[The Dark]

Just about the only thing 1940s Germany was good for was coming up with wacky weapons. One I ran across today for the first time is the Fliegerfaust/Luftfaust, which was supposed to be a man-portable anti-aircraft rocket system. It didn't really work, but it's at least interesting in theory. The Fliegerfaust B was a 9-tube launcher that weighed 6.5 kilograms (loaded), firing spin-stabilized 20mm high-explosive rockets. The firing method, per Ian Hogg, was that five rockets would fire from non-adjacent barrels, followed a tenth of a second later by the other four rockets, giving a dispersal pattern intended to improve the odds of a strike against an enemy aircraft. The warhead was the standard 20mm AA shell. Reloads were carried in a canvas "bucket" carried on the right hip via shoulder strap, and looked a bit like a speedloader for a revolver. It was barely deployed before the end of the war (three were photographed in rubble in Berlin), and accuracy problems were never ironed out, which made it of dubious effectiveness as an AA weapon.