2-inch RP
The 2-inch RP, short for Rocket Projectile, 2-inch, Number 1 Mark 1, was an unguided rocket weapon developed by the Royal Navy in the 1950s. It is generally similar to contemporary rockets like the SNEB and FFAR, although somewhat smaller. It is sometimes known as the RP-2 or RN, but most often referred to simply as the 2-inch.
The 2-inch was mainly used by the Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and was standard equipment on most of its aircraft during the 1950s and into the 1960s. It saw operational use on the de Havilland Sea Vixen during the Withdrawal from Aden in 1969, although it is unknown whether these were fired in combat. The Royal Air Force (RAF) did not initially use the weapon, preferring their own RP-3, but it was offered on a variety of RAF designs when being sold to foreign customers.
The RAF received the 2-inch when they took over a number for former FAA Blackburn Buccaneers in 1969, although by this time most RAF aircraft carried the SNEB instead. With the opening of the Falklands War in 1982, the RAF found the Navy unwilling to allow the SNEB on their ships due to the concern that the powerful radars might set off their electrical primers. The Buccaneer pods were quickly tested on the RAF's Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3s that were being sent southward. The first use in combat took place on 31 May against dug-in troops on Mount Kent and then continued through the rest of the conflict.
Development
Early British rockets
In 1934, British intelligence learned of German rocketry efforts and formed a group to study these systems. Some early experiments in 1935 and 1936 seemed promising and a new department was set up at
During battles in North Africa in early 1941, the
The 3-inch version was put into production as the
R4M and post-war derivatives
In 1944, the German
With the Messerschmitt Me 262 about to enter service, in 1944 the Luftwaffe began development of an air-to-air rocket which emerged as the R4M. As this was intended for high-speed aircraft, the fixed fins and large launching rails of weapons like the RP-3 would not be acceptable. The R4M introduced the concept of folding fins, which allowed the rockets to be stored in a compact space in a rack that was mounted flush to the bottom of the wing, or in tubes carried in streamlined pods on hardpoints. Testing began in October 1944 and its first use in combat was in March 1945.[5]
In the post-war era, the R4M, along with many other late-war German weapon projects, was picked up by most of the countries involved in European combat. The
Development of 2-inch for RN
The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm had a significant lack of capability in the immediate post-war era. Jet aircraft had not yet been deployed to carriers, and their aircraft were day-fighter designs with little night fighting capacity like the Hawker Sea Fury. When operating from forward locations, these aircraft faced the possibility of encountering jet powered aircraft which they could only attack head-on. Fast closing speeds meant a far more powerful weapon would be needed to ensure single-pass destruction.[7]
Although this role was slated to be filled by guided
In contrast, the RAF saw no pressing need for an air-to-air rocket as they believed another air war was at least ten years off,[10] by which time air-to-air missiles would be available. They did not take up the 2-inch and continued to use their large wartime stocks of RP-3 in the air-to-ground role until the Withdrawal from Aden in 1967. The 2-inch had been considered as a replacement for the RP-3 in the 1960s, but the more powerful SNEB was selected instead.[11]
A new series of
Service
After protracted development, the 2-inch entered service on the Sea Vixen and Scimitar in 1961.[citation needed] The last FAA aircraft known to support the 2-inch was the Blackburn Buccaneer, which entered service in 1962. They were carried in active duty by Buccaneer aircraft covering the withdrawal from Aden, and may have been used at that time. The only well-recorded use of them by the Buccaneer was during the attempt to break up the SS Torrey Canyon in March 1967, when 11 rockets[a] were fired at the massive oil spill in hopes of setting it alight.[15][failed verification]
In 1969, the FAA handed off a number of their Buccaneer aircraft to the RAF as they prepared to retire the last of their
