V-1 and 2 rockets. Pulsating - the first jet. Other technical solutions
In 1942, the course of the Second World War began to change, and not in favor of Nazi Germany. Heavy defeats dispelled the impression created by the brilliant victories of the Reich in the initial campaigns. Naturally, German propaganda continued to assure the townsfolk that victory would be achieved. But, which is significant, a special role in achieving future victory was assigned not to the genius of the Fuhrer or the courage of the soldiers. The triumph was to provide a "wonder weapon".
The "wunderwaffe" also includes the "weapon of retaliation" - cruise and ballistic missiles, which were supposed to strike at Britain, replacing aircraft.
Cruise missile "V-1"
The first "weapon of retaliation" was the Fi 103 projectile, which had been developed since the summer of 1942. This unmanned, straight-wing monoplane was powered by a simple and inexpensive pulse jet engine mounted above the fuselage. The V-1 autopilot kept the rocket on a given course and altitude using gyroscopes and a magnetic compass.
The range of the "V-1" was set by a mechanical counter, which was twisted to zero by an aerodynamic spinner on the nose of the projectile. When the counter went to zero, the "drone" went into a peak.
The V-1 warhead contained up to a ton of ammotol.
A rocket was launched from a steam catapult about 50 meters long. Such a launcher was not very mobile and was easily detected by air reconnaissance.
Ballistic missile "V-2"
The family, created since the late 30s under the leadership of Wernher von Braun, bore the index "A" - "Aggregat". The most famous of them - A-4, despite the digital designation, was the fifth in a series of projects, and first took off in the spring of 1942.
The device housing "V-2" included four compartments. The warhead was equipped with ammotol, the mass of the charge reached 830 kg. In the control compartment was a gyroscopic guidance system. The central, and largest, compartment was occupied by tanks with fuel and oxidizer. An aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol served as fuel, and liquefied oxygen acted as an oxidizing agent. Finally, the tail of the rocket was occupied by a liquid rocket engine.
Initially, the V-2 missiles were supposed to be launched from protected bunkers, but the air superiority gained by the Allied aircraft did not even allow the construction of fortified positions to be completed. As a result, rocket men "worked" from mobile field positions.
To prepare such a launch pad, it was enough to find a flat piece of terrain and install a launch pad on it.
Application
The first major formation of missile troops - the 65th Army Corps - was formed at the end of 1943. It included a regiment that was supposed to launch the V-1, but for the sake of conspiracy it was called the "anti-aircraft artillery." A week after the landing of troops in Normandy, "retaliatory strikes" began against Britain.
As the Wehrmacht retreated from France, positions from which it was possible to strike at London were lost, and "drones" began to be used to bombard strategically important ports in Belgium. The shells turned out to be extremely unreliable - up to a quarter of the launched V-1s fell immediately after the start. Just as great was the percentage of rockets whose engines went out of order in flight.
The V-1s that flew to Britain collided with balloons, were shot down by fighters and destroyed by anti-aircraft fire.
To continue the bombing of London and reduce the risk of meeting with V-1 interceptors, they tried to launch He.111H-22 from the aircraft. Studies have shown that during such attacks, up to 40% of the V-1 was lost, and almost a third of the carrier aircraft was destroyed.
"V-2" came into action only in the autumn of 1944. Although the warhead of the new weapon was no more powerful, and the accuracy of the hits left much to be desired, the psychological impact of the use of the V-2 was incomparable. The ballistic missile was not detected by radar, and its interception by fighters was also impossible.
For some time it was believed that the V-2 was guided by the radar - this led to work on the creation of jammers.
They ceased in December 1944. It was supposed to create an artillery barrier on the intended flight path. But a good means of countering the V-2 turned out to be false reports sent by British intelligence. They reported that German missiles consistently missed London, going into flight.
The missilemen corrected the guidance, and the V-2 began to hit the sparsely populated suburbs. Intelligence, of course, began to report accurate hits and great destruction. V-2 launches on London (designated as a priority target by Hitler personally) and on Antwerp continued until the spring of 1945.
During the battle for Remagen, an attempt was made to use the V-2 as a tactical weapon. The Fuhrer ordered with their help to destroy the railway bridge over the Rhine captured by the Americans. None of the fired missiles hit the bridge, and one deviated from the target by 60 kilometers.
Specifications
Let us give the basic data of both samples of the German "weapon of retaliation".
It is easy to see, without even going into details, that the V-2, delivering even a smaller explosive charge, was far superior in total mass to a primitive projectile. It can be said that if the Reich could still afford the production of large batches of V-1s, then the assembly of V-2s was not easy for the economy.
At the end of the war, the Americans copied the V-1 and adopted it under the name JB-2. The American rocket compares favorably with the V-1 in being guided by radio commands and launched using compact powder boosters.
The use of V-missiles in itself can be considered successful. Even taking into account the number of V-1s that failed or were destroyed by air defense systems, they justified the costs of their production. But the V-2, although they seem to be a more effective weapon due to the impossibility of interception and a high percentage of successful launches, were much more expensive.
And the production of ballistic missiles also drew on valuable resources. For example, in order to provide fuel for one V-2, it was necessary to process about 30 tons of potatoes into alcohol. And this at a time when the shortage of food was becoming palpable.
The low accuracy of the missiles made them suitable only for use as a weapon of terror, for shelling large cities.
There was no need to even talk about any pinpoint strikes on strategically important objects. Massive bombardments would have been more effective - but Germany had nothing to carry them out. And most importantly, the time when Britain could be forced to withdraw from the war, by 1944, was gone forever.
During the period when the Wehrmacht was being expelled from France, strikes on residential areas could rather arouse a desire to quickly finish off the enemy. But after the war, the victorious countries took full advantage of German developments in the field of rocket weapons.
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FAA rocket: a fundamentally new type of weapon designed in Nazi Germany. A push in industrial development and science. This rocket was the first to go into outer space, and space exploration began with it.
In this article, you will learn about the history of this type of weapon, its purpose and effectiveness. We will tell you how this mega-weapon of the Third Reich was arranged, and what hopes the command of Nazi Germany had placed on it.
History of the FAA rocket
The development of liquid fuel ballistic missiles originates in Germany, in 1926. People who were fond of designing rockets and studying other planets founded the "Space Flight Society". Soon a young man named Wernher Von Braun, the future creator of the FAA rockets, joined it.
Solid fuel rockets as a type of weapon were used in the bloody First World War - these are Le Prier rockets that were installed on aircraft and were intended to destroy German observation balloons.
But Germany, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, could not develop missiles of this type. However, the documents of the Versailles Peace do not describe a ban on the design of rockets with an engine that uses not solid, but liquid fuel. It was this loophole that the German command decided to take advantage of.
In 1929, the German government gave the military-industrial complex the task of finding the possibility of using liquid-fuel rockets as weapons, and already in 1932 the first tests of rocket prototypes took place.
By that time, the Space Flight Society, namely Wernher von Braun, had created a working experimental prototype, presented to Colonel Walter Dornberger. Despite the fact that the possibilities of using the prototype were extremely small, he became interested in the colonel, and he suggested that the young designer work under the command of the military.
Von Braun, like the vast majority of his colleagues in society, accepted this proposal, and in December 1934 a prototype of the A-2 rocket, powered by liquid oxygen and ethanol, was presented.
Despite the instability of this type of fuel and the availability of options for better fuel mixtures, the choice was made on ethanol, as a cheap and mass product.
V-2 missile in launch position. In addition to standard ground-based missiles, missiles were developed that could be placed on ships of the Navy and on heavy bombers.
The A-2 was successfully tested, and soon the Von Braun team began to create the A-3 and A-4 rockets, which became the prototypes for the V-1 and V-2.
The final creation of the A-4 - a rocket, which later became the basis for the development of the FAA 2, was completed in 1941.
FAA 2 launches were carried out until December 1942, however, after that they were discontinued for economic reasons.
The principle of operation of the rocket
V-1 is the first cruise missile to enter serial production. Launched from the ground using a special launcher. Having started, the rocket flew on a sustainer engine. If the fuel supply in the engine compartment was completely consumed, the sustainer engine was turned off, and the rocket dived towards the target.
FAA 2 had a slightly different principle of operation. The fact is that FAU 2 was the world's first rocket that flew at an altitude of 188 kilometers, almost went into outer space. After launch, the rocket went to flight altitude, and at these echelons it passed most of the way. After reaching the desired coordinates, the FAA 2 headed to the ground and hit its target.
It was controlled by the FAA system of specialized devices.
Advantages and disadvantages of such missiles
FAU 2 became the superweapon of the Third Reich. The main advantage was that these missiles were ahead of their time, and the opponents of Nazi Germany did not have effective means of destroying such a class of weapons.
In any army, the most expensive resource is military personnel with complex specialties. Pilots are like that. And every sortie to bombard a target in enemy territory is an inevitable risk of losing the pilot and his car.
In the case of the FAA family, this risk was reduced to zero. After all, the ammunition is still disposable, not requiring regular repair, maintenance and crew maintenance. In addition, new weapons were much more difficult to detect and subsequently intercept.
It is impossible to exclude such an important point as the psychological factor. The use of a new superweapon of the Third Reich against the British - the FAA missiles.
Despite the fact that rockets were really ahead of their time, they, like any, even the most modern weapons, were not without flaws.
For example, FAA 1 had one major drawback. The fact is that she did not move on the main engine for the entire flight. This created quite significant problems for the use of this type of weapon.
The main use of the FAA rockets was against the British, and they soon deployed a huge number of radars, observation posts and other missile defense systems to detect them.
After the FAA 1 was discovered, a squadron of fighters was raised to intercept it or air defense systems were activated.
The pilots of the Royal Air Force used a rather interesting trick: they flew up to the rocket and pushed it to the side with their wing or “blowed” it to the side with the air flow of their propeller.
In the second case, the FAA could be shot down by air defense systems, like a conventional aircraft.
FAA 2 had a flaw from which two more followed. This weapon was very expensive, and the effectiveness and accuracy of the FAA 2 control systems used was rather low.
In this photo you can see the compartments of the FAU 1 rocket and make sure of its simplicity of structure. German engineers have managed to create a cheap and effective enough weapon to fight the enemy at a great distance.
Therefore, it was simply not profitable to destroy targets with missiles of this type, their production was comparable in cost to the production of all armored vehicles of the Third Reich in 1940.
The design of the rockets FAU 1 and FAU 2
V 1 was very simple in design and cheap to manufacture. The fuselage was cigar-shaped, made by welding from ordinary steel sheets.
FAA design 1:
1. Compass. 2. Lower detonator. 3. Detonator. 4. Warhead. 5. Wing. 6. Fuel tanks. 7. Cylinders with compressed air. 8. The counter of passed kilometers. 9. Fuel supply regulator. 10. Gyro autopilot
In the middle of the body were wings. Behind the wings, on a special stand, was a pulsating jet engine. The design of the engine is also simple. It consisted of a nozzle and a combustion chamber, the nozzle had a smaller diameter than the chamber. The main advantages of this engine were the simplicity of design and low price.
To launch, an initial speed of around 240 kilometers per hour was required. For this, specialized launch catapults and boosters were used.
The electronic “stuffing” of the FAA 1 is three gyroscopes and an altitude sensor. One - the main and two additional gyroscopes provided excellent stabilization in flight.
The steering gear was controlled using high pressure air. The flight range was measured using the simplest mechanical counter, equipped with blades that rotated with the help of an oncoming air flow. After reaching the required number of kilometers on the counter, the steering device introduced the missile at the peak, and the missile hit the target.
FAA 2 had a more complex design. The shape of the rocket body remained the same spindle-shaped. 4 stabilizers were added at the base of the hull.
FAU 2 was equipped with a liquid fuel engine. Ethyl alcohol was used as a fuel, and liquid oxygen was used as an oxidizing element.
