First air-to-air missile? ...

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7822

In 1943, a USAAF PQ-12A target drone was equipped with a 500 lb. warhead and flown into a PQ-8 target drone via radio commands from an accompanying UC-98 Bobcat utility aircraft.
Below is a photo of a PQ-12A drone/missile.

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:17 am

Kyleb · **Posted:** Sat Jun 08, 2019 8:03 am

I've never seen those. They look like Ercoupes on acid.

JohnB · **Posted:** Sat Jun 08, 2019 8:34 am

A crude "bomber destroyer"?

If course the idea missed the point that bombers of the period had fairly good defending armament. If attacking fighters had a tough time getting through a formation, I'm not sure a remotely piloted low performance drone would have much of a chance.

Of course, this could have been a simple proof of concept experiment, it certainly would have worked better with war weary fighters (imagine something like the F6F-5K drones used in Korea).

Of course that overlooked the fact that late in the war, we were the only nation putting up large daylight bomber formations.

Snake45 · **Joined:** Sat Apr 05, 2014 5:49 pm **Posts:** 864

Weren't the Germans already lobbing rockets into our bomber formations from 109s, 110s, and 190s by 1943?

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:55 am

Hmm. OK, maybe first air-to-air guided missile?

Cool image, Mark! 41-39049 checks out as a Fleetwings YPQ-12A-FL, one of a batch of eight.

Should UC-98 be UC-78?

shrike · **Posted:** Sun Jun 09, 2019 8:24 am

Snake45 wrote:

Weren't the Germans already lobbing rockets into our bomber formations from 109s, 110s, and 190s by 1943?

And developing (or proposed at least) A2A versions of the Schmetterling and Rhinetochter

Joe Scheil · **Posted:** Sun Jun 09, 2019 9:41 am

First Air to Air Missile was fielded by the French...many years before all these...

Used against airborne balloons, a tough to destroy flying target in 1915!

Noha307 · **Posted:** Sun Jun 09, 2019 11:27 am

Chris Brame wrote:

Hmm. OK, maybe first air-to-air guided missile?

Joe Scheil wrote:

First Air to Air Missile was fielded by the French...many years before all these...

Just wanted to point out that "guided missile" is redundant and that the weapons the French used in World War I are rockets:

Missile = Guided
Rocket = Unguided

Also, since it is relevant, I just want to plug my Aircraft Design Firsts thread.

From Wikipedia:

Wikipedia wrote:

The first flight test [of the Ruhrstahl X-4] occurred on August 11, 1939 using a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 for the launch platform. Subsequent tests used the Junkers Ju 88 and Messerschmitt Me 262, although they were not launched from the latter.

From the National Air and Space Museum:

National Air and Space Museum wrote:

[The Ruhrstahl X-4] was slated for use with the Me 262 jet fighter, but could also have been fired from a number of piston-engine aircraft such as the Ju 88, Ju 388 and Fw 190, all of which launched test missiles beginning in August 1944.

gundam456dx · **Joined:** Thu May 16, 2019 10:43 pm **Posts:** 1

Noha307 wrote:

Chris Brame wrote:

Hmm. OK, maybe first air-to-air guided missile?

Joe Scheil wrote:

First Air to Air Missile was fielded by the French...many years before all these...

Just wanted to point out that "guided missile" is redundant and that the weapons the French used in World War I are rockets:

Missile = Guided
Rocket = Unguided

Also, since it is relevant, I just want to plug my Aircraft Design Firsts thread.

From Wikipedia:

Wikipedia wrote:

The first flight test [of the Ruhrstahl X-4] occurred on August 11, 1939 using a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 for the launch platform. Subsequent tests used the Junkers Ju 88 and Messerschmitt Me 262, although they were not launched from the latter.

From the National Air and Space Museum:

National Air and Space Museum wrote:

[The Ruhrstahl X-4] was slated for use with the Me 262 jet fighter, but could also have been fired from a number of piston-engine aircraft such as the Ju 88, Ju 388 and Fw 190, all of which launched test missiles beginning in August 1944.

AAM "FC(Fighter Control) Spaniel"
Tested in 1942.
All errors taken into account, the chance of causing (A) damage is 0.665.
All the information can be obtained from TNA document AVIA 41/55.

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7822

Photo restored

Noha307 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2019 2:57 pm

gundam456dx wrote:

AAM "FC(Fighter Control) Spaniel"
Tested in 1942.
All errors taken into account, the chance of causing (A) damage is 0.665.
All the information can be obtained from TNA document AVIA 41/55.

Very interesting, never heard of that before, thanks. Found a bit more information in a Secret Projects thread (that I see you were involved in).

Warbird Information Exchange

First air-to-air missile? ...

Who is online