Comments on: German startup rocket company raises $75 million

By: Ian C.

Ian C. — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 16:29:37 +0000

For completeness, there was also OTRAG, that was crushed by various and changing political interests.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTRAG

By: wayne

wayne — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:07:29 +0000

Audio From the Past
WW-2 RAF Avro Lancaster Crew Radio
https://youtu.be/MF5_hvE4WEA
9:44

“…”Watch Your height!”….”I’m watching everything!”

By: Edward

Edward — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 23:40:47 +0000

Now we know why the Germans don’t talk a lot about rockets. With luck, their new companies will displace the topic that always comes up when discussing German rocketry.

By: Col Beausabre

Col Beausabre — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 09:27:08 +0000

Fantastic as it might seem, I need to make a correction (I know, unbelievable! This is, after all, the Internet!!) the warhead size was 1000, not 2000 kg. I had the number 2000 in my head because 1000 kg is 2200 lbs. So, a medium sized bomb equivalent (a B-17 or B-24 could carry two of the US equivalent, the A/N M-56 on a 800 mile mission, three on a 400 mile one) but it qualifies as a Blockbuster, although not in the class of the British “Cookies” (4000, 8000, 12000 lbs High Capacity) or Tallboy (12000 lbs Medium Capacity) and Grand Slam (22000 lbs Medium Capacity). The last two could only be carried by the Lancaster B1 (Special)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command%2C_1942-1945._CH12450.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_bomb#2,000-lb_HC

https://preview.redd.it/lmj8wmtethm41.jpg?auto=webp&s=5689a587e78c7b96780c14d71368d0e984bd9406

https://i2.wp.com/www.junobeach.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/arms_air_bomber_aircraft_3.jpg

I think I’d better shut up – this is drifting pretty far from the purpose of BtB – although apparently heavy WW2 bombing raids could be felt at the edge of space in the ionosphere and a thousand miles away (and if you got hit by a Triple Cookie what was left of you may have ended up in orbit!). See

http://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/releases/PR783053.aspx

They are looking for citizen scientists to help analyze data to determine the lower boundary (if any) of this effect.

By: wayne

wayne — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 11:17:33 +0000

extensive V-2 rocket factoids can be found here–
http://www.astronautix.com/v/v-2.html

By: Col Beausabre

Col Beausabre — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 11:13:08 +0000

Blair, I think the V2 program absorbed 1/3 of Germany’s alcohol production, with each launch requiring the alcohol from 30 tonnes of potatoes. By the way, that’s an interesting way of measuring fuel efficiency, potatoes per kilometer. Hitler owed the potato crop to Frederick the Great – sometimes known in Germany as “the potato king” because of his enthusiasm for the tuber and the way it saved Prussia from starvation during the Seven Years War (started by an obscure colonial named George Washington in far away western Pennsylvania). It is still the custom to place a potato on Frederick’s grave when paying one’s respects

http://scihi.org/frederick-great-potato/

Due to lack of accuracy and ineffective warhead, the Russian military originally resisted adopting the Scud-A missile. One general stated that if he could issue the alcohol needed for missiles to his troops, he could take any city on Earth!

By: Blair K Ivey

Blair K Ivey — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 07:37:10 +0000

Col Beausabre:

I knew that the V2 was inaccurate, but a 4.5km CEP is wildly inaccurate (unless you’re under it).

If 1/3 of the nations production of potatoes was required for each launch, that’s a telling sign of how scarce food was. 30 tons is a truck load; not a lot.

As is usual, an edifying comment.

By: Col Beausabre

Col Beausabre — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 17:02:26 +0000

Just to be precise, the Germans also used their A-4/V2 missiles against the Allies principle port in Western Europe, Antwerp. Here’s the details of the targets for each launch

Belgium, 1664: Antwerp (1610), Liège (27), Hasselt (13), Tournai (9), Mons (3), Diest (2)
United Kingdom, 1,402: London (1,358), Norwich (43),[13]:289 Ipswich (1)
France, 76: Lille (25), Paris (22), Tourcoing (19), Arras (6), Cambrai (4)
Netherlands, 19: Maastricht (19)
Germany, 11: Remagen (11)

.BTW, the V2, while a technical tour de force, like all ballistic missiles prior to the miniaturization of nuclear weapons in the mid-1950’s allowing their installation on missiles, made no economic or strategic sense. The Germans threw away the equivalent in industrial effort of a medium bomber to deliver a large bomb (2000 Kg of TNT) plus other valuable supplies with each firing

“The V-2 consumed a third of Germany’s fuel alcohol production and major portions of other critical technologies: to distil the fuel alcohol for one V-2 launch required 30 tonnes of potatoes at a time when food was becoming scarce. Due to a lack of explosives, some warheads were simply filled in with concrete, using the kinetic energy alone for destruction, and sometimes the warhead contained photographic propaganda of German citizens who had died in Allied bombings.”

They were Godawful inaccurate, with a CEP (circle within which 50 percent of the projectiles strike) of 4.5 km – which is why it made no sense as a strategic weapon with conventional explosives. The Germans boasted that they were hitting London, but forgot to mention they were talking about the County of London, not the City.

But the Germans always had a fascination with “Terror Weapons” that would lead to the instant capitulation of the enemy – see the Paris Gun of the Kaiser War

“As military weapons, the Paris Guns were not a great success: the payload was small, the barrel required frequent replacement, and the guns’ accuracy was good enough for only city-sized targets.”

Sound familiar?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Gun