V-1 and 2 rockets. V-missiles. Further developments by Brown
On the night of June 13, 1944, a plane, making a noise like a motorcycle, fell within London and exploded. The remains of the pilot were not found. This is how a new means of air attack announced itself -
long range. At that time, the preferred definition was “aircraft-projectile”.
Projects for long-range guided cruise missiles were proposed already during the First World War. During the interwar period, development work on liquid-propellant cruise missiles was carried out in different countries, including the USSR and Germany. Being the first to apply something new weapon The Third Reich succeeded, can be explained by the funds invested in the project, as well as high level development of German industry.
The German Air Ministry was interested in projectile aircraft as early as 1939. Their development became a kind of Luftwaffe response to the “army” project of the A-4 ballistic missile. In July 1941, the Argus and Fisiler companies proposed a rocket project with a flight range of up to 250 km, based on the ideas of an unmanned aircraft by F. Gosslau and a simple air-breathing engine “with pulsating combustion” by P. Schmidt on cheap fuel. The occupation of northern France made it possible to fire such shells at London and other cities in England.
V-1 mockup of the V-1 at the Paris Army Museum
In June 1942, the head of Luftwaffe combat supply supported the project, the development of which was launched by Argus, Fisiler and Walter in cooperation with the Peenemünde-West test center. The development of the projectile was led by R. Lusser. On December 24, 1942, the first successful launch took place in Peenemünde (Usedom Island). The product received the designation “Fisiler” Fi-YuZ; for secrecy purposes it was called the “air target” FZG 76. The unit formed to operate the new weapon was called the “155th anti-aircraft regiment" The weapon became better known under the unofficial name V-1. The "V" (German "Vau") stood for Vergeltungswaffe, "weapon of vengeance" - it was announced that it was intended for "retaliation strikes" for the destruction by Allied aircraft of Lübeck and Hamburg.
Due to the bombing, V-1 production had to be moved underground.
Production V-1 cruise missile , which began in August - September 1943 at the Fieseler and Volkswagen plants, was far behind the program. It was only possible to reach the planned 3 thousand units per month in June 1944. Since July 1944, production was launched at an underground plant in Nordhausen, where the labor of prisoners of war was massively used. The production of components was distributed among fifty factories. In September 1944, production reached a maximum of 3,419 pieces. In total, just under 25 thousand of the planned 60 thousand V-1s were produced.
SECTIONALITY OF V-1 CRUINE MISSILE
Device fAU 1 cruise missile
FI-103.
V 1 had an aircraft design with a straight mid-wing and tail unit. In the forward part of the fuselage there was a gyrocompass and a warhead, in the middle - fuel tanks with a capacity of 600 liters, behind them were two spherical cylinders with compressed air, the tail section was occupied by control devices. The Argus As 014 pulsating air-breathing engine mounted above the fuselage ran on low-octane gasoline. Its intermittent operation (47 cycles per second) was accompanied by a high noise level - the British even called it V1 cruise missile(V-1) “buzz bomb”.
V-1 launch position for the start of rocket launches, only 2/3 of what was planned was ready
Starting the engine required pressure from the oncoming air flow, so the VAU was launched from a catapult or from an airplane. The initial version of a stationary catapult with a steam-gas generator and an accelerating piston turned out to be too bulky, was easily detected by aerial reconnaissance, and limited the direction of launches. Therefore, we switched to a prefabricated catapult and launch using a rocket accelerator. The pneumoelectric autonomous control system included a magnetic corrector, a gyro unit with a 3-degree gyroscope, an altitude corrector with a barometric altimeter, drives for the control and elevator rudders, and a path calculator with a range counter.
American soldiers inspect an unexploded V-1. the warhead is undocked. France, 1944
The system was ingenious, but far from the level already achieved at that time, which can be explained by the development time and the expectation of reducing the cost of production. The flight was usually carried out at altitudes of 100-1000 m. Maintaining the course and flight altitude was ensured by a magnetic-inertial system; the moment of transition to a dive was ensured by a path calculator driven from the aerola in the bow. Before launch, the counter was set to the desired range. After the counter reached the set value, the squibs were fired, activating the elevator spoilers, the fuel supply was interrupted, and the rocket went into a dive. Due to the large dispersion, the V-1, like the V-2, could only be intended for massive attacks on cities. The hasty launch into production affected the quality - every fifth of the first production V-1s turned out to be faulty.
