RAE Larynx

Last updated February 14, 2025

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]

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 ^{[ citation needed ]} and already used in the Ruston Proctor AT, a radio controlled biplane that was intended to be used against German Zeppelin bombers.^{[ citation needed ]}

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

Powerplant: 1 × Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IV radial engine, 200 hp (150 kW)
Propellers: 2-bladed

Performance

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

References

1 2 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.
1 2 Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects: Hypersonics, Ramjets and Missiles. Hinckley: Midland. ISBN 978-1-85780-258-0. OCLC 310094852.
1 2 Everett, H.R. (2015). Unmanned Systems of World Wars I and II. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-26202-922-3.

External links

(1.0) The Aerial Torpedo ^[usurped]
Remote Piloted Aerial Vehicles : The 'Aerial Target' and 'Aerial Torpedo' in Britain
Interwar British Experiments with Pilotless Aircraft pay to access
"Automatic Flight" a 1958 Flight article
The Mother of All Drones - Article Vintage Wings of Canada Archived 26 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine

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[werrell1985-1] 1 2 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.

[gibson2007-2] 1 2 Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects: Hypersonics, Ramjets and Missiles. Hinckley: Midland. ISBN 978-1-85780-258-0. OCLC 310094852.

[Everett-3] 1 2 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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