RAE Larynx

The Royal Aircraft Establishment Larynx (from "Long Range Gun with Lynx engine") was an early British pilotless aircraft, to be used as a guided anti-ship weapon. Started in September 1925, it was an early cruise missile guided by an autopilot.[1]

"RAE Larynx on cordite fired catapult of destroyer HMS Stronghold, July 1927. The man on the box is Dr. George Gardner, later Director of RAE."[1]

Design

A small monoplane powered by a 200 hp (150 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IV engine, it had a top speed of 200 mph (320 km/h), faster than contemporary fighters.[2]

It used autopilot principles developed by Professor Archibald Low and already used in the Ruston Proctor AT, a radio controlled biplane that was intended to be used against German Zeppelin bombers.

Project history
  • First test: 20 July, 1927. Launched from cordite-powered catapult fitted to the S class destroyer HMS Stronghold. Crashed into Bristol Channel.[3]
  • Second test: 1 September, 1927. Thought to have flown 100 miles (160 km) and was then lost.
  • Third test: 15 October, 1927. 112 mile (180 km) flight, hit five miles from target.
  • Two more launches in September and October 1928 from HMS Thanet, another S class destroyer.[3]
  • Two launches May 1929. Launched from land, one overflew target and other was successful.

Specifications

Data from [2]

General characteristics

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 200 mph (320 km/h, 170 kn)

See also

References
  1. Werrell, Kenneth P. (September 1985). The Evolution of the Cruise Missile (PDF). Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama: Air University Press. p. 17. AD-A162 646. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 April 2019.
    The RAF began work on a true "flying bomb" in September 1925. Compared with the RAE 1921 Target missile, the Larynx (Long Range Gun with Lynx Engine) was smaller, heavier, and faster. In fact, a 200 hp (150 kW) Lynx IV engine gave the device a top speed of about 200 mph (322 km/h), making it faster than contemporary fighters.
  2. Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects: Hypersonics, Ramjets and Missiles. Hinckley: Midland. ISBN 978-1-85780-258-0. OCLC 310094852.
  3. Everett, H.R. (2015). Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-26202-922-3.
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