| V-2 Rocket |
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The V-2 rocket or '''Vergeltungswaffe 2''' (" Reprisal Weapon 2") was an early Ballistic Missile used by the German Army during the later stages of World War II against mostly British and Belgian targets. It was the progenitor of the rocket race that developed during the Cold War, and ultimately put men on the moon and probes that have left our solar system. Museum Replica of the first successful V-2 rocket. Like the original, this rocket has the '' Frau Im Mond '' logotype at its base.]] PRE-OPERATIONAL HISTORY As early as 1927 members of the '' Verein Für Raumschiffahrt (VfR) '' ("Spaceflight Society") had started experimenting with liquid-fuelled Rocket s. Rockets using a solid propellant had been used as weapons by all sides in WWI, and as a result, the Treaty of Versailles forbade solid fuel rocket research in Germany. By 1932 the Reichswehr started taking notice of their developments for potential long-range Artillery use, and a team led by General Walter Dornberger was shown a test vehicle designed and flown by Wernher Von Braun . Although the rocket was of limited ability, Dornberger saw von Braun's genius and pushed for him to join the military. Von Braun did so, as eventually did most of the other members of the society. In December 1934 von Braun scored another success with the flight of the A2 (''A'' for ''Aggregat'') rocket, a small model powered by Ethanol and Liquid Oxygen , with work on the design continuing in an attempt to improve reliability. Many different liquid fuels had been developed, but the German military specifically encouraged the use of ethanol as a rocket fuel because Germany had always been hampered by a shortage of crude-oil-based fuels. Throughout WWII a wide variety of military rockets were fuelled by ethanol that was primarily derived from potatoes. By 1936 the team had moved on from the A2 and started work on both the A3 and A4. The latter was a full-sized design with a range of about 175 km (110 miles), a top altitude of 80 km and a payload of about a Tonne . This increase in capability had come through a complete redesign of the engine by Walter Thiel . It was clear that von Braun's designs were turning into real weapons, and Dornberger moved the team from Kummersdorf (near Berlin ) to a small town, Peenemünde , on the island of Usedom on Germany's Baltic coast, in order to provide more room for testing and greater secrecy. The A3 proved to be problematic, and a redesign was started as the A5 . This version was completely reliable, and by 1941 the team had fired about 70 A5 rockets. The first A4 flew in March 1942, flying about 1.6 km and crashing into the water. The second launch reached an altitude of 11 km before exploding. The third rocket, launched on October 3 1942 , followed its trajectory perfectly. It landed 193 km away, and became the first man-made object to enter Space . Production started in 1943 on the Wonder Weapon ''Vergeltungswaffe 2'' (Vengeance Weapon 2), or the V-2 as it became better known, at the insistence of Goebbels ' Propaganda ministry. The Allies were already aware of the weapon. At a test site at Blizna in Poland a fired missile had been recovered by Polish resistance agents from the banks of the Western Bug , and vital technical details had been given to British intelligence. The British launched a massive bombing campaign against Peenemünde which slowed testing and production considerably as well as killing many key workers. TECHNICAL DETAILS The V2 was an unmanned, internally guided, ballistic missile. At launch it would propel itself for a short time on own power, and its navigation system would direct it towards its target during this period. After engine shutdown it would continue on what is basically a free-fall trajectory (hence the term Ballistic ). The V-2 had an operational range of about 300 km (200 statute miles) carrying a 1000 kg (2200 lb) warhead. The V-2 had an accuracy Circular Error Probable (CEP) of 11 miles (17 km). This means at a 200 mile (300 km) range, the V-2 would only have a 50% chance of being within 11 miles (17 km) of the target. With that kind of accuracy, it could be aimed to hit a city, but not a factory. Modern missiles, the Minuteman for example, have a CEP of 100 meters at a range of 10,000 km (330 ft at 6,200 mi). There was some experimentation with bigger fuel tanks for improved range before the war ended. The V-2 was propelled by 3800 kg of alcohol ( Ethanol and Water ) fuel, and the Oxidizer was 4900 kg of Liquid Oxygen . The fuel and oxidizer pumps were steam turbines, and the steam was produced by concentrated Hydrogen Peroxide with potassium permanganate Catalyst . The water-alcohol fuel was kept in a tank of Aluminium to save weight, which put a high pressure on German War Economy , as this metal was rare and valuable. Ignition was by injecting two Hypergolic substances into the combustion chamber, self-igniting upon mixing, basically creating the spark that would light the main