Performance data of FI-103 (V-1)
manned version of the V1
- Dimensions, mm: length: 7750
- maximum hull diameter: 840 wingspan: 5300-5700
- Weight, kg: launch rocket: 2160 warhead: 830
- Engine: pulse air-jet, Argus As 014 with a thrust of 296 kgf (at maximum speed)
- Flight speed, km/h: maximum 656
- Flight range, km: up to 240
Application fau 1
By April 1944, the 155th Anti-Aircraft Regiment was deployed to France off the English Channel. 12,000 V-1s were ready for combat use. But out of 88 planned launch positions, only 55 were ready. And on the night of June 13, only ten missiles were launched, of which four reached England.
The first mass V-1 raid took place on the night of 15–16 June, when 244 V-1s were fired at London and 53 at Portsmouth and Southampton. Of those launched, 45 crashed into the sea. A total of 9,017 were issued from June 13 to September 1 V1 cruise missiles.
In London, they destroyed 25,511 houses, the losses in killed and wounded amounted to 21,393 people (in addition, during production at the Nordhausen plant, each one built cost the lives of an average of 20 prisoners). On September 8 of the same year, launches of A-4 (V-2) ballistic missiles began across London.
V-1 in tandem with Henschel He 111 aircraft
Having lost bases for ground-based launchers, the Germans switched to launching cruise missiles from Henschel He 111 N-22 bombers. Launching from an aircraft also made it possible to choose the direction of fire and more successfully overcome British air defense.
From September 16, 1944 to January 14, 1945, approximately 1,600 V-1s were launched from aircraft. In the fall of 1944, V-1 was launched from ground installations in Brussels (151 V 1 were launched until March 1945), Liege (3141) and Antwerp (8896). At the beginning of 1945, missiles with a flight range increased to 370-400 km appeared. But out of 275 units launched across London from ground installations in Holland on March 3-29, 1945, only 34 reached their targets.
The first mass V-1 raid took place on the night of 15/16 June 1944, when 244 rockets were fired at London.
Of the 10,492 V-1s fired across London up to March 29, 1945, only 2,419 fell in the city and 1,115 in Southern England. The British air defense forces destroyed about 2000 V-1s. Having become a weapon not of “retribution”, but of terror, they were unable to achieve their stated goal - to take Great Britain out of the war. Attempts have been made V1 cruise missile manned. Unlike the Japanese Komikaze pilots, the FAU pilot, after aiming at the target, had to leave the plane and land by parachute. However, in practice, ejection was difficult; the pilot's chances of survival were estimated at 1 in a hundred.
The V-Vs clearly demonstrated the capabilities inherent in guided rocket weapons.
German developments served as the basis for the deployment of their own work in the victorious countries: Soviet cruise missiles 10X, 14X, 16X, American Luun KUW-1, JB-2 and LTV-N-2 were, in fact, a continuation of the V-1.
October 3, 1942 at the training ground Peenemünde(missile center of the Third Reich near the town of Peenemünde on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea in northeastern Germany) the third (but first successful) test launch of the V-2 rocket (« A-4"). It was fourth according to the order of construction, the A-4 rocket. She flew by 192 km. and reached the height 90 km. The rocket's engine and control system worked relatively normally for the first time, although the rocket was unable to hit targets due to problems with the guidance system.
« V-2 "(from German. V-2 - Vergeltungswaffe-2, weapon of retaliation; another name is German. A-4 - Aggregat-4) - world's first ballistic missile long range ground-to-ground class, developed by a German designer Wernher von Braun and adopted by the Wehrmacht at the end of World War II.
Wernher von Braun
Externally, the V-2 rocket had a classic design for a rocket, spindle-shaped, with four cross-shaped air stabilizers (rudders).
The rocket was single stage, had a length 14 m., body diameter - 1.65 m. (diameter according to stabilizers – 3.6 m.), starting mass 12.8 tons, which consisted of a mass designs together with propulsion system (3060 kg.), masses of components fuel (8760 kg. - near 4 tons of 75% ethyl alcohol and about 5 tons of liquid oxygen) and mass combat charge (980 kg.). Used in the rocket 175 kg. hydrogen peroxide, 14 kg. sodium permanganate, and 17 kg. compressed air. V-2 consisted of more than 30,000 individual parts, and the length of the wires of its electrical equipment exceeded 35 km.
