Subject: Re: Secret Weapons of WWII
From: Rick Ballard <rick.ballard@hsv.sverdrup.com>
Date: Oct 14 1996
Newsgroups: sci.military.moderated

Timothy C Holtom wrote:

> From tholtom@ozemail.com.au (Timothy C Holtom)
> 
> I'm looking for information on the secret weapons of
> World War II in particular information on such things as
> the following:
> 
> 1)   the V3, were the Nazis working on such a weapon when
> the Allies over ran the research and development facilities?
> Would it have able to hit New York?  How close were they to
> production? etc. etc.

The A-9/A-10 "Amerika Rakete" never left the drawing board.  It was a 
two-stage combined missile system which would have had a range of 2500-3000 
miles.  The A-10 first stage booster supposedly was to use nitric acid 
oxidizer and diesel oil fuel to produce 200 tons of thrust.

The A-9 second stage was an A-4 (V-2) derivative that also never left the 
drawing board.  It could be either fired by itself or mounted on the A-10 
booster.  It was supposed to utilize lighter materials, full-length control 
fins, and a more advanced rocket engine to more than double the range of 
the A-4 to 400 miles.  The engine used nitric acid oxidizer and "Visol" 
fuel to produce 75000 pounds of thrust.  Visol is mixture of vinyl isobutyl 
ether with aniline.

> 4)   Jet and rocket propulsion technologies, how advanced were
> they and what new developments might have been fielded had the Allies
> not closed down R&D when they did.

I have studied rocket engine technology from a historical standpoint and I 
am always surprised at how unimportant rocket technology was considered in 
the U.S. before WWII.  The military considered rocket engines to be the 
exclusive realm of science fiction afficionados, tinkerers, and crackpots.  
Compared to the Germans (who enjoyed official government support/funding), 
rocket engine and vehicle development was practically nonexistent the U.S.  
Hell, even the Russians were years ahead of of the U.S. before the war -- 
but the war and Stalin's purges of the intelligentsia pretty much hamstrung 
Russian rocket development (fortunately).

It wasn't until the Germans actually began fielding and effectively using 
large rocket-based weapons that the Allies actually began to sit up and 
take notice.  This began around 1942, and although the Americans missed the 
boat initially, they were pretty good at playing catch-up.

The following is a pretty complete list of German rocket engines using 
liquid propellants.  There are also many, many solid-propellant rocket 
motors developed by Germany before/during WWII, but they were mostly used 
for either artillery rockets or assisting aircraft take-offs.

109-500   Aircraft take-off (reusable)
109-501	  Aircraft take-off (reusable)
109-502   Aircraft take-off (reusable)
109-507   Hs-293/294 ASM (rocket-propelled glide bomb, 4.5 mile range)
109-508   P-1077 Julia interceptor  (conceptual, never built)
109-509   Me-163 Komet interceptor (many engine versions developed)
109-510   Ju-248 interceptor (modified Me-163c interceptor)
109-511   Hs-293 ASM
109-548   X4 AAM (wire-guided air-launched missile)
109-558   Hs-117 Schmetterling (Butterfly) SAM
109-718   Me-262 superperformance
109-729   Hs-117 Schmetterling SAM
A-1       Experimental rocket - ca. 1933
A-2       Experimental rocket - ca. 1934
A-3       Experimental rocket - ca. 1934
A-4       V-2 tactical missile (SRBM)
A-5       Experimental rocket - ca. 1937
A-7       Experimental rocket - ca. 1941
C-2       Wasserfall (Waterfall) SAM
SG-20     F-55 Feuerlilie (Firelily) SAM
TP-1      He-112 research aircraft - ca. 1937
TP-2      He-176 and DFS-194 aircraft (precursors to the Me-163 series)
?         Enzian SAM
?         Hecht (Pike) SAM
?         Rheintochter-3 SAM
?         Taifun-F SAM

> 5)   Did the Allies in particular the Americans have a ballistic
> missile technology in any way comparable to that of the Nazis?

Hardly, in fact none whatsoever.  Aside from what they could calculate 
on paper, the Allies were pretty clueless until they were able to get some 
captured V-2s and test them out for themselves (ref. Operation Paperclip).  
The Russians did likewise, but were not able to capture as much men and 
material as the Americans.

The only significant amount of missile development done in the U.S. before 
WWII was conducted by 1) Robert Goddard, and 2) the American Rocket Society 
(which later became the AIAA).  Both managed to develop and launch 
several liquid-propellant rockets.  Goddard did most of his work in secrecy 
outside of Roswell, New Mexico and was considered by most as a bit of a 
reclusive eccentric.  The ARS was a bit more public about their activities, 
but the public at large assumed that they would probably blow themselves up 
eventually.  Overall, they were not taken seriously by the public, 
government, or industry, and were largely ignored.

In fairness, I should mention that a lot of rocket engine development work 
was done by Goddard (for the Army), Truax (for the Navy), and GALCIT.  
However, they didn't really get started (i.e. funded) until late in the war 
and were easily a decade behind the Germans when they started.

> Are there any publications containing such material?

"V-2" by Dornberger is THE reference on the German rocket program, although 
a copy is usually pretty hard to find.  I have a lot of related information 
that I have collected on my own.  If you have any specific questions, 
inquire by email.


Rick. 

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Any opinions expressed in the above message are my own, and does not
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