The entire body of the rocket was divided into four compartments: instrument, combat, fuel and tail.
The missile warhead contained ammotol, the fuse was a contact fuse.
In the central part there was a fuel compartment, and below it an engine and two turbopumps were installed. Below the combat compartment was the control compartment, which housed the flight control equipment.
Specifications
Since the characteristics of FAA 1 and FAA 2 were somewhat different from each other, we will present them separately.
Technical characteristics of the rocket FAA 1
- The maximum flight speed is from 550 to 660 kilometers in particular;
- Maximum flight range: 240 kilometers;
- Practical ceiling: 2700 meters;
- Curb weight: 2160 kilograms;
- Warhead weight: 830 kilograms;
- Accuracy of hit (KVO), in kilometers: 0.9;
- Rocket length: 8.325 meters;
- Wingspan: 5.37 meters.
Technical characteristics of the rocket FAA 2
- Starting weight of the rocket: 12800 kilograms;
- Carrying fuel weight: 8760 kilograms;
- Warhead weight: 980 kilograms;
- Length: 14.3 meters;
- Largest diameter: 1.65 meters;
- Span of stabilizers: 3.52 meters;
- Maximum speed: 1560 meters per second;
- The greatest flight range: 260-320 kilometers;
- Maximum flight altitude: 188 kilometers;
- Number of engines: 1;
- Thrust: 25,400 kilograms per second;
- Specific thrust: 100 kilograms per second;
- Full thrust: 27,250 kilograms per second.
The use of the FAA rocket
The first use of the FAA 1 took place in 1943. Over a hundred launch positions were built in France. In the summer of 1944, the Germans launched their first attack on the English capital.
After the first successful strike, the FAA 1 bombardment of the English capital was carried out almost every day. In two weeks of bombing, almost two and a half thousand people became their victims.
During World War II, the Germans produced more than 30,000 FAAs. 10 thousand were launched towards the British coast, but only 3200 shells reached its territory, and only 2500 fell on London.
The FAA 2 missiles were stored in special underground hangars. In 1943, the missile center in Peenemünde was bombed, production was transferred to underground and secret factories.
The low accuracy of missile strikes is due to the fact that the missile control system was imperfect. In addition, after two weeks of bombing, the British managed to create a huge number of defensive systems. These included detection systems, specialized squadrons covering the British skies, and anti-aircraft batteries. Therefore, not all missiles reached their target.
About 25% of the rockets failed during launch. A quarter were destroyed by the RAF, about fifteen percent were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery, and a fifth of them did not reach the target and fell into the sea.
After the Allies landed in Normandy in 1944, the Germans launched several rocket attacks on Belgian and French territory.
Londoners nicknamed the FAA 1 buss bomb (buzzing bomb). This was due to the characteristic sound that the FAU 1 engine produced during operation.
The results of the bombing with such an expensive type of weapon did not suit the German command. Hardly a third of the missiles successfully reached their target. But the funds for the production of these missiles took a fabulous amount, so they decided to curtail the program. The FAA 1, which was in service at that moment, was much more efficient and cheaper.
The command remembered the FAA 2 in December 43. After that, funding for the work was restored in full.
In 1944, on September 8, London was hit by a new FAA 2 rocket, which, unlike its predecessor, did not emit any buzz when approaching the target. And that is why the British did not understand what kind of weapon was used for this bombardment. In addition, all the missile defense systems put into operation were unable to detect an object flying at an altitude of 100 kilometers. And interceptor aircraft could not rise to such a height.
Unfortunately for the Nazi command, the FAU 2 also did not become a highly effective weapon against the enemies of the Reich. The missile had low accuracy, hardly half of the missiles hit a circle with a radius of ten kilometers. Almost two thousand rockets detonated during the launch or some time after it. The cost of the FAA 2 was also quite high.
Some German military leaders, in particular, Albert Speer, the German Defense Minister, in his memoirs expressed disappointment with the fact that Germany was spending fabulous amounts of money on such an ineffective project. He believed that instead of spending money on strikes against the allies, it was necessary to create an effective anti-aircraft missile to protect German cities from British and Soviet air raids.
After the end of World War II, FAA 2 became the base for the creation of ballistic missiles by the Soviet Union and the United States.
Perhaps someone has additional information on the FAA missiles?
If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.
October 3, 1942 at the training ground Peenemünde(rocket center of the Third Reich near the town of Peenemünde on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea in northeastern Germany) a third was produced (but first successful) test launch of the V-2 rocket (« A-4"). It was fourth in order of construction rocket A-4. She flew 192 km. and reached the height 90 km. The engine and control system of the rocket worked relatively well for the first time, although the rocket was unable to hit targets due to guidance system problems.
« V-2 "(from him. V-2 - Vergeltungswaffe-2, weapon of retaliation; another name is German. A-4 - Aggregate-4) - world's first long-range ballistic missile ground-to-ground class, developed by a German designer Wernher von Braun and adopted by the Wehrmacht at the end of World War II.
Wernher von Braun
Externally, the V-2 rocket had a classic for a rocket, spindle shape, with four crosswise air stabilizers (rudders).
The rocket was single stage, had a length 14 m., body diameter - 1.65 m. (diameter on stabilizers - 3.6 m.), starting mass 12.8 tons, which was made up of the mass designs together with propulsion system (3060 kg.), the masses of the components fuel (8760 kg. - near 4 tons of 75% ethyl alcohol and about 5 tons liquid oxygen) and masses combat charge (980 kg.). The rocket used 175 kg. hydrogen peroxide, 14 kg. sodium permanganate, and 17 kg. compressed air. V-2 consisted of over 30000 individual parts, and the length of the wires of its electrical equipment exceeded 35 km.
1
.Head fuse |
The rocket was equipped liquid jet engine who worked for 75% ethyl alcohol and liquid oxygen. Both fuel components were supplied to the engine by two powerful centrifugal Walter turbopumps that were set in motion turbines on C-shaped and T-shaped rails. The main units of a liquid rocket engine were the combustion chamber(CS), turbopump unit(TNA), steam generator, hydrogen peroxide tanks, battery of seven compressed air cylinders. The engine power was 730 HP, the rate of outflow of gases from the nozzle reached 2050 m/s., temperature in the combustion chamber - 2700°C, pressure in the combustion chamber - 15.45 atm. Fuel consumption was 127 kg/s. The engine could run 60-70 seconds, developing traction in 27500 kgf. and giving the rocket speed, in repeatedly exceeding the speed of sound - up to 1700 m/s (6120 km/h). The acceleration of the rocket at the start was 0.9g, and before the fuel cut-off - 5g. The speed of sound picked up in the first 25 seconds flight. flight range reached 320 km., trajectory height - up to 100 km., and at the time of the fuel cutoff, the horizontal distance from the starting point was 20 km., height - 25 km. (further the rocket flew by inertia):
Missile hitting accuracy ( circular deviation) was according to the project 0.5-1 km. (0,002 – 0,003 from range), but in reality it was 10-20 km. (0,03 – 0,06 from distance).
Used as an explosive in the warhead ammotol(mixture ammonium nitrate and TNT in various proportions from 80/20 to 50/50) due to its resistance to vibration and high temperatures– head fairing heated up up to 600 degrees when rubbing against the atmosphere. The warhead contained 730 - 830 kg. ammotol (the mass of the entire head part was 1000 kg.). During the fall, the speed of the rocket was 450 – 1100 m/s. The explosion did not occur immediately upon impact with the surface - the rocket had time go a little deeper into the ground. The explosion left a funnel with a diameter 25-30 m. and depth 15 m.
The average cost of one rocket was 119,600 Reichsmarks.
Technologically, the rocket was divided into 4 compartments: combat, instrument, tank (fuel) and tail. This division was dictated transportation conditions.
Combat compartment conical shape made frommild steel thick 6 mm., total length along the axis (from the base of the fairing)2010 mm., equipped with ammotol. At the top of the fighting compartment washighly sensitive impact pulse fuse. From usemechanical fuseshad to be abandoned due to the high speed of the collision of the rocket with the ground, as a result of which mechanical fuses simplyfailed to workand were destroyed. The undermining of the charge was carried out located in its rear part.squib on electrical signalreceived from the fuse. The signal cable from the warhead was pulled through a channel located in the central part of the combat compartment.
AT instrument compartment housed the equipment control systems and radio equipment.
fuel compartment occupied the central part of the rocket. Fuel(75% aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol) was placed in top (front) tank. Oxidizing agent- liquid oxygen, refueled in lower (rear) tank. Both tanks were made from light alloy. In order to prevent shape change and breakage, both tanks inflated pressure equal to approx. 1.4 atmospheres. The space between the tanks and the skin was densely filled heat insulator (fiberglass).
AT tail section , on the power frame was placed propulsion system. Attached to the tail compartment with flange joints 4 stabilizers. Inside each stabilizer were placed electric motor, shaft, aerodynamic rudder chain drive and steering machine, deflecting gas steering wheel(located in the alignment of the nozzle, immediately behind its cut).
The missile could be based on stationary ground launch pad, and on mobile installation. She started vertically. Before the launch of the V-2 strictly aligned in azimuth using a large guidance circle. On the active part of the trajectory, the autonomous gyroscopic control system, which had a stable platform, two gyroscope and integrated accelerometer. At the start of the direction was controlled graphite blades, which were flown around by the exhaust jet of the engine ( gas rudders). During the flight, the direction of the rocket was regulated aerodynamic rudders blades who had electro-hydraulic drive.
The desire to increase the range of the V-2 rocket led to the project of installing on it swept wings and enlarged aerodynamic rudders. Theoretically, such a rocket in flight could plan for a distance up to 600 km.:
Cruise missile A-4b on the launch pad in Peenemünde, 1944
Two experimental flights of such cruise missiles, called A-4b , were produced in Peenemünde in 1944 . The first launch was completely unsuccessful. The second rocket successfully gained altitude, however, when entering the atmosphere, its wing was torn off.
First test V-2 launch took place in March 1942 , and the first combat start - September 8, 1944 . Number of implemented combat rocket launches amounted to 3225 . A missile was used for the purpose of intimidation, hitting mostly civilians. The shelling was mainly Great Britain, especially the city with a large area London and other European cities.
V-2 victims, Antwerp, 1944
However, the military significance of the V-2 was insignificant. The effectiveness of the combat use of the missile was extremely low: the missiles had low hit accuracy(in a circle with a diameter 10 km. got only 50% launched missiles) and low reliability(about half of the launched missiles exploded on the ground or in the air during launch, or failed in flight; this was largely due to sabotage activities of the anti-fascist underground in a concentration camp whose prisoners made rockets). According to various sources, the launch 2000 missiles aimed at Seven months for the destruction of London, led to the death over 2700 people(i.e., each rocket killed one or two people). To drop the same amount of explosives that was dropped by the Americans using four-engine bombers B-17 (« Flying fortress”) would have to use 66000 V-2, the release of which would take 6 years.
The V-2 rocket was the first object in history to make . AT first half of 1944 , in order to debug the design, a number of vertical missile launches were made with a slightly increased to 67 sec. engine running time. The lifting height reached 188 kilometers which, by modern standards, is considered suborbital flight, since the rocket has overcome 100 km Karmana line, accepted as the "beginning of the cosmos".
Moreover, among certain circles, the hypothesis of first German cosmonauts . It is based on information that, based on the V-2, from 1941 - 1942 a project was being developed 100-ton guided two-stage world's first intercontinental ballistic missile A-9/A-10 « Amerika-Rakete ", or " Project America ”, height 25 m., diameter 4.15 m., with flight range 5000 km. for the bombardment New York and other cities on the East Coast of the United States:
Here are the estimated technical data of this rocket:
Purely technically, however, this rocket was, rather, supersonic cruise, since its second step was winged rocket plane, moving not along a ballistic but along a planning trajectory. For aiming at the target, the head of the missile with a warhead was supposed to be used in beginning and middle of flight - beacon signal, on the final part - pilot, which shortly before the target had to leave a small cabin on a parachute and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean in the hope of being picked up by a German submarine after he did suborbital space flight.
