Looking for trouble

In 1939 aerial battleships still held place of honour and the pride of a nation. There were however, growing concerns during the the 1930’s that the quantum leap in aerial electrical applications would challenge the superiority of the aerial battleship. Others considered them obsolete as a deterrent and offensive weapon by the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1927 The Royal Navy commissioned the first of the Predator class ships, The Huntress, followed by her sister the ship, the Tigress the following year. Huntress was laid down in early 1928 and sky launched in 1930 with final fitting out taking place over much of that year. However, although a formidable ship of her time, the technical advancements in aero electrical applications made her obsolete in terms of speed and lifting power. Amidst much governmental uproar with regard to costs both Huntress and Tigress were grounded for special refit.

The rest of the pre-war period saw both ships policing the empire and showing up at prestigious events around the world. By the Munich crisis both ships were brought to war standard and repainted in standard camouflage although the Tigress was allowed to keep her Tiger head motif on the bow. As a marauding pair both caused some concern to the Air arm of the Kriegs marine which found most of their time devoted to defensive operations around coastal installations such as U Boat pens that were a frequent target of both Royal Navy airships.

In the meantime German company Henschel were developing a radio controlled glide bomb with a rocket engine, the Henschel 293. This weapon was air dropped from a point outside the range of accurate anti-aircraft fire and flown in by an observer who was able to maintain eye contact with the missile by means of five flares fitted to the tail or a light for night operations.

Although this missile was developed for use against light or unarmoured shipping a more powerful, prototype, the Hs 293Z, was developed for use against aerial battleships. This version had a larger explosive charge and rocket motor with an additional fuel cell to give the weapon an extra “push” in the final seconds. It was not considered to be a main hull penetrating weapon as the armour was too thick but several weak points had been identified as being potentially damaging enough to make the breaking off of attack a wise decision by the captain. Such weak points were the bridge and other command positions, the propeller nacelles and flight control surfaces.
An ideal target was the large lift generators that protrude from the hull. Although lightly armoured the electromagnetic field on mass effect acted as a deflector. However, the field is very weak at the point where the lift unit is secured to the hull but had proved almost impossible to target precisely.

Much success had been achieved in making aerial battleships break off attack with the 88mm canon armed Me 626 Donnervogal and a highly modified version of this aircraft was chosen to carry the Hs293z. These modifications included removing the 88mm and replacing with shackles to mount the Hs293Z and a second observer/missile guide cockpit added.

The all up weight of the ME 626 in this configuration was only slightly more than the original 88mm with a full shell magazine drum but with no need for the recoil dampening energy storage which could now be used for additional lift and thrust. Because of its original design as an artillery class canon mount it was also a very steady gun platform making it idea in the “stand off and guide in” role.

Mixed type flights were used with a 2:1 ratio in favour of the 88mm equipped ME262. Once the HS293z was released the modified ME 626 became a fast and surprisingly agile aircraft and with 2 x 20mm canon in the nose, able to take care of itself and often protect the 88mm armed versions.

On the morning of 4th April 1942 9 ME626, 3 were carrying the Hs293z, were ordered to intercept The Huntress as she hovered off shore at 4000ft firing her main battery at the Lorient U-boat pens.

The first strikes were by 88mm armed ME626 placing shots just below the bridge and causing much internal damage. The first Hs293z drop suffered rocket motor failure and fell into the sea. The second two missile armed aircraft dropped almost simultaneously with the pre-planned aim of placing both missiles in the same location on the steering gear.

By this time Huntress was heading for cloud cover which was quite thick in places but patchy. Both missiles were tracking well when at about the half-way point the first lost radio control. The controller of the second had to make a quick course deviation in order to avoid the first and was now low and in danger of undershooting. With main fuel and guide flares almost exhausted, the controller slammed the controls over to port and fired the booster fuel cell leaving everything else to chance.

The Hs293z came in at roughly 40 degrees from below and slammed perfectly into the mounting ring just