The BV 246, nicknamed Hagelkorn, was a German Guided Glide Bomb developed by the Blohm & Voss company as an anti-bridge, anti-shipping bomb at first.
Air-to-surface bomb
The guided bomb was an air-to-surface missile released from a Junkers Ju 88 or Heinkel He 111 bomber at a height of 7000 m.
The bombers should have carried three missiles at a time, but a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 could carry just one Hagelkorn at a time because of it’s size and air resistance. They were released at a speed of 550 km/h and in flight the Hagelkorn reached speeds up to 900 km/h. Due to its good gliding capabilities it could reach a distance of 210 km after its drop.
Design
The Hagelkorn was created by engineer Richard Vogt in 1943 under designation BV 226, but later changed to BV 246. Due to its poor accuracy the development of Hagelkorn was initially rejected in 1943, but later that year the project was revived and tested at the Karlshagen test facility of the Peenemünde Army Research Center where its accuracy and performance were improved.
The Hagelkorn had a length of 3,53 m and a wingspan of 6,4 m. Its total weight was 730 kg with a 435 kg explosive warhead. The wings were made of magnesite cement, formed around a steel spar and were easy to construct without the use of strategic materials used in aviation construction for Luftwaffe aircraft.
This Hagelkorn missile was photographed at the RAF museum Cosford England in 2017.
Anti-radiation missile
As results were not promising enough, in 1944 the development of the BV 246 Hagelkorn was halted in favour the success of the V1 cruise missile. But in early 1945 though, the weapon was again revived, and designated as an anti-radiation missile. It was outfitted with the Radieschen (radish), a passive seeker which homes in on the Allied Radar transmitters. This would guide the Hagelkorn towards its target and destroy the radar transmitter.
Almost a 1000 units were ordered but they were never operational.
