The Grandfather of the Stinger — The FliegerfaustIn the last months of World War II Germany wa
The Grandfather of the Stinger — The FliegerfaustIn the last months of World War II Germany was in trouble. The deadly Luftwaffe (Air Force) had been destroyed and only a token force remained consisting of a few scores of planes and inexperienced pilots. Russian and Allied aircraft bombed and straffed German forces at will, often with no opposition.The Fliegerfaust was proposed as a man portable anti-aircraft weapon. It was basically a should fired rocket launcher with nine barrels, which fired nine rockets simultaneously. Acting much like a big shotgun, it was mean’t for low flying aircraft and the rockets would hopfully form a large enough pattern to score a hit. They performed poorly, never being able to successfully down an Allied airplane. Their range was too short, the rockets were too inacurate, and man its pretty hard to hit an airplane speeding at hundreds of miles per hour.Ten thousand Fligerfausts were ordered but the Third Reich collapsed before they could go into full production. Few were produced. -- source link
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