Unguided flight option A-9/A-10 . After separation of the first stage at a height 60 km. unguided cruise missile A-9 reaches speed at the end of the active section of about 10,000 km/h. After passing the top of the trajectory and returning to the dense layers of the atmosphere, the dive was stopped with the help of aerodynamic rudders, and the subsequent movement of the rocket took place in the form a series of successive atmospheric dives. This flight pattern allowed dissipate heat into the environment, released due to the friction of the rocket against the air, and increase the flight range up to 5000 km., of course, at the price target speed reduction .
According to some data found in the literature, the winged second stage A-9 has been tested several times from January 8, 1945 .
As for the first step - A-10, then according to some data, it was not brought up, and according to others - still mid 1944 at the Peenemünde rocket launcher was built launch pad, larger than for A-4, which could be used for A-10 launches.
There is also information about the at the end of 1944 operations " Elster» (« Magpie") in New York to neutralize already infiltrated German agents, whose task was to install radio beacons on city skyscrapers. If so, the Amerika-Rakete project may have been close to the start of combat use. The full deployment of the US missile bombing project was apparently no longer possible, since the German missile range was subjected to allied air raids, and then was occupied by Soviet troops early spring 1945 .
If the A-9 / A-10 missiles were nevertheless tested and there were pilots on board, then in case of exceeding the altitude in these launches 100 km. they could be considered the first cosmonauts.
However, the fact of any significant work on the A9 / A10 program is highly doubtful, since there is no material evidence of any practical implementation of the work on the project. According to the data of the magazine " Technology - youth» investigations, program did not advance beyond sketches and calculations.
After the end of the 2nd World War, the V-2 became prototype of the first intercontinental ballistic missiles in the USA and the USSR and other countries. With the launch of captured and later modified V-2 rockets, they began as some american, and Soviet rocket and space programs. First Chinese ballistic missiles Dongfeng-1 also began with the development of Soviet missiles R-2 created on the basis of the V-2.
April 11, 1945 American troops took over the factory Mittelwerk" in Thuringia where found 54 assembled missiles. In addition, there were more 35 V-2 in varying degrees of readiness.
V-2 on the assembly line of the Mittelwerk plant in Mount Konstein, July 3, 1945
Next to the missile factory, on the southern slope of the mountain Konstein, in 5 km. from the city Nordhausen was Dora concentration camp(Dora-Mittelbau, Nordhausen) - camp division Buchenwald. The main purpose of the camp was to organize the underground production of weapons at the Mittelwerk plant, including V-2 rockets. In the camp, the prisoners worked in specially cut tunnels in the mountain. This was one of the most severe camps in Germany. However, the camp had anti-fascist underground which organized covert sabotage in the manufacture of rockets, due to which about half all launched V-2s did not reach the target.
After the Dora camp was occupied by the Allies, they were found buried 25,000 corpses of prisoners, and further 5000 people was shot before the advance of the American army. Thus, the production of rockets took 10 times more lives than the missile strikes themselves.
About 100 V-2 missiles captured by American troops were sent to America on 16 transport ships, where they became a real discovery for American engineers. In the first post-war years, with the help of Wernher von Braun, the first American ballistic missiles were created on their basis: Redstone, Mercury, Jupiter who played a key role in the implementation first US space successes:
In the United States, research on captured missiles was carried out as part of the ballistic missile development program. Hermes. In 1946-1952 the US Army carried out 63 rocket launches for research purposes and one launch from the deck of an aircraft carrier US Navy. However, due to the fact that the United States has a parallel program to develop an entirely American series of missiles W.A.C Corporal, the development of the V-2 line in the United States was limited.
Strong impression made acquaintance with German military equipment and on Soviet engineers. Here is how I wrote about it B.E. Chertok, sent to Germany after the end of the war, along with other specialists in rocketry, to get acquainted with captured German V-2 rockets:
« A.M. Isaev, then I, N.A. Pilyugin, V.P. Mishin and several other specialists were allowed to inspect the secret German weapons.
Entering the hall, I immediately saw a dirty black bell, from which the lower part of Isaev's torso was sticking out. He climbed headlong through the nozzle into the combustion chamber and examined the details with the help of a flashlight. An upset Bolkhovitinov sat next to him.
I asked:
- What is it, Viktor Fedorovich?
- This is something that cannot be!- followed the answer.
LRE of such dimensions in those days, we simply did not imagine ».
However, our engineers managed to exactly repeat the German rocket and create its domestic counterpart R-1. In parallel with this analogue, S.P. Korolev developed a rocket R-2, which has already flown 600 km distance. Our rocket was the last direct descendant of the V-2 R-5, which became the first domestic missile with a nuclear warhead:
Direct descendants of the V-2
So, the birth of the greatest rocket of the 20th century, which later became the basis space rockets, It was paid for by thousands of lives- residents of European cities that were hit by rocket attacks, prisoners of concentration camps. And in subsequent years, rockets were considered by the superpowers as means of military domination. Any talk about peaceful research space flights was considered not just as fantasies, but as harmful diversion of resources from the main goal - the creation of means of destruction, destruction, murder. Only for these purposes, "the powers that be" considered it worthy and necessary to allocate huge funds. And only to those designers who were cosmic dreamers and strong personalities rolled into one, such as S.P. Korolev, Wernher von Braun, V.P. Glushko and others have succeeded in channeling some of this militant energy into peaceful, exploratory channels. Probably, subsequent space research atoned for the sacrifices that were made at the first stage of the development of rocket science in the 20th century. Or not redeemed?
Some of those exported to USA V-2 was used to carry out scientific research.
October 24, 1946 automatic 35 mm a camera mounted on a captured V-2 rocket launched by American military engineers from a test site white sands(state New Mexico), for the first time photographed the earth from above 65 miles (105 kilometers). Here are the photos:
February 20, 1947 in the United States, with the help of a V-2 rocket, were launched into space along a suborbital trajectory first living beings - fruit flies. A study was made of the consequences of radiation exposure at high altitudes.
In 1948 in the USA in the nose cone of captured V-2 rockets were launched rhesus monkeys - Albert and Albert 1. While preparing for the flight of the monkey difficult to get used to the cabin conditions, responded poorly to training, sometimes they had nervous breakdowns, and then they showed aggressiveness with which they fought, plunging the animals into a state of drug intoxication. After starting they died of suffocation. The height of the rocket has reached 63 km.
June 14, 1949 monkey Albert II was launched into space in the same way. Unfortunately, Albert II too died because of parachute did not open. But nonetheless Albert II became the first monkey in the world to go into space since it took off 133 km.
September 16, 1949 BUTAlbert III - cynomolgus macaque- died on high 10.7 kilometers during a rocket explosion.
December 8, 1949 Albert IV died during the flight, reaching a height 130.6 kilometers.
August 31, 1950 mice Mickey, Mighty, Jerry or Danger, were launched into space aboard the V-2. It is not known how many of them survived.
April 18, 1951 a monkey named Albert V died due to parachute failure.
September 20, 1951 Yorick, also known as Albert VI, together with 11 mice, flying 70 km., became the first monkey to survive a rocket flight. However, he died 2 hours after landing. Two mice also died. Their deaths were due to overheating in a sealed capsule in the sun before they were found.
May 21, 1952 monkeys Patricia and Mike, who flew and survived the flight, flew in total 26 kilometers. Patricia and Mike have lived their whole lives in National Zoological Park in Washington DC USA.
IN USSR in 1949 - 1951 launches of the heirs of the V-2 - geophysical missiles were carried out R-1A (B-1A), R-1B (V-1B), R-1V (B-1B) with scientific purposes, including with dogs on board(cm. project VR-190):
To be continued...
The history of the creation and launches of the V-2 in Germany
,K. Gatland Space technology M. Mir, 1986 ,
http://ru.wikipedia.org/ , http://supercoolpics.com/ , http://www.about-space.ru/ , http://fun-space.ru/ , http://biozoo. ru/ , http://vn-parabellum.narod.ru/ ,
The German development of the projectile (cruise missile) "V-1" was the first such unmanned aerial vehicle, which was used during the Second World War. "V-1", also known under the designations V-1, A-2, Fi-103, was in service with the German army in the final part of the war. The name of this rocket comes from the German word Vergeltungswaffe (retribution). A projectile aircraft with a warhead weighing up to a ton could hit targets at a distance of up to 250 km, and the last missiles - up to 400 km.
The project of this weapon was a joint development of German designers Fritz Gosslau (Argus Motoren) and Robert Lusser (an employee of Fieseler). In July 1941, the fruit of their joint work, which received the cipher Fi-103, was approved by the German Ministry of Aviation, headed in those years by the Fuhrer's closest associate (Nazi No. 2, as he was often called), Reich Marshal of Aviation Hermann Goering. Industrial production of the V-1 projectile was launched at the end of 1942.
The launch of the rocket was launched on the island of Usedom, located opposite the mouth of the Oder River in the Baltic Sea. During World War II, the Usedom concentration camp was located on this island. The prisoners held in this camp were used by the Germans in factories that produced V-1 projectiles. At the same time, the production of the "wonder weapon" in the form of V-1 and V-2 missiles was delayed for several months due to the fact that on August 17-18, 1943, British aviation conducted a large-scale air operation against objects located on the island.
The bombardment of the island became possible after the intelligence of the Home Army (AK) carried out one of their most successful operations. The Poles were able to develop a German research center at Peenemünde, where V-1 projectiles and V-2 rockets were assembled. The first information about this strategic object appeared in the AK in the fall of 1942, and in March 1943 a detailed report was sent to England, which allowed the British to organize an air operation against the island.
The V-1s were first used en masse on 13 June 1944 against Great Britain, exactly one week after Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, opening a Second Front in Europe. On that day, an air strike was carried out on London. Later, the Germans began to use projectiles to shell the cities of Belgium and Holland liberated by the Anglo-American troops. In addition, several V-1s were fired at the capital of France, from where the German troops were driven out by the Resistance even before the main part of the Allied troops approached.
In total, during the war years, the German military industry managed to assemble about 30 thousand V-1 projectiles. By March 29, 1945, about 10 thousand of them were used to shell the UK. However, only 3,200 missiles were able to reach the British Isles. 2419 rockets hit the English capital, the losses from their use amounted to 6184 people killed and 17 981 wounded. At the same time, about 20% of the missiles failed at the start, 42% managed to shoot down anti-aircraft artillery and British aircraft, and 7% fell apart, colliding with air barrage balloons.
Use of V-1 projectiles
The main targets for German V-1 projectiles were large cities - London and Manchester, and later Antwerp, Liege, Brussels and even Paris became their targets.
On the evening of June 12, 1944, German long-range artillery, which was located in the Calais region in northern France, carried out an unusually heavy bombardment of the British Isles. This shelling was carried out with a distraction purpose. At 4 am on June 13, the artillery bombardment came to an end, and after some time, the British observers stationed in Kent noticed a kind of “aircraft” that made uncharacteristic sounds, and a bright glow was noted in its tail section. The spotted craft continued its flight over the Downs before diving and exploding near Gravesend in Swanscombe. It was the fall of the first V-1 rocket that exploded in the British Isles. Over the next hour, 3 more of these rockets fell at Cuckfield, Bethnal Green, and the Platt. The Germans then proceeded to systematic daily raids on English cities using V-1 projectiles. Residents of the British capital nicknamed them "flying bombs", as well as "buzzing bombs" - for the characteristic loud sound emitted by their engines.
