. And 10. Staffeln form Parchim joined the battle. South of Berlin about 15 Me 262s, most of the equipped with R4M rockets, met the waves of bombers as they advanced on a broad front towards the Reich capital. Bombers were destroyed by Oblt. Külp, Lt. Sturm, Oblt. Schall, Ofw. Pritzl and Ofw Buchner.

    31 March
    "Despite these problems the R4M increasingly came into use operationally with the Me 262 in the Reichsverteidung. On 31 March alone 17 Lancaster bombers were claimed by Me 262 pilots. Only some of the aircraft were equipped with R4M launch rails"(Ref 1)

    Again from another source about this day:
    “Flying aircraft equipped with R4M rockets and MK 108 explosive shells both I. and III.Gruppen (JG 7) took part in four separate combats during the day…….Throughout the day 21 bombers were destroyed by the jets, and many more returned to their bases heavily damaged.” (Ref 3, page 61)
    Comment: The text does not reveal how many of the bombers actually fell to the R4M, or how many Me 262s were so equipped.

    Hermann Buchner describes his memories from this 31 March in his book “Stormbird”:

    “We flew with seven 262s led by Oberleutnant Schall, one Schwarm and one Kette. Our mission was against US units in the Hannover region…….they were not US bombers, however, but Tommys in night flight formation, doing a day time attack on Hamburg…….On our first attack, there were seven Lancasters shot down with the R4M rockets.”

    It is highly likely that this mission with Buchner took place later the same day:

    “During midday, another mission was flown against UD units. The days were hectic and we were really in demand. Our mechanics worked tirelessly. During this time I flew with Leutnant Sturm and we were assigned against a unit of B-24s in the Stendal area. On the first attack, Sturm shot down one using his R4M rockets. The hits were so good that the Liberator fluttered from the sky”. (Ref 6 Page 134)

    Buchner flew most of his Me 262 missions while with 9./JG 7 in Black 11, W.Nr 110808, which was equipped with R4M according to his book - colour profile page 127.

    “Whilst March had shown JG 7 to be the definite jet fighter operator of World War 2, it had also been the month in which several of the Geschwader’s most experienced fighter pilots had been lost, and its operational strength reduced to well below 60 jets” (Ref 3, page 61)

    4 April
    From a combat report of an unnamed Me 262 pilot:
    On 5.4.1945 I took off from Lärz at 09.16 as Staffel leader to intercept a major incursion reported in the Bremen-Hannover area……..Approaching from the south, I attacked 24 Liberators flying on a south-easterly course from ahead and to the right at an angle of 45 degrees. I fired all my R4M rockets at the first Liberator from a range of about 600 meters, allowing about 50 meters lead and scored hits on the fuselage and wing centre-section of a Liberator flying in the middle of the formation. Large pieces fell off the aircraft, which immediately fell behind and began to lose altitude …. .. By the time the Me 262s were forced to break off the engagement for lack of fuel seven bombers had been destroyed for certain” (Ref 5 Page 147)

    Another event from April 4:
    “At 09:15 hours , a flight of 339th F G Mustangs flew a sweep over Rechlin airfield, finding a flight of Me 262s from III./JG 7, led by Major Rudi Sinner emerging from the clouds after taking off……Rudi Sinner: “ Climbing up through the cloud I saw four enemy aircraft in formation above me and against the sun…..my rockets would not fire and the rest of the Gruppe had no luck.” (Ref 4 page 219-220)

    Also:
    “Aircraft from III./JG 7 had assembled near Stendal and intercepted American bombers south of Bremen, shooting down three. Leutnant Fritz Müller after taking off from Lärz airfield, together with several other jets, sighted P-47s near Bremen. They ignored the American fighters and carried on, soon making contact with B+24s heading southeast, almost head-on with the German aircraft. Müller attacked in a descending right turn, coming in from the starboard quarter and firing his rockets into their midst. His missiles struck home on one bomber, which reared up and fell away……Four victories were claimed by……, all for Fortresses.” (Ref 4 page 222)


    5 April
    "On 5 April the test unit Jagdgruppe 10 got the task, together with specialists from Messerschitt-Werke, to equip 20 Me 262s of JV 44 in Mümchen-Riem with R4M rails, in order to substantially increase their battle worthiness."
    "Up to the end of the war it was only achieved to equip little more than 60 Me 262 fighters with simple wooden launchers with rails for eight, later 12 R4M rockets. A further six Me 262 A+1a experimentally received two longer launchers with 24 rails for the 4 kg heavy rockets." (Ref 1)

