X-Nico

9 unusual facts about V-2 rocket


Equine recipients of the Dickin Medal

Mounted patrols were stationed throughout London to aid in controlling traffic and improve the morale of Londoners during the frequent German V-1 and V-2 bombing raids that wracked the city during the early to mid-1940s.

Guarlford

During World War II a radio listening post was set up in Rectory Lane by the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) to monitor enemy communications, which was instrumental in locating the German V-2 rocket base in Peenemünde that was subsequently bombed by the RAF in Operation Crossbow.

Hillscheid

In the Second World War, Hillscheid was mostly spared any great war damage, although there was a rocket launching site near Hillscheid (Hillscheider Stock) from which many V-2 rockets were launched.

History of numerical solution of differential equations using computers

New weapons, however, such as Germany's giant cannons, the "Paris Gun" and "Big Bertha," and the V-2 rocket, meant that projectiles would travel hundreds of miles in distance and dozens of miles in height, in all weathers.

Milton Rosen

After the end of WWII, Rosen worked at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), where he was involved in the definition of alternative designs for high-altitude sounding rockets, both for scientific research on the upper atmosphere, and for development of liquid rocket technology for military purposes, following the German introduction of the large V-2 rocket weapon.

Obed Crosby Haycock

He used captured German V-2 rockets for his investigations and later he used improved rocketry produced by the U.S.

Operation Most III

Operation Most III (Polish for Bridge III) or Operation Wildhorn III (in British documents) was a World War II operation in which Poland's Armia Krajowa provided the Allies with crucial intelligence on the German V-2 rocket.

Operations Sandy and Pushover

Operation Sandy was the codename for the post-World War II launch of a captured V-2 rocket from the deck of the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Midway on September 6, 1947.

Orbit Jet

It strongly resembled a V-2 rocket in overall form, with a very prominent exhaust plume when flying, but had wings in addition to tailfins (even its radio callsign, "XV-2" relates it to that seminal World War II design).


640th Bombardment Squadron

The 640th initially flew sweeps over Occupied France from its base in England, attacking coastal defenses, V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket sites, airfields, and other targets in France in preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.

642d Bombardment Squadron

The 642d initially flew sweeps over Occupied France from its base in England, attacking coastal defenses, V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket sites, airfields, and other targets in France in preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.

643d Bombardment Squadron

The 643d initially flew sweeps over Occupied France from its base in England, attacking coastal defenses, V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket sites, airfields, and other targets in France in preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.

Brennschluss

In the 1950s, former German rocket engineer Willy Ley, who had emigrated before the Anschluss and hence never worked on the V-2 rocket, tried to get this term used by the English-speaking aerospace industry.

Earthquake bomb

It was used to disable the V2 factory, bury the V3 guns, sink the Tirpitz and damage the U-boats' protective pens at St. Nazaire, as well as to attack many other targets which had been impossible to damage before.

Homer E. Newell, Jr.

Newell became successively head of the theoretical analysis subsection, associate head of the section, and by 1947 headed the section; which performed upper atmosphere research using rockets including German-built V2s, US-built Aerobees and eventually NRL's own Viking; mostly launched from the White Sands Missile Range.

Joan Bernard

During World War II, she was an officer of the Auxiliary Territorial Service and was instrumental in Britain's defence against V-1 and V-2 rockets.

Kolbuszowa

During the war units of Polish Armia Krajowa (AK) and BCh (Polish Peasants' Battalions) operating in this area discovered testing sites for the German V-1 and V-2 rockets in the nearby towns of Blizna/Pustkow.

Richard Jury

The heaviest bombardment of London occurred during the Blitz, 1941-1942, but the Germans targeted London with V1s and V2s as late as March, 1945.

Soviet space program

Although the Americans had secretly moved most leading German scientists and 100 V-2 rockets to the United States in Operation Paperclip the Russian program greatly benefited from captured German records and scientists, in particular drawings obtained from the V-2 production sites.

Walter Bruch

-- This needs a reliable source, as according to more recent research in Germany, some of the achievements Bruch was credited for were actually the work of other co-workers, in--> During World War II he operated a closed-circuit television system installed at the Peenemünde launch site, so that the V-2 rocket launches could be watched at a safe distance from a bunker.


see also

Arnold Strippel

Strippel then served in Majdanek near Lublin Poland, Ravensbruck, then at Peenemünde on the Usedom peninsula, in the Karlshagen II forced labor camp, the site of V-2 rocket production and launches.

Bluestone Heath Road

There is a disputed claim that the road was used as a munitions store during WWII due to its proximity to a number of air fields, together with a local legend that a German Doodlebug or V-2 rocket landed on Tetford Hill but never detonated.

Rocket engine nozzle

It has since been used in almost all rocket engines, including Walter Thiel's implementation which made possible Germany's V-2 rocket.

TWA Moonliner

It resembled von Braun's V-2 rocket design but depicted what a commercial spaceliner might look like for traveling to the Moon in the faraway year of 1986.