After the first raids, the British urgently began to develop a plan for the defense of cities from new German weapons. According to their plan, it was necessary to build 3 lines of defense: air defense fighters, anti-aircraft artillery and air barrage balloons. To detect the V-1, it was decided to use the already deployed network of observation posts and radar stations. At the same time, the British placed barrage balloons immediately behind the line of anti-aircraft guns, in the amount of 500 pieces. The number of anti-aircraft artillery was urgently increased. On June 28, 1944, 522 light and 363 heavy anti-aircraft guns were already used to repel a V-1 air attack on London.
Soon, to repel the raids, the British began to use self-propelled anti-aircraft installations and rocket launchers that had just begun to appear, and the number of balloons was also doubled. Moreover, the Royal Navy sent ships to the French coast to detect missile launches. These ships were located 7 miles from the French coast with an interval between ships of 3 miles. British fighters were on duty not far from the ships. When an air target was detected, the ships signaled to the fighters using flares or flares. At the same time, the task of shooting down a projectile was not the easiest because of its rather high flight speed. The fighter pilot had no more than 5 minutes to shoot down the V-1. During this time, the German projectile aircraft passed from the French coast to the zone of action of the British anti-aircraft artillery, and after another minute it fell into the zone of the air barrage balloons.
In order to achieve the greatest effectiveness of defense against German projectiles, the British military moved anti-aircraft artillery from their cities directly to the coast. August 28, 1944 was a turning point for the new German miracle weapon. Of the 97 V-1 projectiles that crossed the English Channel, the British were able to shoot down 92 pieces, only 5 missiles reached London. The last V-1 rocket fell in England only in March 1945, shortly before the complete surrender of Nazi Germany.
At the same time, German V-1 missiles managed to inflict really serious damage on the UK. The rockets destroyed 24,491 buildings, and another 52,293 buildings were damaged to such an extent that they became uninhabitable. Losses among the civilian population amounted to 5,864 people killed, another 17,197 people were seriously injured, 23,174 people escaped with minor injuries. On average, for every V-1 that was able to reach the English capital or its environs, there were about 10 killed and seriously wounded British. In addition to London, Manchester, Portsmouth, Southampton and a number of other cities were bombed by V-1 missiles. Despite the fact that only half of all missiles reached their intended target, these strikes had a great moral and psychological effect on the population of the British Isles.
After the Allies landed in France and quickly pushed the Western Front inland, liberating France and Holland, the Germans redirected their attacks on Liege and Antwerp. At the same time, the V-1 launchers themselves were originally located on the northern coast of France and on the territory of Holland.
Since the V-1 projectiles were not able to hit point targets, as well as medium-sized objects, which could include factories or British naval bases, at the end of 1944 it was decided to work on a manned version of the V-1. Also, such missiles could be used against Allied ships in British ports. The new development received the designation "Reichenberg". The cockpit was located in the middle part of the rocket; the Germans were going to use the FW-200 Condor and Non-111 bombers as carriers of such missiles. After the rocket was separated from the carrier aircraft, the pilot piloted it. Having found the necessary target, he directed the V-1 at it, after which, dropping the cockpit cap, ejected.
Naturally, the pilots had little chance of surviving, and in the event of a successful ejection, the pilot was almost guaranteed to be captured. Despite this, the Germans quite easily managed to recruit the first 250 volunteers, among whom was the famous German pilot Hannah Reich. She even managed to successfully test a manned version of the V-1. In total, until the end of the war, the Germans created 175 manned versions of the V-1, but none of them was ever used in combat.
The performance characteristics of the V-1 projectile:
Overall dimensions: length - 7.74 m, height - 1.42 m, wingspan - 5.3 m, fuselage diameter 0.85 m.
Curb weight - 2160 kg.
The power plant is one Argus As 014 pulse jet engine, thrust 2.9 kN.
The maximum flight speed is from 656 km / h (full refueling) to 800 km / h (on approach to the target).
The maximum range is 286 km.
Practical ceiling - 2700-3050 m (in practice, from 100 to 1000 m).
Warhead weight - 800-1000 kg, ammatol.
Fuel tank capacity - 570 liters of gasoline.
Circular error probable - 0.9 km.
The cost of a cruise missile (design) - 10 thousand Reichsmarks, at the end of the war - 3.5 thousand when using the free labor of concentration camp prisoners.
Information sources:
http://dasreich.ru/armaments/aviacia/raketi/fau-1.php
http://www.calend.ru/event/4039/
http://www.weltkrieg.ru/aircrafts/259-v1.html
http://forum.guns.ru/forummessage/36/142.html
As already mentioned, the rocket was a cantilever medium wing with a fuselage about 6.5 m long (with an engine of 7.6 m) with a maximum diameter of 0.82 m. The first modifications of this projectile were made entirely of steel, but then the wing began to be made of wood. Various wing shapes of different spans were tested - trapezoidal, rectangular, "butterfly" type. A PuVRD As 014 was attached above the tail section of the fuselage. A warhead weighing 850 kg with fuses was installed in front of the fuselage (according to other sources, 830 kg. - Note. ed.), in the middle part - a fuel tank with a capacity of 600 l, two cylinders with compressed air, an electric accumulator, an autopilot and devices for controlling altitude and flight range, in the tail section - rudder drives. The takeoff speed of the projectile aircraft from the ground launcher was 280–320 km/h, the flight speed was from 565 to 645 km/h (for various modifications), the flight altitude was usually about 600 m. The autopilot worked as follows. A pair of gyroscopes controlled roll and pitch control, while a barometric device controlled flight altitude. A small propeller on the rocket's nose was connected to a counter that measured the distance the rocket traveled. As soon as the distance counter determined that the specified range had been reached, two squibs locked the control surfaces in such a position that the missile began to dive at the target.
Although the V-1 projectile had significantly worse combat characteristics compared to the V-2, the simplicity of its design and low cost (it cost about ten times less than the V-2 projectile) led to the fact that from June 1942 the development of the V-1 was provided "top priority".
By order of Hitler, a special commission was created, which was to decide what would be preferable to use the FZG 76 air force cruise missile or the A-4 army ballistic missile as a weapon for bombing British territory. According to preliminary estimates, the FZG 76 cruise missile was more vulnerable to interception, but much cheaper to manufacture and much easier to maintain. The A-4 ballistic missile was immune to interception, but expensive to manufacture and difficult to maintain. On May 26, 1943, a meeting of the above-mentioned commission was held in Peenemünde, which included the highest ranks of the command of the German army. The commission found that the V-1 and V-2 projectiles are approximately at the same stage of readiness, and decided to speed up the transfer of both types of weapons to mass production as much as possible and arrange their production in the largest possible quantities. It was recommended that both missiles be put into service jointly. Somewhat earlier, in April 1943, Colonel Max Wachtel was appointed commander of the experimental part of the Lehr und Erprobungskommando Wachtel cruise missiles. This team was deployed at the Peenemünde training ground and later became the main one for the formation of the 155th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (FR 155 W, where "W" meant the word Werfer - "launcher") to train personnel in launching V-1 cruise missiles.
In July 1943, the development of the V-1 was moving forward so successfully that the Air Force headquarters decided to put the V-1 into mass production. The start of the use of V-1 projectiles against England was scheduled for December 1943.
The development of the V-2 rocket was carried out in parallel with the development of the V-1. After a series of persistent attempts, Dornberger and Brown obtained a report from Hitler on July 7, 1943. They managed to convince him of the reality of the A-4 rocket, and its development was included in the list of "highest priority" for introduction into mass production. From that moment, direct preparations for rocket bombardments began.
In July 1943, the Ministry of Armaments and Ammunition organized a meeting of representatives of large firms (more than 250 people were present), at which a program was developed for the production of 300 long-range missiles at three factories every month. It was envisaged to increase this number by another 900 shells with the commissioning of the plant under construction in Nordhausen. In the future, it was planned to increase the release to 2000 shells per month.
However, the allies also did not sit idly by. Information about the German missile programs partially became the property of British intelligence, which provoked a raid by the Royal Air Force on the missile base at Peenemünde.
The British raid on August 17, 1943 on Peenemünde, as a result of which 735 people were killed, including engineer Thiel, one of the leading designers of the A-4, pushed back the deadlines for the implementation of the planned program. However, according to Dornberger, the material losses in Peenemünde were not great. Important facilities such as the wind tunnel, the measuring laboratory and the testing station were not damaged. The damage could be repaired within 4–6 weeks.
After the British raid on Peenemünde, the main headquarters in early September 1943 issued an order to transfer experimental A-4 launches from Peenemünde to the Heidelager training ground in Poland. This is how the new test site Blizna was created, located at the confluence of the San River with the Vistula River, in a triangle between these rivers.
Mass serial production of V-1 shells was organized in cooperation at a large number of factories that manufactured individual units. The final assembly of the V-1 was carried out at the Volkswagen plant in Fallersleben. The Fieseler firm produced prototypes of the projectile and a small prototype series of missiles for experimental research and training of personnel.
There was no agreement among senior leadership on how best to deploy the new missiles. Air Force anti-aircraft artillery commander Lieutenant General Walther von Axthhelm wanted to use large numbers of small positions that could be easily camouflaged. However, Field Marshal Erhard Milch was more inclined towards the construction of a small number of powerful bomb-proof bunkers. In this regard, on June 18, 1943, Goering held a meeting with Milch and Axthelm, at which he proposed a compromise solution: build 4 large missile bunkers and 96 small positions. In addition, it was supposed to launch the FZG 76 from bombers. The production of missiles was to begin in August with a production rate of 100 missiles per month, then gradually increased to 5 thousand copies monthly by May 1944. Hitler approved this plan on June 28, 1943, setting the Kirschkern program in motion.
It was supposed to start mass production in August 1943, so that by the start of combat use, scheduled for December 15, 1943, 5,000 missiles were already ready. However, the production of the Fi-103 started a month later at the Volkswagen plants in Fallersleben and the Fieseler firm in Kassel. On October 22, British bombers raided the Fieseler factory, damaging the Fi-103 assembly lines. To this was added a whole list of changes and new modifications in the project, after which, at the end of November, production was suspended until the problems were eliminated. Production began again only in March 1944, but soon after that, as a result of the Allied bombing of the plant in Fallersleben, the assembly lines at this enterprise were also damaged. Therefore, in July, production of the Fi-103 began at the Mittelwerke underground plant near Nordhausen, as it was the most protected from bomb attacks.
Unlike a conventional aircraft, the Fi-103 rocket was not completely assembled in factories. Instead, the main structural units (fuselage, engine, wing, warhead and other subsystems) were supplied to the Luftwaffe ammunition depots. Four warehouses were allocated to the FZG program, the most important of which were located in Mecklenburg and Dannenberg. In these warehouses, the final assembly of the projectile aircraft was carried out, after which it was installed on the TW-76 technological trolley. In this form, the missiles were delivered to field warehouses in France. Sensitive equipment such as an autopilot and a compass was already installed there, and rockets were delivered from field warehouses to launch positions.
When the Fi-103 finally reached the stage of mass production in March 1944, the production time for one rocket was reduced to 350 hours, of which 120 hours were spent on a complex autopilot. The cost of one copy of the rocket was about 5060 Reichsmarks, which was only 4% of the cost of a V-2 ballistic missile and approximately 2% of the cost of a twin-engine bomber.
At the end of September 1943, the mass production of the V-1 began. Around the same period, the Germans launched the construction of launch pads on the west coast of France. In the coastal strip from Calais to Cherbourg, 64 main and 32 reserve sites were built. On each of them, except for the launcher, sheltered premises were built for storing, repairing and testing shells. Not far from the launch sites, it was planned to build 8 storage facilities, each for 250 projectiles. The total number of workers employed in the construction was over 40 thousand people.