    7 April
    Only two JG 7 claims against bombers are known..….However, it is believed that aircraft of JV 44, equipped with R4M rockets, made an attack upon fortresses over Thuringia, several being shot down.” (Ref 4 page 222)
    (Comment: The reference mentions in note #90 that this info comes from “Horrido” by Constable & Toliver, p.295)

    8 April“…..It is possible that the 358th FG had been engaged by JV 44 aircraft…..It is believed that on this date Oberst J. Steinhoff had led Major Krupinski and Leutnant Fährmann out on one such flight (Training) …..Steinhoff made a fast dive at the P-38s, opening fire with his cannon…..He had retained his R4M rockets…..Steinhoff decided to make one pass at the bombers….He switched his rockets to live and the two fighters went down through the fighter cover at high speed,……Steinhoff lined up on a box of Liberators and hit the firing button, but thre R4Ms remained in their racks; the mechanism had failed.” (Ref 4 page 231-232)

    10 April
    The Foirtresses of the 351st, 401st, 457th, and 487th Bomb Groups from the 3rd Air Division were briefed to bomb jet bases at Brandenburg/Briest, Parchim, Magdeburg and Lärz, and were bitterly opposed.
    ……Crews from this formation (487th BG) later reported that the attacking jets had guns beneath their wings, outboard of the engines. What they had in fact seen were the R4M missiles as the rockets were ripple-fired from the racks.” (Ref 4 page 239)

    Also from April 10:
    “Leutnant Walter Hagenah of III/JG 7, had been on his first operational flight with the Me 262 that day,.....Hagenah acted coolly, outrun his pursuers, the turned hard for a firing pass. He fired off his rockets into their midst, bringing down one Mustang before speeding away…On April 10th Hagenah was one of the lucky ones.” (Ref 4 page 242)

    April 11
    A section from III./JG 7 Arrived at Prag/Ruzyne. Alsp I./KG(J) relocated there.

    April 16“JV 44 rose in some strength to engage B-26 Marauders…..Galland attacked one formation and claimed two destroyed with his rockets. Although this action is reported to have taken place on April 15th ,an error of one day appears to have occurred, for no Marauders were lost on that day, but on the 16th two B-26 of the 322nd BG, and another from the 387th were lost.” (Ref 4 page 247)

    Also on April 16 events:
    “During the day before, some sources claim that a formation of JV 44 aircraft led by Galland and equipped with the new 55mm R4M air-to-air rockets was operational, Galland claiming two B-26 Marauders with rockets, possibly of the 322nd BG, which was known to have lost two machines. This assertion is supported by ULTRA intelligence decrypts of”…an unidentified command (presumably south Germany) operated against B+26s” that day”
    Further:
    “The notion that RM rockets were now being used by JV 44 is given credence in a signal sent from the “Fliegerführer Transport” the same day allocating two He 111s to collect a consignment of R4M rockets from Lübeck-Blankensee for movement to München-Riem (Ref 7 page 114-115)

    April 17, Probably:
    From Johannes Steinhoffs book we learn that a whole unit could attack equipped with R4Ms even if the launch rails created problems when firing:
    “We had managed to get a proud total of nine jet fighters into the air at once, and suspended beneath each of those nine pair of wings was a deadly cargo of rockets.
    The rockets were manufactured in the northern enclave of the Reich, in the rump that was left around the city of Hamburg, but we had succeeded in airlifting them down to Riem. At last we had the weapon with which we could guarantee to shoot down at least one bomber, and today was to be our first attack with an entire formation – three flights of three aircraft each.” (Ref 2, page 152)

    “The third Me seemed to be having trouble getting rid of his rockets.” (Ref 2, page 152)

    “The bombers were now in a state of utter confusion. Although for the second time I had been unable to fire my rockets, the other pilots had scored hits” (Ref 2, page 156)

    On April 17:
    Both I./KG(J)54 and JV 44 pilots opposed another raid by heavy bombers on Munich. Nine Me 262s led by Adolf Galland lifted off from Riem and headed for the city….The jet pilots waited until the leading bomber Groups had escaped the box barrage and then dived. Several other B-17s had been hit by gunfire and as the Me 262s closed, one disappeared in a blinding explosion. Nearby bombers were rocked by the blast, losing their tight formation just at the moment that the jets attacked, firing off their R4Ms like giant shot-guns. Oberst Steinhoff hit the rocket button but the firing mechanism failed. He then saw in front of him a jet collide with a Fortress, …….Steinhoff hit the rocket release button and for a second time the mechanism failed….” (Ref 4 page 248-249)

    April 18, The day Steinhoff crashed:
    “Steinhoff wrote in his memoirs “I ran quickly around her once before getting in. I ducked under the wing and felt the rockets with my hand……”….At least three (out of 2 elements a 3 a/c each) of these aircraft (Galland, Steinhoff and Neumann) carried racks of twelve R4M rockets under each wing to supplement their MK 108s”
    (Ref 7, page 118)

