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.

An operator would use a telescopic sight and a joystick to guide the missile by radio control.

History

In 1941, Professor Herbert Wagner (who was previously responsible for the Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship missile) invented the Schmetterling missile and submitted it to the RLM, who rejected the design because there was, as yet, no need for more anti-aircraft weaponry

However, by 1943 the large-scale bombing of Germany caused the RLM to change its mind, and the Henschel company was given a contract to develop and manufacture it. There were 59 experimental firings, of which 34 failed.

Mass production was ordered in December 1944, with deployment to start in March 1945, although the missile never became operational.

Variants

The Hs 117H was an air-launched variant, designed to be launched from a Dornier Do 217, Junkers Ju 188, or Junkers Ju 388 aircraft. The Hs 117H was designed to attack an enemy aircraft up to 5 km above the launching aircraft.

Characteristics

• Primary Function: surface-to-air missile
• Contractor: Henschel
• Power Plant:
  • booster rockets: 2 Schmidding 109-553 solid-fuel boosters, giving total 17.1 kN (1750 kgf) thrust for 4 s
  • main rocket: liquid fuel BMW 109-558 rocket motor giving 3.7 kN (375 kgf) for 33 s, followed by 588 N (60 kgf) for 24 s
• Propellants: nitric acid, Tonka (mixed hydrocarbon fuel)

• Length: 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
• Diameter: 350 mm
• Wing Span: 2 m
• Launch Weight: 420 kg (presumably excluding boosters which weighed a total of 170 kg)

• Speed: 183 m/s (not sure about this)
• Warhead: 100 or 250 kg explosive (different sources give different figures here)
• Range: 32 km (20 mi)
• Altitude: 10.7 km
• Fuzes: Fox proximity fuze
• Guidance system: MCLOS; visual guidance, radio controls

• Unit Cost:
• Date Deployed: never
• Users: Germany

See also

• Henschel Hs 293
• Wasserfall
• German missiles of WW2