There is a great book about the development of the Sidewinder[0]. Even if you're not that interested in military technology it's interesting from an engineering management perspective.<p>[0]: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sidewinder-Creative-Missile-Development-China/dp/1591149819" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Sidewinder-Creative-Missile-Developme...</a>
I had to lookup the 'rolleron' because I couldn't picture how it worked from the description. Here is a video demonstrating the mechanism from a guy who got his hands on Sidewinder tailfin.<p><a href="https://youtu.be/cfzj3rRIVU4?t=5" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/cfzj3rRIVU4?t=5</a>
> Future astronaut Wally Schirra, then a hotshot Korea veteran with a MiG-15 kill to his credit, remembered his first visit to the lab. The China Lake eggheads had a “dome-shaped device, made of glass….a man-made eyeball,” he recalled. “I was a cigarette smoker in those days, and I had one in my hand. As I crossed the room, I noticed that the eyeball was tracking me.”
<p><pre><code> “It is easy to build something complicated;
it’s hard to build it so that it’s simple.”
Father of the Sidewinder:
Dr. William B. McLean
</code></pre>
Good thought for modern software.
>The crowning touch, however, was wiring the seeker to aim not where the target was, but where it would be.<p>The missile knows where it is, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LjN3UclYzU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LjN3UclYzU</a> , a great song about missile guidance systems and knowing where you are by how much you aren't (there).
Make your own sidewinder floor lamp: <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23256/diy-missile-lamp/" rel="nofollow">https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23256/diy...</a>