    19 April
    “Continuing to operate in greater strength, JG 7 scrambled its entire III.Gruppe force on the 19th to meet incoming B-17s from the 3rd Air Division north of Chemnitz. Although actually only 28 Me 262s actually made contact with the enemy, at least four ‘heavies’ were destroyed by R4M rockets. The following day 22 jets intercepted bombers, and escorting fighters, in the Hamburg area and downed nine B-17s for the loss of four jets. This pattern continued for the rest of the month.” (Ref 3, page 59)

    20 April
    JV 44 vs B-26 Marauders of Ninth Air Force
    “Meanwhile, Uffz. “Jonny” Müller, his ”White 15” laden with 24 R4M rockets had taken off from München-Riem twelve minutes later than Shallmoser, at 10:50. Reaching Kempten, he made contact with the American bombers at 3.000 meters and fired his rockets into the formation of Marauders. The next few seconds are testimony to the deadly effectiveness of the R4M. The rockets hissed through the sky and two bombers began to plunge towards the earth. (Ref 7 page 139)

    24 April
    JV 44 vs 17 BG B-26 Marauders and the death of B-26C 42-107729, Stud Duck.
    “Now, sixteen days after the group’s (17 BG) second unit citation, JV 44 sent up a force of 11 Me 262s at 09:50 equipped with R4M rockets and led by Oberst Günther Lützow to intercept the bombers eight kilometres west of its assigned target……At precisely 10:02, just as the window flight was leaving the target and preparing to rejoin the rest of the formation, three Me 262s hit the bombers from behind in line astern closing in to 820 meters (900 yards) before they fired their rockets….Young’s fellow crew members were witnessing JV 44´s R4M strike into the Marauder formation. One of the first bombers to be hit – probably by the second jet – was the number 1 aircraft in the window flight…….The other crews in the flight watched with horror as the R4Ms streak through the small formation and Stud Duck took a direct hit in his vertical stabilizer causing it to roll over to the right, narrowly missing the number 2 aircraft. Damage was also observed to the wing, waist position and aft bomb bay before the aircraft rolled away in a spin, disappearing into clouds with its wheels down and bomb bay doors open. “(Ref 7 page 144-145)

    “During the afternoon the Ninth Air Force assembled a force of 256 medium bombers with fighter escort to mount attacks against targets in southern Germany……Alerted by Feldkirchen to the incoming raid, JV 44 hurriedly scrambled a total of six Me 262s again led by Günther Lützow…however two aircraft from this formation aborted shortly after take-off either because of engine failure or mechanical problems……..On this occasion too both Neumann’s and Lützow’s Me 262s were fitted with R4Ms.” (Ref 7 page 148)

    25 April
    This day was probably the last day JG 7 attacked US bomber formations, with five pilots claiming victories as well as Uffz. Köster, having been transferred to,JV 44, claiming two Mustangs (Ref 5Page 171)

    26 April
    German records state that JV 44 was reporting a total of 43 Me 262s on strength at sunrise on 26th . As the morning progressed, warning of another incursion by enemy medium bombers into Bavaria reached the control room at Feldkirchen and JV 44 scrambled a force of 12 rocket-equipped Me 262s between 11:20- 11:30 led by Generalleutnant Galland to intercept. (Ref 7 page 163 The ref. contains a detailed description of this event)

    28 April
    JV 44 moved to Salzburg-Maxglan airfield

    29 April
    Only one operational sortie by JV 44 flown by Heinz Bär claiming one P-47 with the six-cannon Me 262 A-1/U5. (Ref 7 page 178)

    30 April
    Almost all fighter-bomber Staffeln had moved to Prague/Ruzyne by April 30th . JG 7 had found this base well stocked with vast amounts of fuel and R4M rockets. This allowed the unit to continue in the ground attack role, strafing Russian armour moving along the Guben-Cottbus road en route for Berlin. Oberfeldtwebel Otto Pritzl well remembered the low-level sorties against the heavily armoured T-34 tanks. The jet pilots found that their R4Ms were deadly; the attacks, delivered at low level and high speed, meant that results could not immediately be seen, but on subsequent sorties the awesome results were apparent. He recalled, “We saw the total effect of our rocket attacks was massive”” (Ref 4 page 270)


    4 May
    Remaining JV 44 Me 262s blown up by the unit at Salzburg-Maxglan.

    My comments

    From the above one can conclude that the R4M quickly came into operational use after the initial problems were sorted out towards the end of March. JG 7 and JV 44 apparently came to use them as a common weapons load and was used effectively as from late March and during April 1945.
     

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