The Enzian (named for a type of mountain flower, the Gentian Violet) was a WWII surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile that has the distinction of being the first to use an infrared guidance system. Troubles plagued its development, most of them organizational in the late days of the war, and it was eventually cancelled before becoming operational. Gentian violet (hexamethyl pararosaniline chloride) is an antifungal agent. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... A surface-to-air missile (SAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. ... American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ...

Even as early as 1943 it was becoming clear that Messerschmitt's super-interceptor, the Me 163, was going to be difficult to use in combat. After flying to the 25,000ft altitude of the US bombers, it had only a few minutes to track them down before running out of fuel. Even if it did manage to find the bombers, it had the equally prickly problem of lacking a weapon which could be aimed effectively while closing on the target at some 400 mph difference in speeds. Messerschmitt is a famous German aircraft manufacturer, known primarily for their World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262. ... The MiG-25 is a Russian interceptor that was the mainstay of the Soviet air defence. ... This article contains information that has not been verified. ...

Dr. Wurster of Messerschmitt suggested the answer in the form of Flak Rakete 1 in 1943. Instead of tracking down the planes, the rocket would be flown just in front of the target and then explode a gigantic 500kg warhead. This neatly solved the weaponry problem as well. Better yet, with no human pilot on board and thus no need to limit takeoff accelerations, the rocket could use solid fuel boosters for added thrust, further reducing the amount of fuel needed to climb. The result, even with this heavy warhead, was that a much smaller airframe was needed to carry the required fuel. So small in fact that the design could be portable and launched from a modified 88mm Flak gun mounting.

The design made as much use of wood as possible, due to the need to conserve other "strategic" materials in the rapidly deteriorating war situation. For the same reasons a new type of Walter rocket was envisioned, a modification of the engine in the Me 163 that would burn coal-gas (benzine) instead of the hydrogen peroxide used in other Walter designs (although a small amount of peroxide was used to drive the fuel pumps). Hellmuth Walter (August 26, 1900 – December 16, 1980) was a German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines. ... Benzine, also known as petroleum ether, is a group of various volatile, highly flammable, liquid hydrocarbon mixtures used chiefly as nonpolar solvents. ... Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water, that has strong oxidizing properties and is therefore a powerful bleaching agent that has found use as a disinfectant, as an oxidizer, and (particularly in high concentrations as high test peroxide (HTP)) as a monopropellant in rockets. ...

The missile would be guided primarily under radio control from the ground. The operator would fly the missile into the vicinity of the bombers, then cut the engine and glide it the rest of the way at a slower speed. This presented a real problem in the Enzian. Other German missiles were high-speed designs that could be flown directly at their target along the line of sight, easy enough to do even from the ground. The Enzian would instead be approaching its target from somewhere in front, which is considerably harder for the operator. Many experiments with radio and wire-guided missiles had demonstrated real problems with last-minute terminal guidance corrections in these cases. This remote control airplane is carrying a scale model of X-33 and is taking part in actual NASA research. ...

The initial plans for solving this problem were rather advanced. The large airframe left plenty of room in the nose, which they intended to fill with a self-contained radar unit called Elsass. In the short term it was planned to use some sort of proximity fuze while flying the missile though the bomber stream. The warhead, of which several were studied, was to have a nominal lethal radius of 45 metres. A proximity fuse (sometimes spelled fuze) is a fuse that is designed to detonate an explosive automatically when close enough to the target to destroy it. ...

Several studies on the basic design were carried out, resulting in the FR-1 through FR-5. The FR-5 was considered to be a reasonable starting point, so development commenced on the newly-named Enzian E.1 (and its engine) in September 1943. By May 1944 sixty airframes were complete, awaiting their engines. In order to gain flight test data they were fitted with RATO units instead. JATO is an acronym for Jet Assisted Take Off. ...

A series of 38 flight tests commenced with generally favourable results, but the engine still lagged. Finally Dr. Konrad, designing the engine for the Rheintochter missile, was asked to modify his design for the Enzian. After study it appeared this was a much better (and cheaper) solution anyway, and after January 1945 there were no plans to use the Walter design any more. The resulting E.4 version with the Konrad engine was considered the production version. Rheintochter R1 missile Rheintochter was a German surface-to-air missile developed during World War II. History Rheintochter was ordered in November 1942 by the German army. ...

During the flight test period it also appeared that none of the exising proximity fuzes would be useful in the Enzian. A new design known as Madrid then gained favour, and it is for this reason the Enzian remains famous. The Madrid used an infrared photocell mounted on the front of a steerable telescope mirror, with small metal vanes placed in front of the cell in the shape of a cross. By moving the mirror side to side (or up and down), the vanes would block off more or less of the image of the target, and the system continually moved the mirror in a both directions while attempting to find the direction that maximized the signal. This kept the mirror pointed at the target. The missile's control system then had the task of attempting to point the missile in the same direction as the mirror. However the system was never actually developed beyond a test-bench mockup. A proximity fuse (sometimes spelled fuze) is a fuse that is designed to detonate an explosive automatically when close enough to the target to destroy it. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ... A photoresistor is an electronic component whose resistance decreases with increasing incident light intensity. ...

On January 17th 1945, all ongoing projects were cancelled by the Luftwaffe in order to concentrate all possible effort on only two designs, the Messerschmitt Me 262 and the Heinkel He 162. This wasn't the entire story, as many in the Nazi and Luftwaffe hierarchy had their own pet projects continue. However, the Enzian was judged further from completion than Henschel's Schmetterling missile at the time, so it was cancelled. Messerschmitt engineers continued some low-level work on the project, hoping it would be re-funded, but by March it was clear the order would not be rescinded (although it had been for other designs) and all effort ended. The Luftwaffe ▶(?) (German: air force, IPA: [luftvafə]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ... The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) was the first operational jet powered fighter. ... The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (Peoples Fighter) was the second jet engined fighter aircraft to be fielded by the Luftwaffe in WWII. It was a rival to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and was the fastest of the first generation of Axis and Allied jets. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ... Henschel & Son, during World War II, was the primary manufacturer of the Panzer VI. Henschel aircraft and missiles included: Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling (Butterfly), surface-to-air missile (rocket-engined) Henschel Hs 121, fighter + trainer (prototype) Henschel Hs 123, ground-attack (biplane) Henschel Hs 124, heavy fighter + bomber (prototype) Henschel... Hs 117 Schmetterling The Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling (German for Butterfly) was a German surface-to-air missile project developed during World War II. There was also an air-to-air version. ...

See also

• German missiles of WW2
• AIM-9 Sidewinder
• List of missiles

During World War II, Germany developed many missile systems, some of which were extremely advanced. ... Sidewinder Missile The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried by fighter aircraft. ... Below is a list of (links to pages on) missiles, sorted alphabetically by name. ...

External links

• Enzian E-4