V-2

The V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2) was the world's first ballistic missile and first human object to fly in space.^[4] All modern rockets are based on the V2 design.^[5]

Aggregat-4/Vergeltungswaffe-2
Peenemünde Museum replica of V-2
Type	Single-stage ballistic missile
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1944–1952
Used by	German Army SS Post-war: United Kingdom United States Soviet Union
Production history
Designer	Peenemünde Army Research Center
Manufacturer	Mittelwerk GmbH
Unit cost	100,000 RM January 1944, 50,000 RM March 1945[1]
Produced	16 March 1942 – 1945 (Germany) Some assembled post-war
Specifications
Mass	12,500 kg (27,600 lb)
Length	14 m (45 ft 11 in)
Diameter	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Warhead	1,000 kg (2,200 lb); Amatol (explosive weight: 910 kg)
Detonation mechanism	Impact
Wingspan	3.56 m (11 ft 8 in)
Propellant	3,810 kg (8,400 lb) 75% ethanol 25% water 4,910 kg (10,820 lb) liquid oxygen
Operational range	320 km (200 mi)
Flight altitude	88 km (55 mi) maximum altitude on long-range trajectory 206 km (128 mi) maximum altitude if launched vertically
Maximum speed	Maximum: 5,760 km/h (3,580 mph) At impact: 2,880 km/h (1,790 mph)
Guidance system	Gyroscopes to determine direction Müller-type pendulous gyroscopic accelerometer for engine cutoff on most production rockets[2][3]: 225
Launch platform	Mobile (Meillerwagen)

The first successful launch was from Peenemünde on 3 October, 1942, reaching a height of 192 km.^[6]: 7 The V2 was designed by Nazis to bomb London, Antwerp and other European cities. It travelled at four times the speed of sound so was impossible to shoot down.

The first V-2 used as a weapon exploded in Paris on 8 September 1944, with a second rocket exploding in London later that day.^[6]: 10 Over 3,000 V-2s were used by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets in World War II, resulting in the death of about 7,250 military personnel and civilians.

The victors used captured V-2 rockets to start their space and missile programs. In the United States they were helped by the team of German rocket scientists from Peenemünde, led by Wernher von Braun. They had surrendered to the US at the end of the war.

The first US-assembled V-2, made from parts captured in Germany, was launched from White Sands, New Mexico, in April 1946.^[6]: 21 There were 66 V-2 rocket flights, the last on October 29, 1951.

Development

In the late 1920s, a young Wernher von Braun bought a copy of Hermann Oberth's book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Spaces).^[7] Starting in 1930, he attended the Technical University of Berlin, where he assisted Oberth in liquid-fueled rocket motor tests.^[7] In 1933 he went to work for the Army designing and building rockets. The final, biggest rocket was the A-4, later called V-2.

Production

On 22 Dec. 1942, Hitler signed the order for mass production, when Speer assumed final technical data would be ready by July 1943. However, many issues still remained to be solved even by the autumn of 1943.^[8] Around this time, production was shifted to the concentration camp of Dora-Mittelbau where an estimated 20,000 prisoners died producing V-1s and V-2s.

Test launch was recovered by Polish resistance on 30 May 1944^[9] and rocket from Blizna was transported to the UK during Operation Most III.

Further reading

• Dungan, T.D. (2005). V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile. Westholme Publishing Llc. ISBN 978-1-59416-012-7.
• Huzel, Dieter K. (ca. 1965). Peenemünde to Canaveral. Prentice Hall Inc.
• Piszkiewicz, Dennis (1995). The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-95217-4.