In early 1943, Germany began work on the
X-4, a wire-guided air-to-air missile designed to help German fighters
knock down Allied bombers that were beyond the range of their guns. The
X-4 was designed to be dropped from a fighter's wing or bomber's bomb bay,
then be guided toward its target via electronic signals sent through wires
that spun out of the blisters located on two of the missile's four wing-tips.
The missile was considered operational in early 1945, but the bombing of
the BMW plant that was producing the rocket engines coupled with money
and labor problems resulting from Germany's military collapse ultimately
resulted in the X-4 never seeing combat. Still, history recognizes the
X-4 as the first wire-guided missile.
Wire-guided missiles remain common, even
in this high-tech age. Examples includes the French SS11 and SS12 anti-tank
missiles, and the European MILAN anti-aircraft rocket. The benefit of wire-guided
missiles is that they're relatively cheap to produce and are invulnerable
to electronic countermeasures.
foto and model by Rick Geithmann
Our X4 kit is in1/12 scale, a common
scale for desktop missiles. A base is include and some "special"
bases featuring a Luftwaffe eagle have been released in a special series.
![[X-4 kit]](kitmount.jpg)