WERNHER VON BRAUN AND THE V-2

V-2 at test area at german base

Germany had great success during World War II in developing a ballistic missile capability. The brainchild of Wernher von Braun's rocket team operation at a secret laboratory at Peenemunde on the Baltic coast, the V-2 rocket (the A4 in German designation) was a liquid-propellant missile extending some 46 feet in lenght and weighing 27.000 pounds. Throughout the 1930s von Braun worked to develop rockets for German Army, and by 1941 design had been developed for ballistic missile that eventually became V-2. At its height, the Peenemunde research and development facility where von Braun was technical director for the missile program had more than 5.000 engineers and technicians working there on the V-2 and other advanced weapon program. The V-2 flew at speeds in excess of 3.500 miles per hour and delivered a 2.200 pound warhead. First flown in October 1942, it was used against targets in Europe beginning in September 1944. On September 6, 1944, fon instance, more than 6.000 German troops were deployed to Holland and northern Germany to bomb Belgium, France and London with the newly developed V-2s.

Beginning on September 8, 1944, these forces began launching V-2s against Allied citied, especially Antwerp, Belgium and London. By the end of the war 1.155 had been fired against England and another 1.675 had been launched against Antwerp and other continental targets.

V-2 General Characteristics
Engine : 8.380 lb (3.810 kg) of 75% ethanol and 25% water + 10.800 lb (4.910 kg) liquid oxygen
Launch Mass : 27.576 lb (12.535 kg)
Length : 46 ft (14 m)
Diameter : 5 ft 5in (1.65 m)
Wingspan : 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Speed Maximum : 1.6 km/s (about 3.580 mph); at impact 800 m/s (about 1.780 mph)
Range : 200 miles (322 km)
Flying altitude : 55 Miles (88.5 km) maximum
Warhead : 2.150 lb (977 kg) amatol
Guidance : Gyroscopes for attitude control; Miller-type pendulous gyroscopic accelerometer for engine cutoff on most production rockets (10% of the Mettelwerk used a guided beam for cutoff)
Launch Platform : Mobile

This German Illustration showing of the V-2 was modified after war, with an English legend for the use of American Engineers

At the time of launch the fuel (alcohol) and oxidizer (liquid oxygen) mixed in the rocket motor and ignited to a temperature of 4532oF - 4892oF (2500oC - 2700oC). Cooled by a coating of non-ignited fuel pumped along a double wall outside the main combustion burner, this was the first regeneratively cooled rocket engine. This fuel was then pumped into the main chamber through 1.224 tiny pinholes. The V-2 used four external tail fin with rudders and four graphite vane at the exit of the rocket nozzle for control. These aided in guidance from two gyroscopes providing stabilization. The first models used an analog computer to adjust the rocket's azimuth, and range depended on engine cutoff controlled either by Doppler radar or by an on-board accelerometer. At that point the rocket reached the top of parabolic flight and accelerated toward the ground target. The guidance system for these missiles was imperfect to say the least and many did not reach their targets, but they struck without warning and there was no defence against them. As a result the V-2 had a terror factor far beyond their capabilities.

Initially production for the V-2s took place at the research and development site at Peenemunde, but following an air raid targeting the research and development facility German officials moved it underground to production facilities at Mittelwerk, and assigned production to the SS. In 1944 and 1945 this facility built about 6.000 V-2 rockets using concentration camp labor. Some 20.000 forced labor workers died there, nearly three times the 7.000 killed by the missiles themselves.

Wernher von Braun when working for US

Clearly the technology employed in this weapon was worthy of American study and as the war was winding down, US Forces brought captured V-2s back for study. Along with them -as part of secret military operation called Project Paperclip- came many of the scientist and engineers who had developed these weapon, most notably Wernher von Braun, who made a point of surrendering to Americans so he and more than 100 colleagues might contunue their work after the war. They were installed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and launch facilities for the V-2 test program were set up at the nearby White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico. The First successfull American test firing of captured V-2s took place at White Sands on April 16, 1946, and between then and 1951, 67 captured were test launched.

One of the most important and innovative efforts of post-World War II rocketry was Project Bumper, which mated a smaller WAC Corporal missile as a second stage on a V-2 to obtain data on both high altitudes and the principles of two-stage rockets. An important successful launch took place on February 24, 1949, when the V-2/WAC Corporal reached an altitude of 244 miles and a velocity of 5.150 miles per hour. A final launch of the combination on July 24, 1950, Bumper 8, was the first successful flight to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

WAC Corporal test at Cape Canaveral, Florida

 Source : Roger D. Launius & Andrew K. Jhonston , 'SMITHSONIAN : ATLAS OF SPACE EXPLORATION'

Main Idea of the article :
Wernher von Braun the founder of V-2 Rocket and everything about V-2 rocket and how it work, its capabilities and development.