آیا توده ای از ضایعات می تواند نقاب از یک فن آوری پیشرفته بردارد؟ A4/V-2 شماره V89

Three months before the first V-2 rocket attack on London a test vehicle crashed in southern Sweden on June 13, 1944. At this time the Allied only had limited knowledge about the rocket (A4/V-2) from agent reports and information from the Polish resistance investigating some remains from a crashed test vehicle in Poland. London was confronted with a new weapon supposedly able to carry an explosive warhead of several tons some 250 km.The A4/V-2 rocket test vehicle number V89 broke apart shortly before impacting ground. In a short time 2 t of metal parts and electrical equipment was collected and transported to Stockholm for investigations. A first Swedish report was ready by July 21, 1944 and the rocket parts were then transported to England for further investigations. By August 18, 1944 the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) had its preliminary report ready. But how close to reality can a complex vehicle be reconstructed and the performance calculated from a pile of scrap by investigators dealing with a technology not seen before?In the early 1940s the state of art of liquid propellant rocket technology outside Germany was limited and the size of a liquid rocket engine for the likely performance hardly imaginable. The Swedish and British reports, at that time classified as top secret, have since been released and permit a very detailed analysis of the task to reconstruct the rocket vehicle, the engine itself and its performance. An assessment of the occurrence at Peenemünde and how the rocket became astray and fell in southern Sweden, together with the analyses by Swedish and British military investigators give a unique insight into the true nature of the V89. It shows the real capabilities of early aeronautical accident investigation methods in combination with solid engineering knowledge to unmask a new high technology.

Information on an emerging German development of a flying bomb and/or a rocket system, including the construction of a new test site at Peenemünde, came to the attention of the British authorities in late 1939 through The Oslo Report. Other elements in the report dealt with e.g. German radar and radio navigation developments. The beginning of the Second World War set priorities such that the checking on background and confidence of such information were to be concentrated on the electronic systems development in Germany, and to find countermeasures for the Battle of Britain air war to start in 1940. The information on rocket systems was merely put aside [1] and [2]. The first air reconnaissance photos of Peenemünde were taken in May 1942, but at this time no flying bombs or rockets were found on the photos. In December 1942 and February 1943 the first agent reports on the development of a large rocket with a warhead of some 5–10 t for a range from 110 up to 210 km were received by the British military intelligence. Early June 1943 a detailed report on activities at Peenemünde and a layout of the test site came in from an agent, and the report also describes a rocket vehicle. Photos of Peenemünde from June 12 and 23, 1943 then finally permitted the identification of a rocket (A4/V-2) and allowed the first very crude size estimates. On August 17 and 18, 1943 Peenemünde was bombed by the allied forces [1], [2] and [3]. On August 22, 1943 a flying bomb test vehicle (a V-1 marked V83) crashed on Bornholm in German occupied Denmark. Photos taken and a sketch of the crashed V-1 done by a Danish naval officer were brought to England for further analyses. Soon after was also the flying bomb (FZG76/V-1) discovered on launch rails at Peenemünde and Zempin on Usedom. In November 1943 two further V-1's (test vehicles, no warhead) crashed in neutral Sweden and could be analysed in detail and all technical details and performance data were revealed and also forwarded to England. A first British report was put together by Reginald Victor Jones at M.I.6, the Secret Intelligence Service, on December 12, 1943 six months before the first operational V-1's were deployed towards London in June 12, 1944. And by then one more V-1's had crashed in Sweden. The Jones-report of December 1943 was fairly exact except for the propulsion system, which was thought to be a rocket propulsion one using decomposed hydrogen peroxide similar to the known Hs 293 missile and not the actual pulse jet engine [1]. The details on the A4/V-2 should however remain unknown for another half a year until May–June 1944 and caused considerable discussions and speculations within the British government and military intelligence. Only when access to real hardware occurred could the true nature of the A4/V-2 rocket be revealed.