Luftfaust

Another awesome (if somewhat impractical) 'secret weapon',but this time I've found a figure! Load with silver tipped rockets in a grund support role and mow those werewolf packs down :-)

Wikipedia: The Fliegerfaust (lit. “pilot fist” or “plane fist”), also known as the "Luftfaust" (lit. “air fist”), was an unguided German multi-barreled ground-to-air rocket launcher designed to destroy enemy ground attack planes and is credited as the first MANPAD (man-portable air-defense) system.

Designed by HASAG (Hugo Schneider AG) of Leipzig in 1944, the Luftfaust was produced in two different versions.

The first version, the Fliegerfaust A, had four 20 mm caliber barrels. These fired 20 mm projectiles weighting 90 g and containing 19 g of explosive, propelled by means of a small rocket.

The second version, the Fliegerfaust B ("Luftfaust") increased the length of the barrels, and added another 5 barrels, for a total of 9 barrels. The weapon had a total length of 150 cm and weighed 6.5 kg. First 4 rounds from every second barrel were fired immediately and the remaining five 0.1 second later to avoid damaging the projectiles themselves by the rockets' exhaust fumes and from interfering with their courses.

The projectile was a standard 20mm high explosive/incendiary round attached to a steel tube containing a solid fuel propellant. Electrically ignited, the rocket motor vented through 4 angled ports in the base of the tube, giving the projectile spin for stability as well as forward thrust. The standard round achieved a velocity of 380 metres per second, spinning at 26,000 revolutions a minute, with an effective range of about 500 metres, and maximum range of about 2,000 metres.

The projector was a fairly simple device, consisting of nine light, metal tubes fitted in a circular array on a shoulder stock, with a pistol grip and a trigger incorporating a magneto firing generator, similar to a Panzerschreck. The rounds were provided in clips of nine, matching the barrel layout, and could be loaded as one.



The Fliegerfaust was not a successful weapon because of its small effective range caused by too large dispersion of projectiles and the designed range of 500 meters was never attained. Although large orders for the weapon were placed in 1945, and with 10,000 launchers and 4 million rockets ordered, only 80 of these weapons were ever used in combat trials, in this case by a unit based at Saarbrücken.