Rheintochter was a German surface-to-air missile developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig during World War II. Its name comes from the mythical Rheintöchter (Rhinemaidens) of Richard Wagner's opera series Der Ring des Nibelungen.
The missile is a multi-stage solid fuelled rocket. It had four small control surfaces, resembling paddles, in the nose, six fins at the after end of the top stage, and four at the end of the main stage. It stood 6.3 m (20 ft 8 in) tall, with a diameter of 54 cm (1 ft 9 in). The sustainer motor, located ahead of the 136 kg (300 lb) warhead (rather than behind, as is more usual) exhausted through six venturis between the first stage fins. [sub](Wikipedia)[/sub]
Though the development was cancelled before it was brought into production it has become a popular subject with speculation as to whether the missile launcher system would have been mounted on the mobile platform. Several manufactures have released kits depicting their proposed mobile platforms. It should be noted that German surface-to-air missile programs are the grandfather to the modern Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) currently employed by several nations today.
Rheintochter R1 on test launcher
Rheintochter R1 inflight with booster attached
Trumpter's Rheintochter R1 mounted on a late model Panther
It took about an hour to test fit the major hull elements to see how the well they went together...which was quit nicely.
That's it for now. Thanks for stopping in for a look see.
:v