If these two weapons were ready, would they have made a difference in the out come of the war? It can be seen that even with heavy bombing in from 1943-1945 that the German industry continued to put out with Speer at the helm, but if these two anti-aircraft rockets (surface to air missles) were ready would they have effected the outcome? Could the combined strength of the British and American air forces have overcome these weapons in their infantcy? More information is available at http://visi.net/~djohnson/missile/

Steve Flagg

Hi Steve :

This would of course depend on the year. This is very speculative, but if Germany had not been pounded by the air and did have the resources for chemical and fuel distribution then there would of been many, many aerial flak sites developed. Germany had the manpower just not the reserves. The US bomber crews were startled when the Br 21 rocket launcher was used in July of 43 under the wings of the Bf 109, later Fw 190 and then a total of 4 under the Bf 110G-2's and the Bf 410's. Allied fighter escort then in 1944 prevented much of the rocket attacks from even forming up. When again the R4M came into use under the wings of the Me 262 in 1945, the Allied crews were again startled and the US fighter escorts started hanging around the Me 262 airfields to take them on before they could out pace the P-51's and the same high altitude. Could the so-called rocket wonder weapons of turned the tide ..... ? Possibly if they would of been made in sufficient numbers and placed at strategic locations. Fortunately nearly all were in the experimental stages and were still being caried for trials when the fields/testing centers were captured. Can you imagine if the Germans had perfected the homing/guidance system what would of happened ? Total chaos !!

E

Thought I would give this a slight-- (bump) --

guys:

anyone know of some good books or web-sites that cover the anti-aircraft missiles during WW 2 ?

E

Not at all, Erich. My strong point is not Luftwaffe and less its technological issues like missiles and flying bombs... I cannot help you this time.

But I think those miracle weapons would have made us very happy!!!

__________________
"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

I can tell you Friedrich that if these ground based wepaons would have been operationally functional by the beginning of 1944 things might have been possibly different over the skies of Germany and US bomber tactics would of had to have changed. You probably would not have seen such tight organized boxes.

E still looking for a good book......

I think we could have not win, but make Western allies to search for peace. In this way: Let's say we have V1s and V2s, Some 500 operational Me-262, Me-163B, He-162 (Is that the number of the "Salammander") by June 1943. Italy invasion, France invasion and the air raids over Germany could not have been possible. If just with a few Me-109 and Fw-190 we could shot down 1/3 of the bombers... I can't imagine with those Me-262, totally smashing bombers' formations. With such loses Churchill and Ike would have reconsidered.

__________________
"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun