Acoustic homing SAM

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/...d-wreck-plane/
The Germans did make a acoustic homing torpedo in WW II, and developed a
acoustic proximity fuze for their SAMs... but, AFAIK there never has
been a SAM that homes on its targets acoustically, like this 1931 design.
In WW I a rocket-powered SAM was proposed that would fly up the inside
of a searchlight beam till it struck what it was illuminating. This
sounds like a workable idea, and became one of the inspirations for
beam-riding guidance for SAMs.
This sound-homing automated system would present real problems as far as
IFF went. Instead of going after attacking enemy aircraft, it might just
as easily go after the interceptors sent up to destroy them.
And you had better shut the sound detectors off during a thunderstorm. :-)
Still, this is a step way above the normal crackpot weapon ideas of the
inter-war period. It's something that might be workable with enough
money thrown at it.
London could have used these during the V-1 "Buzz-bomb" attacks, with
the launch and homing system tuned to the frequency of the V-1's Argus
pulsejet engine.
The aerodynamics of the model he's holding are quite similar to the
Cobra and SS.10 antitank missiles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_(anti-tank_missile)
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/ss10.htm
So it looks workable on that level also.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/...d-wreck-plane/

"A model of such a bomb was recently exhibited to a Popular Science
Monthly correspondent by Dr. Gustav Rasmus, San Diego patent
attorney..."

A patent attorney eh? Intellectual Property boondoggles are probably
nothing new I wonder what other patents he'd seen to that point
that helped him get the idea?-)

rick jones
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Rick Jones wrote:
se-and-wreck-plane/


"A model of such a bomb was recently exhibited to a Popular Science
Monthly correspondent by Dr. Gustav Rasmus, San Diego patent
attorney..."

A patent attorney eh? Intellectual Property boondoggles are probably
nothing new I wonder what other patents he'd seen to that point
that helped him get the idea?-)


I hadn't thought about that aspect of the story, but a patent attorney
would be in exactly the right place to come up with a new and brilliant
"invention".
Say...wasn't Einstein with the Swiss patent office? =-O
Ever seen this BTW?:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einst...at1781541/www/

Pat