thrust. The combustion burner reached a temperature of 2500 to 2700 °C. The alcohol-water fuel was pumped along the double wall of the main combustion burner. This cooled the chamber and heated the fuel. The fuel was then pumped into the main burner chamber through 1224 nozzles, which assured the correct mixture of alcohol and oxygen at all times. Small holes also permitted some alcohol to escape directly into the combustion chamber, forming a Boundary Layer that further protected the wall of the chamber, especially at the neck where the chamber was narrowest. This boundary layer ignited in contact with the atmosphere, accounting for the long, diffuse exhaust plume of the V-2. (Later, post-V2 engine designs not employing the boundary layer show a translucent plume with Shock Diamond s.) The V-2 was guided by an gyroscopic Inertial Navigation System controlling four external rudders on the tail fins, and four internal rudders, made of Graphite , at the exit of the motor. Some later V-2s used "guide beams" (i.e. radio signals transmitted from the ground), to navigate the missile toward its target, but the first models used a simple Analog Computer that would adjust the Azimuth for the rocket, and the flying distance was controlled by the moment of engine cut-off,''"Brennschluss"'', ground controlled by a Doppler system or by different types of on-board integrating accelerometers. The rocket would stop accelerating and soon reach the top of the (approximately Parabolic ) flight curve. The painting of the operational V-2s was mostly a Camouflage ragged pattern with several variations, but in the end of the war a plain olive green rocket also appeared. During tests, the rocket was painted in a characteristic black/white Chessboard pattern which aided in determining if the rocket was spinning around its longitudinal axis. In all over 6000 V-2's were built, of which approximately 3500 were launched against allied targets. At the end of the war literally hundreds fell into the hands of the allies as war booty. LAUNCH SITES Dornberger had always wanted a mobile launch platform for the missiles, but Hitler pressed for the construction of massive underground Blockhouse s from which to launch them. According to his plans, V-2s should have arrived from a number of factories in a continuous stream on several Redundant Rail lines, and launching should have been almost continual. Construction of the first such site started at Éperlecques , near St Omer in the Pas-de-Calais area in 1943. The British spotted it almost immediately and started a massive bombing campaign that eventually forced the Germans to abandon it, although the large 6-ton " Tallboy " bombs had little impact. Another site was then started nearby in a huge Quarry and called La Coupole , but it wasn't long before that too was destroyed by bombing. Eventually they gave up on the area and moved to the south near Cherbourg , but once again the site was discovered and bombed — this time while the concrete was still wet. The plan was changed to build large truck-towed trailers for the missiles. An entire convoy for the missile, men, equipment and fuel required about thirty trucks. The missile was delivered to a Staging Area on a ''Vidalwagen'' and the local crews installed the Warhead . Launch teams then transferred the missile to a ''Meilerwagen'' (right) and towed it to the launch site. There it was erected onto the launch table, fuelled, armed, gyros were set and the rocket was fired. From arrival at a site to firing took about 90 minutes. The crew could leave the firing site within 30 minutes. This was very successful, and an average of 10 V-2s were launched per day, by far the most large rockets of a single type ever. After the war, estimates showed that up to 100 V-2s could be launched per day with these trailers, given sufficient supply of the rockets. {Link without Title} The missile could be launched practically anywhere, roads running though forests being a particular favorite. The system was so mobile and small that not one Meilerwagen was ever caught in action by Allied aircraft. Peenemünde test launches 1942–44 For the period after July 1943 only incomplete launch logs of experimental A4-launches at Peenemünde are available. Experimental launches continued in spite of air raids on August 17 , 1943 and in July/August 1944 until February 21 , 1945 . A A4/V-2 test rocket carrying prototype guidance systems for the Wasserfall Missile project, which was in effect a converted V-2 rocket to an anti-aircraft role, launched from Peenemünde on June 13 , 1944 , crashed in Sweden. A V-2 test rocket fired on 30 May 1944 crashed near the test facility at Sarnaki Nad Bugiem and was recovered and secured by Polish resistance ( Home Army ). On the night of 25 July / 26 July 1944 it was successfully transported to the UK from occupied Poland by a RAF plane (see Operation Most III ). Photo gallery: The V-2 and Polish Intelligence see also Home Army And V1 And V2 |
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