History
The first idea for a guided surface to air missile was in 1925, when a beam riding system was proposed whereby a rocket would follow a searchlight beam onto a target. A selenium cell would be mounted on the tip of each of the rocket's four tail fins, with the cells facing backwards. When one selenium cell was no longer in the light beam, it would be steered in the opposite direction back into the beam. The first historical mention of an actual concept and design of a surface to air missile in which an actual drawing was presented, was by inventor Dr. Gustav Rasmus in 1931: the missile would home in on to an aircraft by sound.
Read more about this topic: Surface-to-air Missile
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“The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.”
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