V-2 ballistic weapon

The V-2 ballistic weapon carried a one ton warhead 200 miles (320 km) in less than five minutes and impacted at speeds faster than sound. It was a frightening weapon against which there was no defense and no warning. It was also a technological marvel and a grim vision of the future, foreshadowing the inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) of the cold war era.

Under the direction of Wernher von Braun development of this revolutionary weapon took over ten years. Progress greatly accelerated in 1937 when the whole research team was moved to the remote baltic island of Peenemunde. The first test of a complete V-2 was on June 13, 1942 when the missile toppled over and exploded at launch. The second V-2 launch on August 16 made the V-2 the first missile to exceed the speed of sound. The third test flight on October 3, 1942 was a complete success. The weapon landed within 2.5 miles (4 km) of its aiming point after flying 118 miles (190 km.) Hitler ordered mass production of the rocket as the Vergeltungswaffe 2 V-2 on December 22, 1942. A total of thirty-one test launches were made out of 50 orginally planned.

The warhead was 2,006 lb (910 kg) of Amatol chosen for its tolerance to high temperatures since the thin steel of the nose reached 600 degrees Centigrade (1,112 degrees F) due to atmospheric friction.

The huge engine was supplied with propellants from high-capacity Walter turbo-pumps driven by turbines on C-stoff and T-stoff and generating 730 hp. Readied for launch the V-2 weighed 28,000 lb most of this being LOX (liquid-oxygen) and Ethyl alcohol. The rocket engine generated 56,000 lb of thrust rapidly sending the missile on its way.

Flight control was achieved by using graphite vanes in the exhaust, as speed increased aerodynamic rudders on the four large fins exerted more control over flight trajectory.

Before launch the V-2 was precisely lined in azimuth with the great circle direction of the target. Thereafter guidance was maintained by a system of pendulums creating a stable platform, two LEV-3 gyros and an integrating accelerometer. This guidance package used electro-hydraulic actuators to move control surfaces on the fins thereby modifing the missile's angle of flight. A maximum height of 60 miles (96 km) was reached before the weapon started to arc down towards its target.

Preliminary production began in a new plant south of Peenemunde in late '43 but mass production took place at Mittelwerke, a huge underground facility that used 50,000 slave laborers to build the giant rockets under horrible conditions. Nervertheless 300 V-2s were constructed in the month of April '44 reaching a peak of just over 1,000 rockets during October of '44. The total production of V-2 rockets exceeded 10,000.

The V-2 campaign opened up on September 6, 1944 with more than 1,800 missiles stockpiled with army units. 836 Artillerie Abteilung was the unit responsible for the offensive and started with two poorly aimed shots at Paris, France. Two days later the V-2 offensive began with missiles fired from heavily concealed and camoflaged sites near Wassenaar, Holland. 1,120 were launched against England (1,050 actually impacting the ground in that country). About 4,320 V-2 rockets were fired by March 27, 1945 with another 600 expended in training which mainly took place near Blizna, Poland.

The V-2 cost many times the cost of a V-1 buzz bomb but caused about the same amount of damage since the missile pentrated the ground before exploding. Unlike the V-1, though, the launchers for the V-2 were quite mobile, including the Meillerwagen which carried the missile itself. Militarily the V-2 and the Vengeance weapons in general were a failure and a drain on precious resources.