How does that song go? If I had a hammer, I'd pound on
unexploded live ordinance all over this land!
Posted on 03/30/2012 5:11:22 PM PDT by the scotsman
'They killed thousands in the final months of the Second World War, fired from occupied Europe at the cities and ports of the south-east.
So when great-grandfather Reuben Day, 82, saw one of Hitler's terrifying V-2 rockets falling just off the coast of East Anglia he informed the police straight away.
But despite Mr Day, then a teenage fishermen, showing police the unexploded rocket lying in the mud - it remained there largely undisturbed for 68 years. Over the years the deadly missile has only been approached by the occasional sailor using the 2ft of metal which protruded from the mudflats at low tide to moor their boats.
And only now has it been decided that the rocket, one of nearly 1,500 fired at Britain, should be made safe.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
They have a V-2 on display at the Space center at Huntsville Al.
The V-2. What an irony. One of the most advanced of scientific achievements, yet put to one of the worst purposes.
Another one at White Sands Missile Range New Mexico: http://www.v2rocket.com/start/others/wsmr.html
With the help of Van Braun & Co. 67 of them were assembled and fired at the range in the late 40s.
I’ve tried to tell the gas company there’s a gas leak down the street from me but they ignore it. I hope sometime in the next 68 years they fix it before it goes boom like a V2.
“My name is Magnus von Braun. My brother invented the V-2. We want to surrender.”[7][44] After the surrender, von Braun spoke to the press:
“We knew that we had created a new means of warfare, and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else. We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through, and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured.”
von Braun at his surrender, from the wiki page..
I read where von Braun said that in the early days, the accuracy was WAY off and no matter how they crunched the numbers they came out right - but the rockets still landed far from their predicted impact areas.
Then one day he had a stunning revelation and realized that the the rockets had left earth’s gravitational pull. “That was when I realized we had entered the Space Era.” he said.
Now for my little story. Morning lessons at a Northwood, Middlesex School. Suddenly an enormous bang. The teacher`s face turned white. Under the desks all of us. Normality then resumes. A little chap in my class went home for his dinners. The next district kids which did not have a school had to eat at the school meals program, including me. Too far to walk.
The little chap came back late from his lunch. A no no in those days. He stammered out his details of a cemetery that was hit by the rocket. It was at Pinner Green. The cold eyed little snots stared at him; it was not THEIR story. He burst into tears. The teacher said calmly to go and sit down. This he did.
I got on to the old school website and told the story. Long life to you, old chap, sez I. Don`t know whether he was around. Excuse the ramble- just had to relate it.
That leaves B Wacky out!
Great story, thanks for sharing it.
BBC news nugget (2000) on UXBs:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/719230.stm
“Danger UXB” British TV series (1979)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078593/
Will Leftenant Brian Ash please pick up the black squadroom phone?
I’ve heard that Von Braun and company benefitted greatly from reading the books of Robert Goddard.
It’s funny that they would leave a V2 just laying around.
It had to be very dangerous even after all these years
V2s, any ballistic missile, and satellites never “leave the earth’s gravitational pull.”
Even artillerists already knew that long-range gunnery was affected by the rotation of the Earth (only other thing that may have been the original quote) so I seriously doubt von Braun ever said this.
A bit of chutzpah for someone who knowingly and without complaint used slave labor to build his missiles for years to be mentioning the Bible, don’t you think?
That 's a charming story but it isn't true. Few understood celestial mechanics better than Von Braun. V2s were sub-orbital and followed guided parabolic trajectories similar to unguided artillery shells -- both very much subject to earth's gravity. Think for a moment -- what keeps the Moon from flying off into deep space? Earth's gravity, of course.
There's a mostly-forgotten story behind the V2s supposed inaccuracy. This is from Encyclopedia Astronautica:
"Tests of prototype V-2's in 1943 indicated a 4.5 km CEP (circular error probable - the radius within which 50% of the shots impact). 100% of the shots fell within 18 km of the target. A radio beam guidance update system was introduced in December 1944, which in tests produced a 2 km CEP. In reality, in the campaign against Britain, 518 rockets were recorded as falling in the Greater London Air Defence Zone of 1225 fired, implying an average CEP of 12 km.
"Part of V2s rumored lack of accuracy was attributable to a skillful British disinformation campaign. Nazi agents in Britain were the only source of information to the Germans as to where the missiles actually hit. Most of these agents had been turned by British intelligence and were sending back false reports as to the impact points of the rockets. These false reports indicated that the missiles were going long and impacting beyond London.
"As a result of corrections due to this false information, the German average impact point moving farther and farther east as the campaign went on. The average impact point for the entire campaign ended up on the eastern edge of the Greater London Air Defence Zone.
"Had accurate post-attack reports been available to the Germans, the CEP would have been more like 6 km...by the end of the campaign the missile was close to achieving its tested accuracy. Without the British disinformation campaign, the number of the Allied victims of the V-2 would have been more than doubled, demonstrating the effectiveness of that operation.
Thanks for posting.
And all that garbage is traveling around 17,500 miles per hour.
How does that song go? If I had a hammer, I'd pound on
unexploded live ordinance all over this land!
"Many V2's launched ... one of their main faults was to break up in flight, thus loosing even the poor accuracy they had.
I wonder if this guy is a freeper?
I have become somewhat saddened at the aftermath of ramifications of the war, as I remember it quite clearly. Not for one minute would I inveigh against those who have the happier memories of winning that war. I was in the crowd at Buckingham Palace 1945. I know that long, long before the two world wars, a Victorian poet, Robert Southey dared cast a few thoughts on war. One of his classic quotes was:
Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than war.
Bit of a sermon, enjoyed being able to hold forth, nice to be a Freeper.
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