The construction of launch positions in France began in August 1943. In the initial phase, 96 positions were built along the English Channel from Dieppe to Calais. Each position included a launch platform, a non-magnetic pre-launch magnetic compass adjustment room, a control bunker, three missile storage depots, and several smaller fuel and spares storage buildings. When planning each position, the local landscape was taken into account in order to mask the positions. Rocket positions were usually located next to existing roads, which were either resurfaced or resurfaced to facilitate the use of the many vehicles serving the launch site. Often, rocket launchers were located near farms or residential buildings, which were used to house launch crews, and also helped to mask the position.
In September 1943, the first division of the 155th anti-aircraft regiment arrived in the construction area, designed to monitor the preparation of starting positions, and subsequently launch shells. Subsequently, the entire FR 155 W was transferred to France under the command of Colonel Wachtel. It structurally included four divisions, each with three batteries, service and supply divisions. The battery had three platoons, each with two launchers, a total of 18 launchers per division and 72 launchers for the entire regiment. Each launcher was serviced by approximately 50 people, part of the total numbered 6500 personnel. Due to the technical complexity of the new weapons, several dozen civilian specialists were attached to the 155th regiment.
To coordinate the bombing of London with Fi-103 and A-4 missiles, on December 1, the Wehrmacht created a "hybrid" unit - the 65th (LXV) Special Army Corps, staffed by army and Luftwaffe officers. Lieutenant General Erich Heinemann, former head of the artillery school, commanded the 65th Corps, Colonel Eugen Walter of the Luftwaffe was appointed chief of staff. After inspecting the positions, the corps headquarters were alarmed by the lack of planning and the unrealistic expectations of the high command. The high command insisted that rocket attacks on London begin in January 1944, ignoring the fact that the positions were not fully prepared, the training of personnel was not completed and the delivery of missiles had not yet begun.
Despite the secrecy of all preparations, the British received undercover information about the transfer of the 155th anti-aircraft regiment to France. After conducting aerial photographic reconnaissance of the entire northern part of France, the Allies began an intensive bombardment of the V-1 launch sites, during which most of them turned out to be unusable already at the beginning of 1944. The start of the combat use of the V-1 had to be postponed to a later date.
In March 1944, the Germans began building new "improved" launch sites that were better camouflaged and less vulnerable from the air. In May 1944, one of these sites was bombed by British Typhoon aircraft, but the bombing results were very low. By June 12, 1944, British intelligence became aware of the existence of 66 "improved" launch sites for the V-1. However, in the period from January 1 to June 12, 1944, the Allies bombarded the launch pads of the first sample, dropping more than 20 thousand tons of bombs on them. The "improved" launch pads for launching the V-1 remained intact.
In August 1943, General Dornberger drew up a draft, according to which all military units armed with V-2 were to be subordinated to him. Dornberger's proposal was approved by the army command, and he formed a headquarters in Schwedt on the Oder River. The headquarters consisted of three departments: operational, supply and engineering.
However, Himmler did not give up his intention to take control of the further development, production and use of missiles. In September 1943, at his insistence, a special committee for the production of the A-4 rocket, which was part of the Ministry of Armaments, was placed under the control of General of the SS Troops Kammler (head of the department for the production of weapons of the headquarters of the SS troops).
As mentioned above, on December 1, 1943, Hitler signed a directive according to which the use of all types of long-range missile weapons against England was assigned to the control of the 65th Army Corps, directly subordinate to the commander of the Western Front. Artillery Lieutenant General Heinemann was appointed corps commander, and Colonel Walter was appointed chief of staff. For the headquarters of the corps, the operational and supply officers were selected from the army, and the chief of staff and intelligence officers from the air force. The corps included the armed V-1 155th anti-aircraft regiment, all units located in the west armed with V-2, and units of ultra-long-range artillery. His headquarters was located in Saint-Germain, near the headquarters of the commander of the Western Front. During the first half of 1944, he was busy managing the construction of launch sites for the V-1. The total number of soldiers and officers who were part of the V-1 reached 10 thousand people.
Having familiarized himself with the state of affairs on the spot, the corps headquarters determined that the launch date for the V-1 in January 1944 was unrealistic. Only on May 20, 1944, he was able to convey that the V-1 projectiles were ready for combat use.
In the period before the V-2 missiles entered the combat units, the headquarters of the 65th Corps paid little attention to this type of weapon, especially since Dornberger's headquarters was engaged in it. But now everything has changed. On December 29, 1943, Major General of Artillery Metz was appointed to the corps for the operational management of the combat activities of units armed with V-2s. This appointment, in essence, removed General Dornberger from the leadership of the V-2 combat operations.
It must be said that the British command knew about the impending "act of retaliation." The anti-fascist scientist Dr. Kummerov handed over to the forces of the Anti-Hitler Coalition secret materials on the results of the work of German rocket scientists. Subsequently, associated with the Schulze-Boysen group, he was arrested along with his wife and died in the dungeons of the Gestapo. Fortunately, this repressive organization itself harmed the German missile program.
On March 15, 1944, V-2 chief designer von Braun and two other leading engineers were arrested by the Gestapo on charges of sabotage. Dornberger had to apply directly to Keitel and with great difficulty obtain their release and return to Peenemünde.
Meanwhile, British intelligence was bit by bit collecting information about the V-rockets. In April 1944, a group of Polish resistance fighters managed to photograph one of the missiles that was being tested on the banks of the Bug, disassemble it into parts, safely hide them, and then transfer it all to the Warsaw partisan center. Constant monitoring of the German launch sites was carried out on the territory of occupied France by the Marco Polo Resistance group.
By the beginning of June 1944, all four divisions of the 155th anti-aircraft regiment had already moved to France. Approximately 70 to 80 "improved" launch sites in the strip between Calais and the Seine River were ready for use. Most of them were aimed at London, a smaller number at Southampton. At night, German trains loaded with rocket weapons pulled to the areas of launch sites. By June 12, 873 V-1s with the required amount of fuel were already concentrated in the launch pad areas. On this day, 54 launch sites were put on alert.
According to the order, a salvo from all launchers was to be fired first so that the shells reached London at 2340 hours, after which the V-1 shells were to be launched at short intervals until 4 hours 45 minutes on June 13th.
The commander of the 155th regiment twice asked for a delay in the start of the bombardment, since not a single launch site could launch before 0330 hours on June 13th.
In the end result, in the early morning of June 13, 1944, the Germans fired only 10 V-1 launches. Five of them crashed immediately after launch, the fate of the sixth remained unknown, and the remaining four reached the south of England and exploded there. The projectile that crashed into Bethnal Green brought the first casualties: 6 people were killed and 9 injured. Thus, the widely conceived first missile attack, due to its technical unpreparedness, ended in complete failure. The moment of surprise was missed, a massive blow did not work.
After a 40-hour break, the Germans managed to start more intense rocket bombardments. On June 15, at 2230 hours, a small number of V-1 shells were fired, and then launches were carried out at short intervals until June 16. A total of 244 projectiles were fired at London and presumably 50 at Southampton. The launch was carried out from 55 launch pads. Of the total number of shells fired, 45 crashed immediately after launch. British air defense posts recorded that 144 shells reached the coast of England and 73 - London.
“This new form of attack,” wrote Churchill, “placed on the people of London a burden perhaps even heavier than the air raids of 1940 and 1941. The state of uncertainty and tension became more prolonged. Neither the onset of the day, nor the cloudiness brought consolation ... The blind force of this projectile inspired a feeling of helplessness in a person on earth.
The bombardment of England by aircraft-shells, begun by the Germans on June 13, lasted over 9 months, with varying intensity.
However, the British quickly learned to deal with the V-1, using fighters, anti-aircraft artillery and barrage balloons for this, since in terms of their aerodynamic and performance characteristics, this rocket was not much superior to the fighters available at that time in Britain. For five days, from June 16 to June 21, about 100 projectile aircraft per day flew to the English coast on average. Of these, up to 30% were destroyed by fighter aircraft and up to 10% by anti-aircraft artillery fire. Part of the shells exploded on air barrage balloons.
The intensity of unmanned bombardments was maintained in the future, despite the fact that the launch sites were bombarded by Anglo-American aircraft.
In the early days of the bombing, up to 40 V-1 shells reached London daily. But every day the number of shot down shells increased, and less and less reached London and other cities. The day of August 28 was the most revealing in this respect. Of the 97 projectiles that crossed the English Channel, 90 were destroyed, 4 reached London, and the rest 3 fell before reaching the capital of England.
By early September, the intensity of the German V-1 bombardment had abated as the Anglo-American troops had captured most of the areas where the starting positions were located. But part of the launchers by this time had already been moved to the southwestern part of Holland, and projectiles were brought there. In addition, He-111 bombers were adapted to launch the V-1 from the air, and the bombing continued, despite the fact that the British learned how to successfully fight the V-1. At the very end of 1944, on the night before Christmas, over 50 German He-111s again launched an attack with V-1 shells, but not on London, but on Manchester, where air defense was weaker. Of the 37 shells that crossed the coastline, only 18 reached Manchester. One of them exploded in the city, and the remaining 17 - within a radius of 15 km from the city. On March 29, 1945, the last V-1 shell fell on the territory of England. The following table shows the intensity of launching V-1 shells in the period from June 13, 1944 to March 29, 1945.
| 13.06.1944–15.07.1944 | 16.07.1944–5.09.1944 | 16.09.1944–14.01.1945 | 3.03.1945–29.03.1945 | Total | |
| 1. Number of V-1 rounds fired | 4361 | 4656 | 1200 | 275 | 10 492 |
| of them: | |||||
| from launchers | 4271 | 4346 | - | 275 | 8892 |
| from aircraft | 90 | 310 | 1200 | - | 1600 |
| 2. Number of V-1 shells reaching the London area | 1270* | 1070 | 66 | 13 | 2419 |
* An additional 25–30 shells reached Portsmouth and Southampton.
In total, for the period from June 13, 1944 to March 29, 1945, the Germans fired 10,492 V-1 shells in England, of which 8892 from ground launchers and 1600 from He-111 carrier aircraft.
The V-1 bombing of England, undertaken in 1944-1945, provided the first experience in the use of unmanned projectiles and the first experience in combating them. Within a short time, the British managed to rebuild their air defense system, use all the means at their disposal and significantly reduce the effectiveness of these weapons. Despite this, Britain suffered some damage. In London alone, there were over 6,000 dead and about 18,000 seriously wounded. 23,000 houses were destroyed and 100,000 damaged, tens of thousands of residents were left homeless. The area of the City of London was particularly hard hit, where the largest number of V-1 rockets fell per unit area.
Comparison of the number of V-1 shells that fell in and around London and the number of casualties they caused shows that for each shell there were 10 killed and seriously wounded.
In addition to London, Portsmouth, Southampton, Manchester and other cities in England were bombed. In a later period, the Germans used the V-2 to bombard the cities of the countries they had previously occupied: Antwerp, Liège and Brussels. 8,696 shells were fired at Antwerp, of which 2,183 were shot down, and 3,141 at Liège.
At the time when V-1 shells were falling on the territory of England, the British government already had intelligence that the Germans were intensively preparing new types of missiles for use. The information made it possible to judge the possibility of new bombardments with more effective weapons. Opinions were expressed that the Germans had large stocks of missiles. At the end of July 1944, the British government decided to evacuate, if necessary, about one million inhabitants from London.
At the end of August 1944, the British government hoped that the Anglo-American troops would clear the coastal areas of the Germans, which could be used as launching positions, and then London and the British Isles would be inaccessible to German missile weapons.
At the beginning of 1944, the German command developed a preliminary plan for shelling London and a number of other cities in England with V-2 rockets, starting in March. Launches were supposed to be carried out from 2 stationary launch pads and 45 field launch pads located on the Cotentin Peninsula. It was planned to deliver missiles through 7 main, 4 field and 6 intermediate warehouses.
