No, not an Italian dinner treat - but mentioned in British propaganda during the Battle of Britain, by the compiler of "Real-Time World War II" on Twitter. I've never heard of these before, though one commenter on the link says that they were really rockets with wires attached.
Very interesting. I've never heard of this either. It seems far fetched -- the image that I get is a giant net is fired and somehow supposed to "cover" a radar dish? If they existed, I think its more likely that they were some sort of countermeasure (like "window") rather than an offensive weapon.
The vermicelli shell was better, covered more area with the same weight. TiredOldOoldier can probably give us details !!, hopefully over a good Italian lunch. Seriously the Brits were famous for odd and inventive weapons and it may have reached the experimentional stage. A cousin to trailing cables from blimps/baloons. It does sound far fetched but intriguing. . Makes me want to be sitting near the Campo del Fiori eating some pasta with good Italian friends!! Gaines
I'm sure Mussolini would have been most offended by the idea of terrible British cooking, ruining such a fine Italian weapon!
The impression I get is that they were supposed to act a bit like the tethers of barrage balloons, only ground-launched. The idea being that a rocket or a cannon shell would be fired in the general direction of an oncoming German aircraft, and unreel a long trail of wire as it flew up. Then, hopefully, the wire would tangle the propellers of the enemy plane, causing it to crash. At least, that's what I imagine this was about. Whether it was a real experiment, or just propaganda, I don't know. Either way, it seems to have amounted to nothing, because I can't find any other references to this "wonder weapon" on the net.
A faint bell rings, leading me to this, after a bit of site-searching: Battle of Britain (New Facts?) - World War 2 Talk There's a very basic illustration on the WW2T thread - I'd have to ask Gage where it came from, if he can remember. Aha - Feldwebel Petersen's crash site & grave: Peterson ~A
Thank you, von Poop! It seems that every time I think I've heard everything about weapons in World War II, a new one pops up!
I thought I might have read something about AA rockets trailing wires but only as a German low lovel airfield defence system, Looking online though I found a reference to 'K Head' for rockets which are descibed as aerial mines and mention wires fitted to them. Second from last paragraph. 'Design and Development of Weapons' by Postan, Hay and Scott 'Z' Batteries - British AA Rocket system - Page 2 - World War 2 Talk View attachment 17364
