Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This is the Bat missile, built by the National Bureau of Standards and one of the most sophisticated U.S. missiles of World War II. It was a glide bomb carried by a Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber or other aircraft and was designed to destroy ships and off-shore enemy targets. It employed a radar-homing system that guided the missile to its target. The Bat was released from its carrier aircraft within a 15- to 20-mile range of its target and carried a 1,000-pound bomb.

Steering was by a controllable tail elevator driven by autopilot servo motors. The Bat missile saw combat in 1945 off Borneo and destroyed several Japanese ships, but it ceased its operational life at the war's end. The U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics donated this artifact to the Smithsonian in 1950.

 Display Status

This object is on display in Rockets & Missiles at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

Rockets & Missiles
Object Details
Date 1944-1945 Country of Origin United States of America Type ARMAMENT-Bombs Manufacturer National Bureau of Standards
 Physical Description High wing monoplane with rounded, stub nose; horizontal stabilizer and twin vertical, rounded fins. Overall, gray; nose painted lighter gray; this specimen without internal electronics; has internal control box, but this box empty. Dimensions Overall: 11 7/8 in long., 600 lb., 10in. (30.23cm, 272.2kg, 25.4cm)
Other (nosecone): 2 ft 5i n. x 1ft 9 1/2 in. (73.66 x 54.61cm)
Overall (tail): 6 ft 4 in. (193.04cm)
 Materials Mainly, wood; screws, steel; nosecone, aluminum base, plexiglass cap; aluminum bulkhead; basic interior frame, center of missile interior, steel; control box, steel.
 Alternate Name Bat Missile Inventory Number A19500104000 Credit Line Transferred from U.S. Navy Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.