In Service:
First Flight:
Manufacturer: Ardelt-Werke,
Rheinmetall-Borsig
Number built:
Type: Surface-to-Air Missile
Guidance system:
Length: 4.8 m
Wingspan: 4.5 m
Diameter: m
Weight: kg
Engine: 4 ×
Rheinmetall
109-505 solid fuel rocket engine producing up to 250 kg
of thrust each
Maximum speed: 1,500 km/h
Range: km
Warhead: 17 kg
Fuze:
Launch Platform: Mobile
Operators: Luftwaffe
Variants:
Other: Missiles
Articles:
The Rheinmetall-Borsig Feuerlilie (Fire Lily) was a surface-to-air
missile which was built by Ardelt-Werke and
Rheinmetall-Borsig
AG in 1940.
The Feuerlilie (Fire Lily) was built in two versions the first
Feuerlilie F-25 with a diameter of 25 cm, the second Feuerlilie
F-55 with a diameter of 55 cm both these versions used either
Rheinmetall
109-505 or
Rheinmetall
109-515 solid fuel rocket engine. In 1940 Hermann Göring's
Aviation Research Organisation, under the codename Fire Lili
designed a remote-controlled anti-aircraft missile,
The first version was with an extremely small version called
F-5 this model was used to test the viability of the solid
fuel rocket engines and its general flight behaviour, very
good progress was made, and so work progressed to the first
preproduction version was Feuerlilie F-25 of which 24, were
made, testing took place in July 1943 at Leba proving ground
on the Baltic Sea and at
Greifswalder
Oie island of
Peenemünde.
But due to disappointing results the Feuerlilie F-25 was cancelled
in 1944.
However work progressed, on the Feuerlilie F-50 it was decided
to use a modified
8.8
cm Flak carriage as a launch platform, on 25 January 1943,
a contract was given to the Ardelt-Werke in Breslau for the
construction of five test versions. continued testing was
carried out during January 1943 at
Greifswalder
Oie island of
Peenemünde.
The first launch of the Feuerlilie F-50 was on 12 May 1944
further launches were carried from
Greifswalder
Oie island of
Peenemünde
but their flight tests were unsatisfactory due to unstable
flight behaviour, The Feuerlilie continued until early 1945.
The Warplanes of the Third Reich.
ISBN-10: 0385057822
German Aircraft of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0370000242
Hitler's Luftwaffe.
ISBN-10: 051718771X
For a complete list of
sources
