Simviation Forums

History:

When Germany began launching the Fieseler Fi-103 V-1 at England from sites in France in 1944, the U.S.Army had been interested in starting a missile program. An unexploded Fi-103 was shipped to America for study. In September 1944 the Republic company was awarded the contract to build duplicates of the Fi-103, with the Ford Motor Co making the engine which was a copy of the Argus 014 Pulsejet, now known as the PJ-31-1. In exactly two months the first operational JB-2's (Jet Bomb Model 2) came off the assembly line. After intensive testing the USAAF ordered 75,000 "Loons", how ever by the time the Second World War had ended there was no need for such a weapon in the numbers ordered (as there would be no invasion of Japan), so the contract was terminated after only 1200 JB-2's were built. The JB-2 was the first U.S. guided missile and it was intended to be launched from the ground, aircraft and ships , tests continued up to 1947 with the US Navy launching the JB-2 from submarines.

Interesting article Doug. Thanks for sharing.
Where I live there's a "Doodlebug" on a pedestal on a corner of the county courthouse square.

Now if you want a really interesting example of nations taking inspiration from their enemies weapons then try to dig up some information about German bouncing bombs.

If this is the same documentary I've seen it includes footage of them being tested. http://bbc.net.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/makhist8_prog12b.shtml

"Making History
Kurt - the German bouncing bomb
Brief summary

After Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb breached the Mohne and Eder Dams on the night of 16 May 1943, the Germans decided to make a bouncing bomb of their own. Their bomb, given the name Kurt, was built at the Luftwaffe Experimental Centre at Travemunde. It was intended that it would skip along the surface of the water and explode when it hit a ship. Early experiments showed it to be dangerous for the crew of the plane delivering it because it would explode when the plane was more or less over the ship. To increase the range at which it was dropped, a rocket tail unit was fitted. This too had its problems because it affected the consistency of the direction. In the end, it was abandoned and never became operational."

how about the Russian Tupelov TU-4 ? ? ?

look familiar?

Interesting article Doug. Thanks for sharing.
Where I live there's a "Doodlebug" on a pedestal on a corner of the county courthouse square.