Peenemünde Arrow Shells
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The Peenemünde Arrow Shells were conceived and developed at the
Aerodynamic Research Laboratories at Peenemünde from 1942 to 1945. The
arrow shells were dart-like projectiles designed to be fired from
special smooth-bore versions of standard German Army artillery pieces.
The project was initially envisioned and designed as ultra-long-range
shells using a 310mm smooth-bored version of the famed 280mm K5
railway gun (Anzio Annie). The arrow shell was 1.91m long and 120mm in
caliber, with four fins at the tail 310mm across and a 310mm sabot or
discarding ring around the middle of the shell (center of gravity).
The ring was naturally discarded and would fell away outside the gun
muzzle when fired, while the accelerating shell would reach a velocity
of 1524m/sec and obtain a maximum range of 150km. Two guns were
produced, and one of them fired in anger at the US 3rd Army located
125km away from the gun. There was an anti-aircraft version of the Peenemünde Arrow Shells. The projectile was designed for the 105mm FLAK 39 AA gun, with the goal to reach extremely high velocity so as to shorten flying time and eliminate the need to calculate aiming errors. The AA gunners would be able to aim, fire, and hit without having to worry about the speed of the aircraft and its altitude. During tests and experiments the shells obtained a muzzle velocity of 1067m/sec, which was considered excellent. Nevertheless, development had to be canceled since mass-production for combat use was impossible with the available production and industrial capacity of Germany. |
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Technical data and/or diagram of the Peenemünde Arrow Shells. |
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The Peenemünde Arrow Shells |