First air-to-air missile? ...

[Mark Allen M]

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.

Last edited by Mark Allen M on Tue Sep 24, 2019 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Pat Carry]

[Kyleb]

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

[JohnB]

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.

Last edited by JohnB on Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Snake45]

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

[Chris Brame]

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]

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]

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!

Attachments

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[Noha307]

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

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:

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:

[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]

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

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:

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:

[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]

Photo restored

[Noha307]

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).