In the Falklands War in 1982 RAF Hawker Harrier GR3s were operated from RN carriers after conversion training. The RAF had begun replacing their rocket weapons with the BL755 beginning in 1973[17] but these were still in short supply,[18] and the SNEB was still widely used. The SNEB had not been cleared for carriage on ships, and the Navy was concerned that the ship's powerful radar systems might set off their electrical igniters. The rocket pods from RAF Buccaneers were fitted to the Harriers and after hurried testing, clearance to use them was received on 26 April.[19]
The first recorded use was on 31 May against Argentine troops during the Battle of Mount Kent and they continued to be used throughout the conflict.[19] The Navy did not use the 2-inch during the conflict.[citation needed]
Description
The 2-inch is similar to contemporary folding-fin rockets, although it is somewhat smaller than most. It was 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) long and 50.8 mm (2.00 in) in diameter, with the rocket motor itself taking up 0.911 m (2 ft 11.9 in) of the length. Only a single warhead was used, a
The only major difference compared to other weapons was the much smaller guidance fins. These were held onto the rocket with small pivots at the extreme rear of the rocket body, and stored by rotating them counterclockwise to point forward in a recess on the rocket body. On launch, wind would pull on the tips of the fins and cause them to rotate 90 degrees clockwise into their extended position.[21]
The rocket flew at an average velocity of 2,234 feet per second (1,523 mph) and had a listed effective slant range of 1 mile (1.6 km). The flight time was about 2.4 seconds and during that time they would drop about 1 degree 17 minutes, roughly half that of the RP-3.[21]
Notes
- ^ Some sources say 16.[citation needed]
References
Citations
- ^ Crow 1948, pp. 15, 17, 18.
- ^ Goodrum 2013, p. 23.
- ^ a b Crow 1948, p. 20.
- ^ Forsyth 2017, p. 28.
- ^ Forsyth 2017, p. 30.
- ^ Barbier 2017, p. 55.
- ^ a b Darling 2008, p. 44.
- ^ Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 31.
- ^ Burakowski & Sala 1974, p. 465.
- ^ Gough 1993, p. 22–23, 35.
- ^ Price 2009, p. 157.
- ^ Micro 1961, p. 292.
- ^ Burakowski & Sala 1974, p. 466.
- ^ Burakowski & Sala 1974, p. 129.
- ^ "Bombs rain down on the Torrey Canyon". BBC. 29 March 1967.
- ^ Herriot 2009, p. 102.
- ^ Herriot 2009, p. 105.
- ^ Shields 2021, p. 162.
- ^ a b Herriot 2009, p. 103.
- ^ Flugzeugbewaffnung der Welt 2011.
- ^ a b Herriot 2009, p. 107.
Bibliography
- Barbier, Doug (2017). World's Fastest Single-Engine Jet Aircraft: The Story of Convair's F-106. Specialty Press. ISBN 9781580072373.
- Burakowski, Tadeusz; Sala, Aleksander (1974). Rakiety bojowe: 1900–1970. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej (Ministry of National Defence).
- Crow, Alwyn (1 June 1948). "The Rocket as a Weapon of War in the British Forces". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 158 (1): 15–21. LCCN 08018925.
- Darling, Kev (2008). English Electric/BAC Lightning Mks 1–6. Big Bird Aviation Publications. ISBN 9781435715561.
- Forsyth, Robert (2017). Luftwaffe Emergency Fighters. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781472819963.
- Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects; Hypersonics, Ramjets and Missiles. Midland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85780-258-0.
- "Glass Fibre Rocket Launcher". Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology. 33 (10): 292–293. October 1961. doi:10.1108/eb033465.
- Goodrum, Alastair (2013). They Spread Their Wings: Six Courageous Airmen in Combat in the Second World War. The History press. ISBN 9780752492179.
- Gough, Jack (1993). Watching the Skies: A History of Ground Radar for the Air Defence of the United Kingdom by the Royal Air Force from 1946 to 1975. HMSO. ISBN 978-0-11-772723-6.
- Herriot, David (2009). "A History Of Air-To-Surface Rocket Systems" (PDF). Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal. pp. 90–108. ISSN 1361-4231.
- Price, John (2009). "Afternoon Q&A" (PDF). Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal. pp. 153–161.
- "Model 2.2 in No. I". Flugzeugbewaffnung der Welt (in German). 3 May 2011.
- Shields, John (2021). Air Power in the Falklands Conflict. Air World. ISBN 9781399007559.