BOMBS WITH WINGS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1942, Page 4

BOMBS WITH WINGS

FLY UNDER OWN POWER. SELF-PROPELLING PROJECTILE. A device by which aerial torpedoes, bombs and shells can steer themselves to their target under their own power has been patented in Britain. This selfpropelling projectile is really a tiny pilotless aircraft, complete with engine, airscrew, gyrostatic, controls and so on. It also has a releasing device so that it may shed its wings at an appropriate point and so drop directly on the target. Launched by a catapult, this arrangement not only obviates transport of heavy artillery and repairs to rifling, but gives a much greater range than that of artillery. When the impulse of the catapult launching is spent, the projectile flies on under. its own power, maintaining direction, height and balance by the gyrostatic pilot, operated either by the exhaust of the engine or by compressed air. Normally designed for about double the range of long range artillery and. for use in very large numbers, 401 b. units can be made at a cost of under £25 each, which, when all the maintenance and transport costs are compared, is cheaper than firing an artillery shell. But there is no reason why much heavier projectiles of higher precision and power, capable of hitting a city 100 to 500 miles away, could not be evolved from this beginning.