German AA Missiles - An Efficient Alternative to Flak?

During the Second World War Germany developed some basic Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAM), which were called “Flakraketen” a quite weird name, because literally translated it would mean “AA gun rocket”.

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[MilitaryAviationHistory]

Hope you guys enjoyed this one, was a lot of fun researching these missiles with MHV! Just a little correction on the look of the Schmetterling, I got the overall look a bit wrong because of conflicting source material. It has been corrected on my video but sadly it came too late for MHV to make any changes.

[free_at_last]

It's amazing how quickly this tech developed.

1915: Steel plates are wrapped around the leading edges of propeller blades so that the rounds shot through them would (hopefully) ricochet away from the plane and pilot.

1942: Approval is given to co-develop jet powered interceptors and radar-guided supersonic anti-aircraft missiles.

[remcodenouden]

Most German weapons projects can be explained by:

We need 2 weapon systems, but we only have the capacity to produce 1. Which should we produce?

German high command: *yes*

[Monolith]

Treaty of Versailles: Germany may not invest money into AA guns


Germany: invents AA rockets instead


*outstanding move*

[amerigo]

The Germans used 88mm and 105mm shells by the millions in creating aerial "flak boxes" the bomber formations flew through. The shells were exploding at 20, 000 feet / 6100 meters or more altitude. What happened to all those shell fragments falling onto the ground later? Hard to imagine a car tire could survive a drive anywhere before long. Everyone except the flak gunners and fire directors would want to be underground, even if the Allies weren't dropping any bombs on them. I had an ammunition truck loaded with 180 rounds of 155mm high explosive detonate next to my unit in Iraq. The shell fragments were vicious pieces of sharp steel and scattered across a half mile radius that was puncturing tires for days.

[TheBeardyPenguin]

Loving the Anschluss between MHV and Bismarck

[amerigo]

Strange dynamic of World War II was that the Germans and Japanese desperately needed proximity fuses for antiaircraft usage, but did not have them. Meanwhile, the Anglo-American allies had proximity fuses, but one could reasonably state that they were not as central to deciding the outcome of the war as they may have been for Germany and Japan. I like how MHV and Bismarck keep peeling back the curtain and exposing just how chaotic was German weapons development and production during WWII. I remember my feelings of shock while viewing "Schindler's List" as what had been an image of an efficient, centrally coordinated German war effort was matter-of-factly annihilated. It starkly reminded me of my German landlord's description of the Nazi leadership as "gangsters." He also told me of watching Allied bomber formations passing overhead and of two P-47 Thunderbolts that sank a river barge there in his hometown of Dorfprozelten. By 1945, the German resistance to strategic bombing was almost entirely limited to anti-aircraft cannon. If the Wehrmacht had earlier set a focus on developing proximity fused anti-aircraft shells, Allied bomber casualties would have been much higher. Instead, it was safer to bomb Germany in 1945 than to complete pilot training back in the USA and UK. The book, "The Wild Blue" by Stephen Ambrose about B-24 bomber experiences late in WWII is highly recommended.

[The_Real_Maxajax]

The smileyface on the "no restrictions on rockets" guy.

[buster]

Rocket scientist: Surface to air or air to air guided missile?
Luftwaffe: YES!

[Topfblende]

Of course missiles were less efficient. Even post ww2 conflict showed that Sam missiles are unreliable and vulnerable to electronic warfare. Most importantly, the value of air defense especially ww2 Germany was not in kill statistics, which is what people then and now tended to focus on. Flak was one of the major causes of poor bombing accuracy, and didn't need to shoot a single bomber down to be effective. By forcing bomber formations to higher altitudes, and forcing evasive actions over the target, flak by its mere presence saved countless tons of munitions from making it to its intended target, a fact largely overlooked. Additionally, countless bomber crews have testified that flak is what scared them most. That's exactly what you want in an air defense scenario. Keep bombs off the target, and make the bomber crews shiver in their bunks between missions. Missiles don't do that. That's the real value of flak.

[propyne]

I approve of this increase in cooperation between you two and eagerly await the day you will announce the planned marriage.

[VRichardsn]

Great work! Another healthy dose of reality on the _Wunderwaffen_

By the way, looking at the problem of the huge expenditure of mounting the several hundred flakraketen... wouldn´t the Luftwaffe be able to combine them with the regular Flak, so as to make use of systems already in place? Or, if the Flakraketen were supposed to superseed a portion of the regular Flak, the same personnel could be retrained (thinking on the extra 110, 000 men required).

[PSquared-oovq]

Didn't the German Air force have an optically-triggered, vertically-launched rockets on some of their aircraft (Me-163 for example)? One that would fire - vertically - when the plane would fly beneath a big bomber?

[zaqpak]

Could you talk about the steel pillboxes the Japanese used on the islands such as Tarawa and Peleliu? They are pretty interesting

[tigr_lily]

I absolutely love your videos I'm so glad every time I get the notification that a new one is up. As always thank you for sharing

[CharlieB]

Boden-Boden-Raketen is my new favorite word.

[FortuneZer]

Hang on. Wasnt this thing in Battlefield 1942 Secret Weapons on the Essen Map.

[EstebanMataVargas]

As usual, it was an awesome analysis. Thank you, German enlightened guy, with a peculiar accent!

[ozza]

You have a mesmerising voice my friend anything you say could be made intriguing and cool.

[taotoo]

Excellent video - the 12 minutes flew by