Despite the developed plan for shelling the territory of Great Britain, the formation of the units intended for this by the end of March was far from being completed. The 836th V-2 battalion was more or less completed, and the 485th battalion could only be ready in 6-7 weeks. The launch of the V-2 during this period could only be carried out by the 953rd stationary division and the 500th separate battery, formed by the SS troops.
After the Allied landings in Normandy, the V-2 launch pads prepared in the Cherbourg area were lost. Therefore, the German command took special measures to speed up the construction of sites for shelling England from the area north of the Somme River. In August 1944, a preliminary plan was drawn up to attack London with V-2 rockets from Belgium.
The British made persistent efforts to get more accurate information about the intentions of the Germans, but for a long time their attempts were in vain.
The advance of the Anglo-American troops to the Seine in the last week of August 1944 endangered some starting positions. On August 29, Hitler approved a plan to bombard London and Paris with V-2 rockets from the area between Tournai and Ghent in Belgium. However, already in the following days, this zone turned out to be too close to the front line. The area from which the rocket bombardment was to be carried out was moved to the vicinity of Antwerp and Malin. By this time, the command of the 65th Corps was deprived of the right to lead the V-2 combat operations. Although nominally General Metz was listed as the commander of the V-2 units, in practice the leadership passed to General of the SS Troops Kammler. Himmler finally achieved his goal by appointing Kammler as special commissioner for the V-2, who concentrated in his hands the leadership of work on both types of rocket weapons - V-1 and V-2. At the end of August, there was an intensive preparation of new launch pads for V-2 rockets. The V-2 units were ordered to leave training areas and concentrate on combat positions by the end of August. Of these, two missile groups "Nord" and "South" were formed. The Nord group took up positions in the Kleve area. It consisted of the first and second batteries of the 485th division. The Süd group, as part of the second and third batteries of the 836th division, took up positions in the Venlo area and in the vicinity of Eiskirchen. Later, the 444th training and experimental battery was attached to it. On September 4, the transportation of the V-2 to the starting positions began.
At this time, the Allies entered Belgium and liberated Brussels. On September 5, 1944, Kammler ordered the Nord Group to take up positions in the Hague area and be on alert to start shelling London in the coming days. At the same time, the Süd group was ordered to prepare for attacks on targets in Northern France and Belgium.
At 08:30 on September 6, the 444th training and experimental battery fired the first V-2 projectile, which exploded in Paris. However, the advance of the Allied forces forced the battery to leave its positions. She was transferred to the island of Walcheren to bombard England. Group "Nord" also prepared for the shelling of London.
The first two V-2 ballistic missiles in England exploded on September 8 at 18:40. The time between their breaks was 16 seconds. The first rocket killed 3 people and wounded 10, the second did not cause any harm. Over the next 10 days, 27 rockets fell on England, of which 16 were on London or in its zone. Presumably, from 6 to 8 missiles did not reach their targets.
Most of the launches were carried out by the first and second batteries of the 485th division from the Hague area, a smaller number - by the 444th battery from the island of Walcheren.
On September 17, 1944, the Allies began their further advance towards the Rhine. In this regard, the 485th division from the area of The Hague was hastily relocated to the vicinity of Burgsteinfurt (northwest of Münster), and the 444th battery from the Walcheren island in Zwolle. Kammler with great haste moved with his headquarters to the vicinity of Münster. Due to the transfer of units, the shelling of England with V-2 shells was not carried out over the next 10 days.
During this period, Kammler ordered the 444th battery to relocate in the vicinity of Stavoren in Friesland. Projectile launches from this position began on 25 September. The fire was fired at the cities of Norwich and Ipswich. Between September 25 and October 12, the 444th battery fired 44 shells at these targets.
The delay in the Allied advance in the direction of Arnhem allowed Kammler to return part of the second battery of the 485th division to the south-west of Holland on September 30 and begin again bombarding London.
The loss of the V-2 supply system established in northern France forced Kammler and his staff to hastily organize a new improvised supply system. She had major flaws. Intermediate warehouses had very poor equipment for testing and repairing missiles. Sometimes rockets were delayed in separate warehouses, their mechanical and electrical equipment corroded, and they became unsuitable for launch. The organization of the supply of missiles to combat units had to be changed. According to the new system, V-2 rockets were sent directly from the factory to a transshipment point located near the designated starting position. From the transshipment point, the V-2 rockets were transported by special transport to the assembly and testing point, from where they were delivered to the starting position. This method ensured the launch of missiles in 3-4 days after they were sent from the factory.
Frequent change of starting positions by V-2 divisions, the loss of all pre-equipped warehouses in Northern France, the fragility of V-2 missiles that required special vehicles for transportation, the complete lack of both military and technical training from the commander of V-2 units, General of the SS Troops Kammler were significant reasons that the effectiveness of the bombing of England was very low.
An additional reason that influenced the effectiveness of the shelling of the UK with V-2 missiles was the quality of the products. The fact is that the Germans were forced to use the labor of concentration camp prisoners, who did not need the German victory in the war at all. Moreover, an international organization of the Resistance was created at the underground rocket weapons factory. In 1944, underground workers made an explosion in one of the tunnels, which for a long time disabled the most important section of the enterprise. A system of sabotage was also created under the slogans: “Whoever works more slowly achieves peace faster”, “Team X (as the groups of prisoners used in strictly secret work were called. - Note. ed.) is the work of nihts.” Sometimes it was possible to mount defective parts in the rocket mechanism. The Germans, of course, understood that prisoners could not be trusted, and tried to use them only for hard work. Nevertheless, forced laborers harmed their masters as best they could. However, rocket attacks on the United Kingdom continued.
In early October 1944, the intensity of the shelling of London was 2-3 rockets per day. By the end of October, the number of V-2s that fell in England increased significantly. The accuracy of the hit has also increased. Between October 26 and November 4, 44 rockets fell on the territory of England, of which 33 exploded in the London area.
In total, from September 8, 1944 to March 27, 1945, 1359 rockets were launched into the London area. Many of them, for various technical reasons, did not reach the goal. Only 517 rockets exploded in and around London.
The following table gives an idea of the impact of V-2 missiles on individual regions and cities of England.
| Cities and regions | September | October | November | December | January | February | March | Total |
| 1944 | 1945 | |||||||
| London | 16 | 32 | 82 | 47 | 114 | 114 | 112 | 517 |
| Essex | 6 | 25 | 40 | 65 | 71 | 90 | 81 | 378 |
| Kent | 1 | 6 | 16 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 64 |
| hardworthshire | - | 3 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 34 |
| Norfolk | 8 | 20 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 29 |
| Suffolk | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | 13 |
| Surrey | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Sussex | 2 | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 4 |
| Bedfordshire | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 3 |
| Buckinghamshire | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Cambridgeshire | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Berkshire | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 34 | 91 | 144 | 121 | 220 | 232 | 212 | 1054 |
Separate V-2 explosions caused significant losses to the civilian population. So, on November 25, 160 people were killed by a single rocket explosion in London. England suffered the heaviest losses from V-2 missiles in November (more than 1,400 killed and wounded). The total number of victims from the V-2 was 2724 killed and 6467 seriously injured.
The British government was seriously concerned about this situation. The most tragic thing was that there were no means of combat with the new missile weapons.
As a countermeasure against the V-2 missiles, the British could only use the bombing of the German starting positions. However, it must be admitted that the results of such actions were very modest. Only the advance of the Anglo-American troops in France to the northeast and the capture of areas of starting positions saved the British from further rocket bombardments.
The last V-2 rocket in England was launched on March 27, 1945, after which the V-2 units stationed in the Hague area, together with the remnants of the Nord group units, were relocated to Germany. The bulk of the personnel of the "Nord" and "South" groups were later captured by the 9th US Army.
In conclusion, it should be said that the rocket bombing of England and other European countries undertaken by the Germans in the period 1944-1945 did not bring success to the German command. Using the V-1 and V-2, the Germans failed to change the military-political situation in their favor. The hype raised by the Nazis around the "secret" weapons in order to raise the spirit of the troops and the population of Germany in the face of heavy defeats by the Wehrmacht, did not achieve results.
The main objects of rocket bombing, as you know, were large cities. Long-range missile weapons were used not to defeat groups of troops, destroy industrial enterprises and other military facilities, but against the civilian population as a means of terrorism and blackmail. It is known that in response to the deterioration of diplomatic relations with Sweden, the German command planned to threaten the Swedes with a rocket bombardment of Stockholm, believing that such an event would have a very intimidating effect on them and force them to take positions more pleasing to Germany.
It is unlikely that the German command did not realize that the rocket weapons of that time, in qualitative and quantitative terms, were not yet ripe in order to play the role of a serious factor of strategic importance. However, a characteristic feature of the German leadership was extreme adventurism both in politics and in strategy. Therefore, she decided to use this weapon in the hope of achieving at least a psychological effect.
In conditions of significant interference with the work of industrial enterprises caused by intense bombing, in an environment of great haste, major technical miscalculations occurred in the design and preparation for mass production of V-1 and V-2 rockets. Frequent accidents of propulsion systems, large limits of probable deviations from aiming points, with the power of warheads that existed at that time, excluded the expediency of using these weapons against groupings of troops and individual enterprises of the military industry and generally made such systems ineffective. At the same time, the production of long-range missiles, especially the V-2, was costly. Winston Churchill noted on this occasion: “We were lucky that the Germans spent so much effort on the production of rocket shells instead of the production of bombers. Even our Mosquitos, which probably cost no more to produce than the V-2, dropped an average of 125 tons of bombs each during their existence, with a deviation of one mile from the target, while the V-2 dropped only one ton, and then with a deviation from the target by an average of 15 miles.
To this it must be added that the development of the V-1 and V-2 was carried out by various departments in the absence of a coordinating body. Often it was determined not by an expedient technical policy that takes into account the prospects for the development of rocket weapons, but by the personal relationships of the responsible leaders of work in the field of rocket science with Hitler and other Nazi leaders. The struggle between various departments, especially between army circles and Himmler's bodies for the leadership of rocket bombardments, had a negative effect on the production and use of the V-1 and V-2.
The share of long-range missile weapons in the armed struggle during the Second World War was insignificant. During the entire operation against London - the main object of the bombing - 2418 V-1 shells and 517 V-2 rockets exploded. The total weight of explosives (ammonal) in their combat charges did not exceed 3,000 tons. The total losses of the civilian population of England killed and wounded from the V-1 and V-2 reached 42,380 people, while these losses from aerial bombardment amounted to about 146 thousand people.
Organizing the operation of rocket bombing of England and other countries, the German command made many operational miscalculations. Suffice it to say that the bombing was not unexpected for the British, that is, the factor of surprise in the use of new means of struggle was lost even during the preparation period. The bombing was not of the nature of massive strikes and was carried out in isolation from the actions of other branches of the armed forces, in particular aviation. Even between units armed with V-1 projectiles and units armed with V-2 ballistic missiles, there was no concerted action.
The unfortunate choice of areas for firing positions and logistics support for the V-1 and V-2 units had a very negative effect on the combat use of missile weapons. The deployment of the battle formations of these units on the Cotentin Peninsula and in North-Eastern France in the face of the immediate threat of an Allied invasion of Normandy was a major mistake of the German command. This led to the fact that with the landing of the allies in France, the German rocket units had to repeatedly change the areas of their starting positions, transferring them in a general northeast direction to the territory of Belgium, Holland and Northern Germany. In addition, the initial areas of the V-1 and V-2 launch sites were located at a great distance from the German centers for the production and supply of missiles, which created unnecessary difficulties in the transportation and logistics of missile units in the face of massive Allied air raids on German communications. This also made it difficult to keep secret the activities connected with the organization of the rocket bombardment.
