In
Service: 1943 to 1945
First Flight: 8 March 1944
Manufacturer: EMW
Number built: Type: Surface-to-Air Missile
Guidance system:
radio controlled
Length: 7.85 m
Wingspan: m
Diameter:
2.51 m
Weight: 3,700 kg
Engine: 1 × Mittelwerk rocket
engine producing up to kg of thrust
Maximum speed: km/h
Range:
25 km
Warhead: 235 kg
Fuze: Proximity
Launch Platform:
Mobile, Fixed
Operators: Luftwaffe
Variants: Other:
Missiles Articles: The EMW Wasserfall (Waterfall) was a surface-to-air missile. Designed
and developed by
Elektro
Mechanische Werke in 1943 under the leadership of Dipl.-Ing. Klaus
Heinrich Scheufelen.
The Wasserfall (Waterfall). This weapon was
intended to be deployed against Allied bomber formations. Dipl.-Ing. Klaus
Heinrich Scheufelen also developed the
EMW
Taifun (Typhoon) surface-to-air missile system.
The Wasserfall (Waterfall)
was of a cylindrical shape with cruciform wings and control surfaces, and was
essentially the same shape as the
A-4
(
V-2 rocket) the rocket motor
used was 1 × Mittelwerk rocket engine producing up to kg of thrust which
was designed by Dipl.-Ing. Walter
Thiel. But because of the length of time, this weapon could be waiting to
be launched, the liquid oxygen and alcohol used for the
A-4
(
V-2 rocket) was unsuitable.
And so a new combination of fuel mixture was looked into however nothing was ever
finalised, but the fuels probably used were, (1) 10% to 15% aniline added for
rapid ignition, for Visol. (2) 90% nitric acid, 10% sulphuric acid, for Salbei.
There were several systems employed to control Wasserfall (Waterfall) surface
to air missile, radio control, using line of sight and a joystick, using a modified
Kehl-Stra�burg (designed and developed by Telefunken) radio control system, Kogge-Brigg
radio control system, detonation was achieved by either remote control or by a
proximity fuse. The whole project was held up when Dipl.-Ing. Walter
Thiel was killed during heavy bombing at
Peenemünde
in an operation codenamed Hydra. However Walter
Thiel was replaced by Dipl.-Ing. Martin
Schilling.
Testing began in March 1944 using the
A-4
(V-2 rocket) to tests the control
components for the Wasserfall (Waterfall), between the 8 March 1944 and the 17
February 1945, when
Peenemünde
was evacuated approximately 35 Wasserfall (Waterfall) missiles were launched.
Production of the Wasserfall (Waterfall) was supposed to have been in an underground
complex at Bleicherode, however, work on the underground complex was never started.
Manufacturing was due to begin in October 1945, with 50 missiles being produced
per month, gradually increasing to 900 a month by March 1946. There was much indecision
on how this weapon was to be deployed either as a mobile weapon using a modified
A-4 (
V-2
rocket) Meillerwagen or to have fixed installations. The Wasserfall (Waterfall)
was never used operationally.
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 
