V-2 (Aggregat A-4)

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V-2 (Aggregat A-4)
V-2 (Aggregat A-4)

Germany's rocket program was the brainchild of two men, Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger--the former for space flight, the latter for long-range bombardment. The two put together a team that began working on the Aggregate series of rockets. By 3 October 1942, the team, working at the Peenemunde test area, were able to launch the A-4 into space. The program got little attention from the Nazi Party or the German military until the reverses of 1943 led both to order development into the A-4 as the V-2--the Vergeltungswaffe (Vengeance Weapon)-2. Hitler ordered the V-2 into full production, but delays, Allied bombing, and further testing pushed the first V-2's deployment into late 1944.

The first V-2 was fired at Paris in early September 1944, and from thence on the majority of launches were made against London and Antwerp. The V-2 was more terrifying than the V-1: it was impossible to intercept, it struck without warning, it contained a much larger warhead, and it did not depend on fixed sites for launch. A V-2 battery could set up and fire in a few hours. Its accuracy left much to be desired, as it lacked any sort of guidance other than timing when the motor would shut off and begin its terminal dive.. Yet when aimed at area targets for the sole purpose of killing civilians, the V-2 was exactly what Hitler wanted. Though the Allies could not stop the rockets once fired, British spies were able to convince the Germans that they were missing London, leading the Germans to adjust their V-2s to actually miss London.

Though the V-2 was militarily ineffective, it nonetheless killed over 4000 people. (To this number should be added the 20,000 people who died in slave labor camps constructing the missile.) Germany would have been better served by spending money on a heavy bomber program: the Third Reich spent more on the V-2 program than the United States spent on the Manhattan Project.

If the V-2 had any use, it would be after the war. German scientists were captured by all three Allied powers and put to work for them, developing rockets. Militarily, the V-2 is the progenitor of all modern ballistic missiles (the infamous Scud is not much more than an upscaled V-2); in the civilian world, the V-2 would contribute significantly to space flight for both the US and the USSR during the Cold War.

This V-2 at the Evergreen Air Museum is a replica, painted in the test pattern used by the Germans; operational V-2s were usually camouflaged or just painted green. In the foreground is the V-2's inspiration: one of Robert Goddard's experimental rockets.

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Taken on: August 14, 2015
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