They, the 55mm R4M were excedingly effective. 1 in 24 hit and
destroyed its target and as an Me 262 carried 24 of them they had a
success rate of almost 100% when using this weapon.

Not quite. There was no onboard ranging system so manually computing 800 yards
was a tough thing to do with closure speeds anywhere from 300-500 MPH. I have
interviewed several JG 7 pilots and two JV 44 guys - although they were MIGHTY
happy with the R4M, it was no magic bullet. Remember that very very few Me
262s even had the rails for rockets.

The Me 262 had a EZ 42 computing gyro gun sight,

About 20% of them did, and that includes some of the KG 51 bomber variants.
Most Me 262 pilots never saw an EZ 42; some that did insisted the gyro be
locked as it was too radical a departure from their earlier method of gunnery.

and some I believe
received the FuG 244 ranging radar that could via the "Elfe" computer
inject the firing solution into the gun sight for the cannon and I
believe unguided R4M 55mm
misiles as well though I'm not sure if the FuG 244/Elfe combo was ever
used in combat.

It was not.

Clearly a stream of such missiles if competently aimed would be
effective against large bombers. I suspect post war versions of such
missiles could have been fitted with proximity fuses.

The R4M was intended as a cheap shotgun and was about as simple as a rocket
could be. Fitting it with prox fuses would have greatly improved it.

They Germans also had a larger missile under developement that had a
shaped charge that scattered a forward focused fragmentation charge
that was activated by a timer fuse set be Elfe.

The X-4 can be properly seen as the grandfather of modern Air to Air missiles.
As usual, the LW waited too long...

The timer activated 21cm Wgr 21 rockets that was launched in pairs
from FW190s and Me109s were very effective untill escorts began
harrasing the heavily laden aircraft.

That was almost immediately after they were placed into service. LW pilots
*detested* the Wgr 21s as overweight, parabolic albatrosses hanging from their
necks. One Gruppenkommandeur was ordered to evaluate these rockets in combat -
he refused to order anyone else in his unit to use them after it was clear that
the added weight would make the shooting platform a sitting duck. Major Klaus
Haberlen then flew the mission himself, and nearly died in the failed attempt
to bring down a bomber with them. Filing his report with OKdLW, the GruppeKdr
failed to realize that the Wgr 21 was *supposed* to work; Goering found out
that Haberlen "dissed" the weapon system and had him sacked on the spot, then
ordered his replacement to carry on with the near-suicidal missions. Popular,
the Wgr 21 was not.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

An LZ is a place you want to land, not stay.