The operational management of the preparation and especially the combat activities of missile units on the part of their commander, Himmler's protege, SS General Kammler, and his headquarters was carried out very badly. All this could not but have a negative effect on the overall results of the use of long-range missiles.
Shortly after the start of the bombing of England, the German command became personally convinced of the low effectiveness of its "secret" weapon and the aimlessness of its further use, which was not justified by either political or military considerations. However, seized with a passion for destruction, it continued to bombard England to the last opportunity. When the launch sites on the coast of France fell into the hands of the allies, Paris, Antwerp, Liege and Brussels were fired from new starting positions.
The calculations of the leaders of Nazi Germany that rocket bombardments would be able to undermine the morale of the population and enemy troops turned out to be completely untenable.
The use of V-1 and V-2 by the Germans did not in any way lead to a strategic change in the situation in favor of Nazi Germany. It did not and could not have an impact on the course of the armed struggle on the Western Front, and even more so on the general course of the Second World War, since during this period rocket weapons were still in their “infancy”.
Despite great success in the field of creating means of delivering warheads to targets, the Germans did not have explosives of great power at that time. This, along with the low accuracy of the hit, reduced the effectiveness of the first ever combat use of V-1 and V-2 missiles to a minimum. Only the further improvement of rocket weapons in the post-war period, combined with the use of nuclear warheads, made rocket weapons a factor of decisive strategic importance.
The absence of nuclear warheads from the Nazis saved another country of the Anti-Hitler coalition - the United States of America - from "retaliation" strikes. But work on missiles capable of reaching the territory of the United States has been carried out by German specialists since the end of 1941.
Even at the beginning of the war in Peenemünde, work began on the possibility of launching missile strikes on the United States. However, the A-4 rocket, due to its limited range, was not suitable for this purpose. Therefore, in order to increase the flight range, it was proposed to create a cruise missile with a longer range on the basis of the A-4 missile. But the estimated range of the cruise missile modification, which received the designation A-4B, was 500-600 km, which was also not enough to reach the United States. Therefore, in 1943, a method was developed for launching rockets from floating launch containers.
Such a container with a missile placed in it was supposed to be delivered to a given area in tow behind a submarine. During towing, the container was in a submerged position, and before launching the rocket, it was transferred to a vertical position (like a float) by pumping ballast water. It was assumed that the XXI class submarine would be able to simultaneously tow three containers with missiles. However, with the strengthening of air defense and the US Navy, the German command had to abandon such an idea, nevertheless, until the end of the war, one launch container was built at the shipyard in Elblag.
Then the von Braun designers began to develop a two-stage rocket under the designation A-9 / A-10, which was supposed to be launched from Europe. The first stage was the A-10 launch vehicle with a height of 20 m, a diameter of 4.1 m and a launch weight of 69 tons. The LRE of the original A-10 version had 6 combustion chambers, similar to the combustion chamber of the A-4 rocket, working on one jet nozzle. Then this option was replaced by another - with one large combustion chamber.
The A-9 cruise missile was envisaged as the second stage. Its length was 14.2 m, diameter 1.7 m, total weight 16.3 tons. It was supposed to place about a ton of explosive in the bow. In the middle part, it was originally planned to install a swept wing, later, based on the results of blowing in wind tunnels, it was replaced by a delta wing. At that time, only a pilot could provide the necessary guidance accuracy with a flight range of about 5 thousand km, so the A-9 was manned. Behind the compartment with the warhead in the bow of the rocket, it was planned to install a pressurized cockpit. To achieve the estimated range, the maximum height of the flight path exceeded 80 km, that is, the rocket had to go into outer space. At the same time, the pilot who controls the rocket could formally be considered an astronaut. It is necessary to remind the reader that almost twenty years later, for such suborbital flights on the Mercury spacecraft (without going into orbit), the Americans Sheppard and Grissom received the title of astronauts. The scenario for the flight of the A-9 / A-10 rocket was supposed to look like this. After the launch of the rocket and the separation of the first stage of the A-10, the second stage of the A-9 with a working rocket engine continued to fly with an increase in altitude and speed. After running out of fuel, the rocket switched to planning mode, and the pilot took control. He was supposed to carry out a further flight using radio signals from submarines for navigation. Having brought the car to the target and stabilizing its trajectory, the pilot had to eject. Theoretically, it was assumed that the pilot who descended on a parachute would be picked up by German submarines or he would be captured by the Americans. Experts also estimated the real chances of a pilot to land or splash down alive as 1:100. The first flight of the A-9/A-10 system was planned for 1946.
In 1943, the development of the A-9 / A-10 project was in full swing, but the events that took place soon forced the German leadership to change plans. The fact is that back in 1942, Allied intelligence became interested in top-secret German facilities in the Peenemünde area. An operation was developed, the purpose of which was a massive bombardment of the power plant, the plant for the production of liquid oxygen, assembly buildings, etc. To lull the Germans' vigilance, Allied reconnaissance aircraft made regular flights along the coast from Kiel to Rostock for several months before the scheduled operation. German air defense systems were categorically ordered not to open fire on reconnaissance aircraft and not to raise fighter-interceptors in order to avoid unmasking objects in Peenemünde. And late in the evening of August 17, 1943, the allied armada, consisting of almost 600 long-range bombers, flew out on a mission. The Germans took this operation as an intention to bomb Berlin, for this reason, Berlin's air defense was put on full alert. However, unexpectedly for the Germans, the allied armada over the island of Rügen changed course: instead of turning south towards Berlin, the bombers turned southeast. That night, more than 1,500 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on Peenemünde, and the missile center suffered enormous damage. During the bombing, more than 700 people were killed, among whom were many specialists, including the chief designer of engines for the A-4 and Wasserfall rockets, Dr. Thiel, and the chief engineer, Walter.
Immediately after the raid on Peenemünde, measures were taken to speed up the construction of the huge underground Mittelwerk plant in the limestone mountains of the Harz near Nordhausen. This plant was intended for the mass production of aircraft turbojet engines and rockets V1 and V2. For work at this plant, the Germans used 30 thousand prisoners placed in the Dora concentration camp specially built for this purpose. A test site for missiles was urgently equipped in Poland. Only the design office and testing laboratories remained in Peenemünde.
Under these conditions, it was ordered to freeze work on the A-9 / A-10, and concentrate all efforts on the serial production of the A-4 ballistic missile.
In June 1944, on the orders of Hitler, work was resumed under the code name Projekt Amerika. To speed up the work, we decided to take the A-4V cruise missile as a basis, and develop it in unmanned and manned versions. On the A-4B manned cruise missile, it was supposed to install an aircraft landing gear, as well as an additional turbojet or ramjet engine in the lower stabilizer, the pilot was located in a pressurized cabin in the nose of the rocket.
By the end of 1944, the Germans managed to build only prototypes of the unmanned version of the A-4V rocket. Tests of the first prototype took place on December 27, 1944. The launch ended in an accident due to a missile control system that failed at an altitude of about 500 m. Only the third launch of an unmanned rocket was successfully completed, which actually took place on January 24, 1945. The rocket reached a speed of 1200 m / s and an altitude of 80 km, but after switching to the planning mode, its wing broke, and the rocket fell into the sea.
The Germans failed to implement the planned projects of the A-4B and A-9 manned cruise missiles before the end of the war, all the work remained at the stage of sketch drawings. As for the training of pilots for flying on missiles, indeed, since 1943, as part of the 5th squadron of the 200th bomber squadron, a group of suicide pilots was trained to fly on projectiles and cruise missiles. However, not a single case of the combat use of German aircraft with suicide pilots was recorded until the end of the war.
On May 5, 1945, the Peenemünde test center was captured by Soviet troops, but the entire scientific and technical staff of the Rocket Center managed to evacuate to Bavaria in April. Wernher von Braun took refuge in an alpine ski resort, where, after the German surrender was announced, he surrendered to the Americans. He, like thousands of other major Nazi scientists and engineers, was transported to the United States as part of the secret Operation Paperclip. There he continued to work on the Pentagon's missile theme, being under the close supervision of the special services. In 1951, under the leadership of von Braun, the Redstone and Atlas ballistic missiles were developed, which could carry nuclear charges.
Deployment of rocket units of Nazi Germany for the bombing of England
"Killer Planes"
This chapter of the book is devoted to German mass-produced manned vehicles designed to destroy ground targets. Contrary to the recently widespread opinion about the numerous effective projects of German designers, only two developments “reached” the real application, and the rest remained experimental.
Despite their design simplicity and low cost, V-1 (Fi-103) projectiles were not very accurate when hitting relatively small targets. And sometimes it was simply necessary to destroy bridges, command posts, ships and other targets. However, it takes time to create effective guidance systems, and the scientists of the Nazi state did not have it. Therefore, the idea was put forward to replace the expensive human guidance mechanism. Despite the fact that the practical chances of a pilot leaving the cockpit of a projectile with a parachute (according to the instructions) at a high dive speed and landing safely (or splashing down) were estimated by many German experts as one in a hundred, and the use of suicide pilots is contrary to the Christian attitude towards death, it was decided to develop a combat manned version of the V-1. Proponents of such ideas were authoritative people in the Third Reich: the famous test pilot Hanna Reitsch and Germany's "saboteur No. 1" SS Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny.
In the autumn of 1943, Luftwaffe officer Hauptmann Heinrich Lange led a small group of volunteer pilots to practice the technique of using "non-standard" attacks on enemy ground and surface targets, including attacks using manned projectiles. In October 1943, X. Lange met with the famous test pilot Hanna Reitsch and Dr. Benzinger, head of the German Institute for Aviation Medicine. They developed specific proposals for the use of manned projectiles, which were then discussed with E. Milch, G. Goering's deputy. Hanna Reitsch was instructed to present the final version of the proposals personally to A. Hitler, which was done on February 28, 1944. The result of the consideration of these proposals was the order to deploy work on the study of various "non-standard" methods of attack on the basis of the 200th bomber squadron KG 200 (Kampfgeschwader 200).
As part of KG 200, a special experimental squadron 5./KG 200 was created, the commander of which was appointed X. Lyange. Unofficially, the squadron had the name "Leonidas Staffel" (Leonidasstaffel) after the ancient hero Thermopylae of the Spartan king Leonidas, who, together with his detachment of 300 people, detained the many thousands of troops of the Persian king Xerxes before the main forces approached, which clearly indicated her appointment. The flight crew of 5./KG 200 consisted of 90 people: 60 people from the Luftwaffe and 30 from the SS team of O. Skorzeny. The leadership of all work related to the formation of groups of suicide pilots and their development of attack methods was entrusted to the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, General Korten. Aviation firms were instructed to develop manned aircraft for these purposes.
Despite the fact that several designs of a manned projectile with a jet engine were manufactured, the Reichenberg projectile, structurally similar to the V-1 unmanned rocket, was brought to mass production. In total, four variants of such an aircraft were developed:
Fi-103A1 "Reichenberg I" - unpowered two-seat aircraft;
Fi-103A1 "Reichenberg II" - a two-seat aircraft with an engine;
Fi-103A1 "Reichenberg III" - single-seat powered aircraft;
Fi-103A1 "Reichenberg IV" - combat modification.
The first three modifications were intended for testing and training of flight personnel, the fourth for combat use. Reichenberg was towed in the air by a Henschel Hs-126 aircraft, all the rest were launched in the air from a Heinkel He-111N22 bomber.
"Reichenberg" differed from the unmanned Fi-103 only by installing the cockpit in front of the engine air intake (instead of the compartment with compressed air cylinders) and the presence of ailerons on the wing. The cockpit was equipped with a pilot's seat, a dashboard with a sight, an altimeter, an artificial horizon, a speed indicator and a clock. In addition, a gyrocompass and an electric battery with a converter were located in the cockpit. The aircraft was controlled using a conventional handle and pedals. The cockpit canopy opened to the right, the windshield was armored.
