[Travis McGee]

Von Braun and the other team members credited American Paul Goddard with most of the breakthroughs which they utilized. Goddard could not interest the US Army in rocketry.

Eisenhaer said that if the Germans had been ready to launch barrages of V1s and V2s in June of 1944, D-Day could not have succeeded. It was Hitler who dragged his feet in providing early funding to the rocket programs, the scientific work had been done long before.

If Hitler had funded the programs years earlier, the rockets could have been used on Russian and British infrastructure targets such as ports and railyards.

For that matter, the same can be said about jet fighters. The Nazis could have been utilizing jets and rockets in 1941, if Hiter had funded their programs earlier. Imagine the Nazis with V1s, V2s and ME-262 jet fighters in 1941!

[Travis McGee]

Ping

[mdittmar]

Thank God hitler was a nut case.

[Squantos]

Sort of a thank goodness he was a madman sort of thang huh....germans had a lot of great inovations and ideas. The Sturmgewehr 44, jets , rockets, interstate highways etc etc ......of course that Hitler thang and Nazi Meth pretty much put the "evil" brand on the entire country.....

[Little Ray]

In retrospect, just what would the US Army have done with Goddard's work? Rockets like the V2 represented a enormous expenditure to inaccurately deliver a relatively trivial payload.
The V2 was annoying, but d@mn near useless. The V1 actually had more effect; since it could be intercepted, the pinned down significant resources in defense of the UK. Its payload was also more effective.

The same is true of jet aircraft. The German's were defending their homeland against fleets of bombers. This was an ideal role for the Me-262. Imagine trying do bomber escort and ground support with them, though!

[Tijeras_Slim]

If Hitler had funded the programs years earlier

No bucks, no Buck Rogers. :)

[Tallguy]

If Hitler had funded the programs years earlier, the rockets could have been used on Russian and British infrastructure targets such as ports and railyards.

Partly true. The German interest in rocketry began before Hitler's political ascent. The German Army, limited by the Treaty of Versailles, lacked artillery. They were looking for a way to deliver an explosive payload by alternate means so they assisted the early German "Rocket Clubs." This was done on the cheap, but it shows that there was early funding.

The Soviets also were experimenting with rockets during this period. The most practical result for both sides were the battlefield rockets that could saturate an area target like an opponents gun line.

The chief problem from a weaponization standpoint was one of guidance. Since they really couldn't hit anything even the realtively sophisticated V2 had to be aimed at large area targets. Basically it was a terror weapon.

[archy]

For that matter, the same can be said about jet fighters. The Nazis could have been utilizing jets and rockets in 1941, if Hiter had funded their programs earlier.

The jet engined He-176 first flew in 1939; even the British Gloster-Whittle E.28/39 was successfully flown on May 15, 1941.

It'd be even more interesting if Hitler's panzer troops had been used on the British forces struggling to evacuate at Dieppe, buying the Germans somewhere between six more months to two more years for development of their air war Vergeltungswaffen.

That, and a more successful U-boat campaign not depending on the penetrated Enigma coding device, could have made things particularly dicy for the Brits...and forestalled the use of Britain for any Allied pre-Eorope invasion plans.

The first test of a jet-driven airplane took place at Rechlin on July 3, 1939, when test pilot Erich Warsitz flew the Heinkel He-176 jet plane for Hitler, Goring, Udet, and the entire Luftwaffe High Command. The test went swimmingly—so well, in fact, that the Nazi hierarchy thought the device was a hoax or a joke.

When Warsitz landed perfectly and climbed out of the aircraft beaming, Hitler and the generals looked at him stone-faced, turned on their heels and left. The Luftwaffe, Heinkel understood, was not inclined to sponsor further research. (Heinkel and Messerschmitt, both astute judges of technology, pursued the research on their own.)

As it was:

What might have been: