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History
On
the third day of October 1942 the first truly ballistic missile was launched
from Peenemünde in Germany watched by it creators Wernher von Braun and army
General Walter Dornberger.
It was the fourth attempt (v4 = Version 4) to launch a A4 (V-2) rocket, and
this prototype was decorated with a drawing of “Der Frau im Mond” (The Lady
at the moon) – inspired by the movie of the same name.
The V-2 was a major step towards space, and cannot be underestimated. It
carried out the ideas of other pioneers like Tsiolkovsky, Obert and Goddard.
But it was also done at a very high price.
The cooperation with the Nazi-regime casts long shadows over the V-2 story.
Von Braun’s role in this is still under debate – especially in Europe. The
fact is, that the manufacturings of the rockets were done by workers in the
concentrations camps Dora Mittelbau or Nordhausen. It has been estimated,
that for each operational V-2, 6 inmates were worked to death. This
model is dedicated to the memory of these slave workers.
At the end of the war Von Braun and most of his team, was captured by the US,
and as part of “Operation Paper Clip” was moved to USA. The captured V-2’s
were also send to USA, were it was used as a sounding rocket. USSR captured a lot of technicians and
carried out, their own V-2 programme.
Note:
This
model is my own original design based entirely on my own research. I created
it, because were are many modellers, who builds models in 1:96 or 1:100, and
because I wanted a model of this specific V-2.
If you are interested in a larger and more detailed model, I recommend you to
take a look at Ralph Currell's model in 1:32. You will find it in
two different paint schemes:
Ralph Currell's free models
Sources:
Books
and articles:
Germany's Secret Weapons by Roger Ford
V-2
Ballistic Missile 1942-1952 by Steven J. Zagola
Dawn
of the Rocket Age by Joachim Engelmann
The
Rocket - The History and Development of Rocket and Missile Technology
by David Baker.
Rockets
of the world by Peter Alway,
Le
V-2 arme stratégique by Gérard Hartmann
Sources
on the web (some of them).
www.airventure.de/peenemuende.htm
www.v2rocket.com
www.v2rakete.de/
www.jirzy.webzdarma.cz
http://www.raketenspezialisten.de/
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