Siemens torpedo glider

Siemens torpedo glider
Torpedo-glider in flight mode
Type	Anti-surface ship torpedo
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1914–1918
Used by	Imperial German Navy  Reichsmarine (post-war testing)
Wars	World War I
Production history
Designer	Wilhelm von Siemens
Designed	1914
Specifications
Mass	1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb)
Engine	Turbine
Guidance system	Wire-guided
Launch platform	Zeppelin Airships

The Siemens torpedo glider (often referred to as an aerial torpedo) was an early precursor to the modern glide bomb developed in World War I but never used in combat. It featured a naval torpedo attached to an airframe which was to be remotely wire-guided.^[1][2]

History

In October 1914, Dr. Wilhelm von Siemens proposed what became was to become known as the Siemens torpedo glider, a wire-guided flying missile that would have comprised a naval torpedo with an attached airframe. It was not intended that it be flown into a target; rather, at a suitable altitude and position, a signal would have been transmitted which would cause the airframe components to detach from the torpedo which would then enter the water and continue towards its target. Guidance signals were to be transmitted through a thin copper wire unrolled from a 2.5 mi (4.0 km) reel above the fuselage, and guide flares were to be carried to help control.^[3]

Siemens-Schuckertwerke was already occupied with remote-controlled anti-shipping motorboats (the FL-boats or Fernlenkboote), and so had some experience in the field of remote control.

Flight testing was performed under the supervision of Dipl. Ing. Dorner from January 1915 onwards, using airships as carriers. Different types of biplane and monoplane airframes were tested, to which a torpedo was fitted, before a biplane layout was adopted due to its greater carrying ability. The last test flight was performed on August 2, 1918. On this flight a 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) biplane glider was launched from Zeppelin LZ 80 (L 35).^[4][5] The glider was released from 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) over the Havel river and worked as expected until its control wire that attached the glider to the Zeppelin snapped and the glider spun out of control.^[4]

It was planned to use the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII bomber as a carrier craft, but the Armistice stopped the project. ^[6]

See also

• Kettering Bug

Bibliography

Notes

1. Branfill-Cook 2014, p. 133.
2. Sollinger 2010, p. 1.
3. Robinson 1979.
4. Reuter 2020, p. 5.
5. Friedman 2011.
6. Zeitschrift für Flugwissenschaften und Weltraumforschung 1976, pp. 135–136.

References

• Branfill-Cook, Roger (2014). Torpedo: The Complete History of the World's Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781848322158. - Total pages: 256
• Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations. Pen and Sword. ISBN 9781473816664. Retrieved August 3, 2020. - Total pages: 320
• Reuter, Claus (2020). The V2 and the German, Russian and American Rocket Program. German Canadian Museum. ISBN 9781894643054.
• Robinson, Anthony (1979). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aviation. Marshall Cavendish. p. 2043.
• Sollinger, Gunther (2010). "The Development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Germany (1914 – 1918)" (PDF). RTU Zinātniskie Raksti. Sērija 6, Mašīnzinātne Un Transports = Transport and Engineering, Elektronische Ressource = Scientific Journal of RTU [Scientific Journal of Riga Technical University]. 16: 24–31. ISSN 1407-8015. OCLC 867160613. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
• Zeitschrift für Flugwissenschaften und Weltraumforschung (1976) [1957–1958]. "Siemens torpedo glider". English: German Aerospace Society; German Aerospace Research and Research Institute; German Aerospace Research Institute. 5–6. Berlin: Springer: 135–136. ISSN 0342-068X. OCLC 3150219.