We examine the radio control and guidance system of WWII's most successful anti-ship missile - the Herschel Hs293. As well as presenting functioning guidance components, we have included a rare recording of a successful test flight of the television-controlled Hs293 D - shown here for the first time.
Developed and built by Henschel Flugzeug-Werke AG, the Hs293 A-1 was the most successful anti-ship missile until the development of the French Exocet missile some 30 years later.

Development of the Hs293 commenced in 1940, and the missile was successfully deployed against allied shipping in the Mediterranean from August 1943. The radio-controlled glide bomb scored around 30 hits, leading to several ships' sinking. By early 1944 the allies had caught up with the technology, developing effective countermeasures that denied the missile further successes. Defeating the threat from the HS293 was a significant achievement for the allies in the run-up to the Normandy landings.

00:00 Opening credits
00:12 Introducing the bomb
00:56 Freesendorfer Marshes test
01:43 The Hs293 glide bomb
02:01 standoff method of attack
02:53 Rocket engine
03:06 Hs293's FuG230 receiver
06:28 Aircraft's FuG203 transmitter
07:42 Bombadier's station
11:29 Wire-guided version
11:58 TV guided version Hs293D
12:23 Film on CRT from HS293D test
13:04 End credits

This video was recorded at one of Europe's finest private collections of German avionics equipment, covering the early days of military radio communication and radar to the end of the vacuum tube era.

Presented by Dieter Beikirch with additional narration by Robert J Dalby.

Our thanks to Reiner Sigmund for his assistance in the making of this video.

Video produced by Astronomy and Nature TV

The two still showing the Hs293 in the introduction are from Wikipedia and the full credit reads: Deutsches Museum Munich photo Jean-Patrick Donzey

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