The first prototypes of the Reichenberg did not have a pilot rescue system. On serial machines, it was supposed to install the simplest emergency escape system, similar to the system used on the DB P.F projectile or on the Henschel Hs-132 jet attack aircraft. When exposed to the ejection lever, the bottom hatch lock opened, releasing it, after which the pilot fell out of the cockpit along with the parachute.
The Reichenberg prototype was manufactured at the Henschel plant in Berlin-Schoenefeld. Flight tests of the machine began in Rechlin in September 1944. The pilot during the first flight received serious back injuries due to the high speed of landing on the ventral ski. During the second flight, the lantern was torn off, and again the pilot was seriously injured during the landing. After finalizing the design of the machine, the tests continued, several flights were performed by Willy Fidler, a test pilot of the Fieseler company. Hanna Reitsch, who tested the third experimental machine, completed the first flight successfully, despite the damage received by the machine during uncoupling from the carrier aircraft. However, the second flight of the same machine, due to the loss of sand ballast, which was located in the fuselage instead of a warhead, ended in an accident: the plane crashed, but the famous pilot remained alive.
Soon a two-seat training model was built without the Reichenberg-I engine, and in November a two-seat apparatus with the Reichenberg-II engine was built. During the second test flight of the Reichenberg III on November 5, 1944, the tip of the left wing broke off due to strong vibration from the engine, but test pilot Heinz Kensche managed to leave the cramped cockpit and descend by parachute. This accident demonstrated the enormous difficulty of leaving the vehicle in flight, even for a highly trained test pilot.
At the end of 1944, the training of instructors began to train flight crews to fly the Reichenberg IV, and production facilities were prepared near Dannenburg to convert the Fi-103 into manned Reichenbergs. As already mentioned, the Reichenbergs were intended for the Leonidas Staffel of the KG 200 squadron. Of the trained volunteer pilots, approximately 35 people were trained until the end of February 1945, but then the training was suspended due to lack of fuel. During a test flight in Rechlin on March 5, test pilot Kenshe's luck turned away - he died after the skin was torn off the wing of the Reichenberg during a dive.
This catastrophe broke the patience of the commander of KG 200, Lieutenant Colonel Baumbach, who was an opponent of the Reichenberg program. Baumbach turned to Minister of Armaments and War Industry Albert Speer for help. On March 15, Speer and Baumbach visited Hitler, and Speer was able to convince the Führer that suicide was not in the tradition of the German military. In the end, Hitler agreed with these arguments, and on the same day Baumbach ordered the disbandment of the suicide pilot squadron. By that time, more than 200 Reichenberg projectiles were already in the Luftwaffe warehouses in Dannenberg and Pulverhof, but not one of them was ever used in combat.
The plant in Dannenberg was visited several times by Japanese officers in order to get acquainted with the process of building the Reichenberg. German technological assistance was provided in the development of the Japanese analogue of the Reichenberg, the Kawanishi Baika kamikaze aircraft, which was also not lucky enough to take part in the hostilities.
The Fi-103R projectile ("Reichenberg-IV") had the following characteristics: crew - 1 person, power plant - 1 As 014 PuVRD with a thrust of 300 kgf, wingspan - 5.7 m, aircraft length - 8.0 m, take-off weight - 2250 kg, warhead weight - 830 kg, maximum speed - 800 km / h, flight range (when dropped from a height of 2500 m) - 330 km, flight duration - 32 min.
Another idea to be implemented to improve the accuracy of hitting objects was the development of composite projectiles - the so-called "Mistels".
Back in the pre-war years in the UK, aircraft designer Robert Mayo proposed a scheme for a composite mail aircraft for transatlantic flights. The composite aircraft was a system of two seaplanes mounted one on top of the other. A prototype of such an aircraft was assembled by order of the Ministry of Aviation. A slightly modified four-engined S.21 seaplane, named "Maya", was the lower carrier aircraft. A four-engine seaplane S.20 "Mercury" was installed on top. The first separation flight took place on February 6, 1938. After a large number of test flights, on July 21, 1938, Mercury made a non-stop flight to Montreal (team) lasting 20 hours and 20 minutes, covering a distance of 4715 km, carrying 272 kg of mail on board. October 6 "Mercury" made a record non-stop flight to South Africa (9652 km). The outbreak of war interrupted the operation of the composite aircraft - in May 1941 it was destroyed during a German air raid.
In the Soviet Union, work with composite projectiles was carried out at the end of the 30s. A TB-3 bomber with 3.5 tons of explosives was used as a projectile aircraft, a KR-6 control aircraft was mounted on the back of the TB-3. The range of this hitch was about 1200 km.
The Soviet aircraft designer V. S. Vakhmistrov (the author of the famous project "Link") in 1944 developed a project for a composite projectile aircraft, the basis of which was a glider with a control aircraft mounted on its back. The glider was made according to the scheme with a two-beam tail unit, with a bomb weighing 1000 kg located in each beam. The control plane ensured the delivery of the airframe to the target area. The takeoff of the hitch was carried out using a resettable starting cart. Having delivered the glider to a given area, the aircraft carried out aiming and unhooked it. After uncoupling from the aircraft, the glider was to fly towards the target using a gyroscopic autopilot. However, the project was not implemented.
In 1941, Germany, using the experience of the USSR and England, also began the development of composite projectile aircraft. After initial scrutiny, the RLM technical department dismissed the idea on the grounds that there was no practical application for it. However, already in 1942, on the instructions of the ministry, the DFS Gliding Institute began studying the features of the linkage flight from the glider and the control aircraft mounted on its back. Initially, the experiments were carried out with the DFS 230 airframe, and the K-135, Fw-56 and Bf-109E devices were used as control aircraft. As a result, they decided to start flight tests of an experimental bunch of a projectile aircraft, into which the Junkers Ju-88A bomber was converted, and a control aircraft, which was used as a Messerschmitt Bf-109F fighter. After the end of the tests, a program code-named "Beethoven" was adopted. As part of this program, in July 1943, the RLM issued the Junkers company with the task of preparing 15 copies of the Mistel-1 combat system (mistel - “dung cart”). This system consisted of a Ju-88A bomber and a Bf-109F fighter and was named Mistel-1.
In the spring of 1944, as part of the 4th group of the KG 101 (IV / KG 101) bomber squadron, a special squadron was formed, which began to receive the Misteli-1. Ju-88A4s without a warhead were used to train flight crews, almost all equipment was removed from the cockpit, such training vehicles were designated Mistel S1. Fighting vehicles were equipped as follows. The nose of the Ju-88A4 was easily detached using quick-release bolts and replaced with a warhead with a shaped charge weighing 3800 kg. The fighter was mounted on top of two front rigid struts and one rear spring-loaded strut. Two options for the combat use of the bundle were envisaged. According to the first option, takeoff and flight to the target was carried out only with the engines of the lower machine running. The engines of the upper machine were started when approaching the target, after which the pilot transferred the bunch into a gentle dive and unhooked. The in-flight undocking mechanism was as follows. The pilot of the control aircraft released the rear pillar, which, leaning back along the fuselage of the bomber, pressed the limit switch, which opened the locks of the main pillars. The freed bomber dived on the target, and the control aircraft went to the base. The second option provided for the joint operation of the engines of both aircraft until the moment of undocking, while the engine of the upper aircraft was fed with fuel from the carrier. On the night of June 24, 1944, the Mistelei 1 squadron from IV / KG 101 attacked the Allied ships in France for the first time at the mouth of the Seine River.
Other variants of the Mistele were also developed. For example, Mistel-2 was a combination of Ju-88G1 with Fw-190A6 or Fw-190F8. In 1944, 75 Ju-88G1 bombers that were under repair were converted into Misteli-2. The first sample took off in November of the same year, it was planned to deliver 125 copies.
Mistel-3 was a modernization of Mistel-2, in which an additional landing gear was installed under the fuselage of the lower aircraft, which was dropped after takeoff. The strengthening of the landing gear was caused by several Mistelei-2 accidents due to strut failures during takeoff from poorly prepared airfields.
In October 1944, the 4th group of the KG 101 bomber squadron was transferred to the II / KG 200, it was armed with 60 Mistels. In December, it was supposed to carry out a massive attack on the British naval base at Scapa Flow, but due to bad weather conditions, the attack did not take place. Then the German command redirected the Mistels to use them as part of Operation Eisenhammer (Iron Hammer), which was scheduled for March next year. The essence of the operation, the technical part of which was developed by Professor Steinmann of the RLM back in 1943, was the one-time bombing of power plants located in the European part of the Soviet Union in order to paralyze the defense industry. For these strikes, special aviation mines "Sommerballon" ("Summer balloon") were developed, which were supposed to be dropped into the reservoirs of power plants. While remaining afloat, the mine was supposed to be delivered by the flow of water to hydroelectric turbines or water intake systems to cool thermal turbines and disable them. About 100 Mistels were required to complete Operation Iron Hammer. According to the scenario of the planned operation, the Mistels were supposed to take off from airfields in East Prussia, but in March these airfields were captured by the advancing Soviet troops. In connection with the change in the situation, II / KG 200 received an order to redirect their Mistels to attack bridges on the Oder, Neisse and Vistula rivers. Since April, the KG 30 bomber squadron, partially re-equipped on the Misteli, has been connected to these hostilities. According to Soviet data, on April 16, 1945, after the start of the Berlin strategic offensive operation, 16 Mistel twin aircraft tried to destroy the Oder crossings in order to stop the advance of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front on the capital of the Reich, but failed.
A version of the Mistel-3 was developed, which was intended for reusable use as an ultra-long fighter. At the same time, the lower aircraft was piloted by its crew, a radar was located in the forward fuselage, and an MG-131 machine gun was installed in the rear of the cockpit, two drop fuel tanks with a capacity of 900 l each were suspended to achieve maximum range.
"Mistel-4" was a bunch of Ju-88G7 and Ta-152H fighter. Until the end of the war, about 250 copies were built, up to 50 copies were captured by the Allied forces in the Mercerburg area.
Scheme of various options for the Mistel system (from top to bottom): A - Mistel S1 (combination of Ji-88A4 and Bf-109F4); B - Mistel S2 (combination of Ju-88G1 and Fw-190A8); B - Mistel S3s (combination of Ju-88G10 and Fw-190A8)
Notes:
Dornberger W. V-2. London, 1954, pp. 37–38.
Dornberger W. Op. cit., pp. 66, 69.
Norman Macmillan. Royal Air Force in the World War. Vol. IV, p. 176.
Dornberger W. Op. cit., p. 112.
All the planned 8 storage facilities were never built before the end of the war (See B. Collier. The Defense of the United Kingdom. London, 1957, p. 361.).
Churchill W. The Second World War, vol. VI, p. 35.
According to W. Collier. Op. cit., p.523.
"Army", April, 1956, p. 23.
Collier b. Op. cit., p.257.
One of the documents of the operational leadership of the OKW (No. 8803/45 ss of January 5, 1945) stated in this connection: that the danger of Sweden entering the war against Germany increased considerably during 1944, especially since the replacement of General Ternel by General Jung. This situation makes it possible to put forward again the proposal previously made by the Quartermaster's Department. This proposal consists of building a small number of launch sites for V-1 projectiles and V-2 rockets directed against Stockholm. It can be assumed that such an event would have a very intimidating effect on Sweden. The Swedes face the danger of formidable countermeasures from Germany ... We can count on the fact that the very fact of the construction of launch sites will become known in Sweden in the shortest possible time.
Churchill W. Op. cit., p. 48.
Collier V. Op. cit., p. 528.