What if? Nazi Missile Was to Strike New York

PRAVDA.Ru ^ | Oct, 03 2002 | Vasily Bubnov

[RoughDobermann]

Thanks... if you write about a kraut rocket, you use kraut spelling. However, I believe the V2 DID have an internal guidance system, though not terribly accurate (why else use the graphite steering vanes?)

IIRC, the V2's "guidance system" was a simple gyroscope.

[RoughDobermann]

Shoddy historical take at best (like all claims of the the super-weapons Hitler was about to unleash) however, its a good thing resources were wasted on the militarily useless V-2 rocket program or more focus might have been spent on the jet engine systems that would have provided effective coverage over German skies.

The Jumo 004 jet engine was actually quite efficient for the time. The mistake was made by Hitler, when he initally insisted that the ME-262 be used as a bomber and not a fighter (when it was obviously a fighter by design).

[Robert A Cook PE]

Well, it didn't - Though they DID have airplanes that got close enought o NY to photograph the harbor and convoys.....


Now ......

But if such a missile landed today ....

Would we be better off, before or after the explosion, if it landed on Hillary's office?

8<)

[Poohbah]

Actually, the V-3 was a very long range cannon intended to bombard London from Pas de Calais.

The A-9/A-10 never received a formal V-series (not to be confused with "vey series") designator.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The control mechanism, analog guidance ckt's (not digital!), gyro's and steering were essential in Braun's early failures - until the missile was fast enough for the fins to control it, it HAD to use the graphite/steel vanes that were in the exhaust path of the engine.

He did have a lot of problems with them, but worked them out eventually. Like the Chinese nuclear missiles that Clinton sold corrective US technology for dnc campaign money, many times it's the small problems that cause a crash.

Look at Huntsville/Kennedy/NA Musueum/etc actual rockets/missiles to see how those control fins worked right during and after liftoff.

[bonesmccoy]

Great story... thanks for posting it. Von Braun is one my heroes because of his remarkable engineering skill. His imagination took our nation to the moon. All the Von Braun bashing in the world won't detract from the fact that the Saturn V was his creation. To this day, no nation has matched the capabilities of the Saturn launch vehicles.

[weikel]

The jets could have been ready very early but Hitler insisted the 1st jets be bombers rather than fighters. Jet fighters would have been easier to produce and a lot more useful they would have thwarted any bombings over Europe and probably could have cleared the USAAF( US Army Air Force), RAF, and SAF( Soviet Air Force) from the skies allowing non jet Luftwaffte bombers to attack with impunity.

[weikel]

Dresden is not the biggest black mark on Churchill the big blackmark on him was operation Keelhaul( forced repatriation of Eastern European DP's and Russian POWs back to Stalin a large portion of whom were executed or sent to the gulag). I have to wonder why Churchill sunk so low towards the end of the war.

[Freedom4US]

World War II really lowered the bar when it came to modern warfare. At the start of hostilities, all sides agreed not to target civilians. That didn't last very long. The Germans (mistakenly it turned out) bombed some city, the British replied in kind and it was all over after that. "Bomber" Harris and his crew would bomb at night, and the US bombed during the daytime. Much pressure was put on the US to bomb at night as well, but aircrews had trained for daylight mission in Arizona where clear skies prevailed unlike Europe where cloudy, overcast days seem to be the norm.

[Erasmus]

Here Yugo. V1 and V2 respectively.

These are in the German Museum in Munich.

[Erasmus]

Well, since you mentioned it,

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Americans living on both US coasts were convinced the Germans would attack. That's what blackouts were all about, search lights and plane spotters (before radar),and airraid wardens to protect us when the attack came. If they had attacked they would have been the recipient of the wrath of the US, but they were anyway. And we won.

I agree, it is not the same kind of war any more. It is a whole new world and we all, including congress, need to realize how vulnerable we are to sneak terrorist attacks, which can never be totally ferreted out beforehand.

[Oztrich Boy]

THe V-2 was ballistic though most of its flight after the control fins on the wings has set it on the correct trajectort during the atmospheric launch phase.

Becaise of the low launch speed the graphite/steel exhaust tabs were used at the start. When they burnt up the fin control surfaces took over.

A-4 accuracy was low: CEP 5 miles at the end of a 200 miles flight.

Launced on on top of a A-9 it would be lucky to hit New York State, let alone NY NY.

What might have been a real threat was Eugen Sänger's "Silbervogel" sub-orbital manned aerospace plane, capable delivering a one ton payload anywhere in the world.

[Jasonconley]

bump

[BobTrent]

Why do you call the Dresden bombing a “black mark” on Churchill? Dresden was a major military industrial production center and an important railroad marshalling center. Like industries most places, assembly plants were enormous but the shops where parts and subassemblies were made were relatively small and scattered throughout the cities.
The assembly plant buildings might be collapsed but the machinery would withstand anything but a direct hit. The machines were not adversely affected by weather exposure in the short run.
Aerial bombing then was quite inaccurate, particularly when flying through showers of splinters from A-A shells after coming past interceptor planes firing thousands of bullets and cannon shells at them.
Shops and factories were surrounded by the houses of the workers, as were the railroad tracks and marshalling yards. So the bombs that missed their intended targets destroyed the houses and apartment buildings of the workers and those who supported them.
If a machine operator was seriously injured or killed, the machine s/he operated had to have a new operator. Personnel to run the factories, drive the trucks, operate and maintain the trains and tracks, run the waterworks, the gasworks, repair the electric lines, a myriad of things that were essential to produce war materiél, were in short supply, for every able-bodied man who could be spared was in the military. As in the USA and other countries, women filled the places vacated by men off to the war.
Surely you wouldn’t mind the woman, somebody’s mother, who was running the machine loading artillery shells, one of which just might “have your name on it,” to be hit by a bomb and blown apart? Would you care that she was at home when off work washing dishes or nursing her baby? She was doing her best to blow your head, arms and legs off your carcass, whether the thought ever entered her mind.

[BobTrent]

Wealthy people sold their oceanside properties for cheap. This trend went into high gear after a German submarine shelled the Atlantic coast.

[dfwgator]

Churchill exacted his pound of flesh at Dresden where 130,000 civilians died. Is it any wonder the Germans are dubious of Anglo-American righteousness?

Whatever.

Warsaw 1945.