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| Keywords: Ruhrstahl X4.JPG en The German X-4 was a small World War II air-to-air missile that could be fired at heavily armed Allied bombers from a distance To prevent jamming guidance was transmitted by wires running between the missile and launch aircraft Slated for use on the Me 262 jet fighter the X-4 could also have been fired from such piston-engine aircraft as the Ju 88 Ju 388 and Fw 190 all of which launched test missiles beginning in August 1944 A BMW 109-548 liquid-fuel rocket engine powered the missile Ruhrstahl produced 1 000 X-4 airframes in late 1944 but an Allied air raid destroyed the engines and production lines a blow from which the program never recovered Nothing is known about the origins of the Smithsonian's artifact except that it came to the NASM in 1971 as part of a U S Navy gift of early German and American experimental missiles and glide bombs http //www nasm si edu/collections/artifact cfm id A19710765000 Author date http //www si edu/termsofuse Ruhrstahl X 4 Collections of the National Air and Space Museum | ||||