1
.Head fuze |
The rocket was equipped liquid jet engine, who worked for 75% ethyl alcohol And liquid oxygen. Both fuel components were supplied to the engine by two powerful centrifugal Walter turbopumps which were set in motion turbines on C-shaped and T-shaped rails. The main components of a liquid rocket engine were the combustion chamber(KS), turbopump unit(TNA), steam generator, hydrogen peroxide tanks, battery of seven compressed air cylinders. Engine power was 730 hp, the speed of gas flow from the nozzle reached 2050 m/s., temperature in the combustion chamber - 2700°C, pressure in the combustion chamber – 15.45 atm. Fuel consumption was 127 kg/sec. The engine could run 60-70 seconds, developing traction in 27500 kgf. and giving the rocket speed, in repeatedly exceeding the speed of sound - up to 1700 m/s (6120 km/h). The acceleration of the rocket at launch was 0.9g, and before fuel cutoff – 5g. The speed of sound increased in the first 25 seconds flight. Flight range reached 320 km., trajectory height - up to 100 km., and at the moment the fuel supply was cut off, the horizontal distance from the starting point was 20 km., height - 25 km. (then the rocket flew by inertia):
Accuracy of missile hitting target ( circular probable deviation) was according to the project 0.5-1 km. (0,002 – 0,003 from range), but in reality it was 10-20 km. (0,03 – 0,06 from range).
Used as explosives in warheads ammotol(mixture ammonium nitrate And TNT in various proportions from 80/20 to 50/50) due to its resistance to vibration and high temperatures– the head fairing was heating up up to 600 degrees during friction with the atmosphere. The warhead contained 730 - 830 kg. ammotol (the mass of the entire head part was 1000 kg.). When falling, the speed of the rocket was 450 – 1100 m/s. The explosion did not occur immediately upon impact with the surface - the rocket had time to go a little deeper into the ground. The explosion left a crater with a diameter of 25-30 m. and depth 15 m.
The average cost of one missile was 119,600 Reichsmarks.
Technologically, the rocket was divided into 4 compartments: combat, instrument, tank (fuel) And tail. This division was dictated transportation conditions.
Combat compartment conical shape, made ofmild steel thick 6 mm., total axial length (from the base of the fairing)2010 mm., equipped with ammotol. At the top of the fighting compartment washighly sensitive impact pulse fuze. From usemechanical fuseshad to be abandoned due to the high speed of collision of the rocket with the ground, as a result of which the mechanical fuses simplydidn't have time to workand were destroyed. The charge was detonated by a device located in its rear part.squib By electrical signal, received from the fuse. The signal cable from the head section was pulled through a channel located in the central part of the combat compartment.
IN instrument compartment equipment was located control systems And radio equipment.
Fuel compartment occupied the central part of the rocket. Fuel (75% water solution ethyl alcohol) was placed in upper (front) tank. Oxidizer- liquid oxygen, filled in lower (rear) tank. Both tanks were made from light alloy. To prevent changes in shape and breakage, both tanks puffed up pressure equal to approximately 1.4 atmospheres. The space between the tanks and the casing was densely filled heat insulator (fiberglass).
IN tail compartment , was placed on the load frame propulsion system. They were attached to the tail section with flange joints 4 stabilizers. Inside each stabilizer there were placed electric motor, shaft, aerodynamic steering wheel chain drive And steering gear, deflecting gas steering wheel(located in the nozzle alignment, immediately behind its cut).
The missile could be based on either stationary ground launch pad, and on mobile installation. She started vertically. Before launching the V-2, strictly aligned in azimuth using a large guidance circle. On the active part of the trajectory, the autonomous gyroscopic control system, which had a stable platform, two gyroscope and integrated accelerometer. At the start the direction was controlled graphite blades, which were flown around by the engine exhaust stream ( gas rudders). During the flight, the direction of the rocket's movement was regulated aerodynamic rudders of the blades who had electrohydraulic drive.
The desire to increase the range of the V-2 rocket led to a project to install it on swept wings And enlarged aerodynamic rudders. Theoretically, such a rocket in flight could glide over a distance up to 600 km.:
A-4b cruise missile on the launch pad in Peenemünde, 1944
Two experimental flights of such cruise missiles, called A-4b , were produced in Peenemünde in 1944 . The first launch was a complete failure. The second rocket successfully gained altitude, but its wing came off as it entered the atmosphere.
First test V-2 launch took place in March 1942 , and the first combat start - September 8, 1944 . Number of completed combat rocket launches amounted to 3225 . The missile was used for the purpose of intimidation, hitting mostly civilians. The area was mainly targeted Great Britain, especially a city with a large area London, as well as other European cities.
V-2 victims, Antwerp, 1944
However, the military significance of the V-2 was insignificant. Efficiency combat use rockets was extremely low: the rockets had low hit accuracy(in a circle with a diameter 10 km. only hit 50% launched missiles) and low reliability(about half of the missiles launched exploded on the ground or in the air during launch, or failed in flight; this was largely due to sabotage activities of the anti-fascist underground in a concentration camp whose prisoners made rockets). By various sources, start 2000 missiles aimed at 7 months for the destruction of London, led to death over 2700 people(i.e., each missile killed one or two people). To drop the same amount of explosives as was dropped by the Americans using four-engine bombers B-17 (« Flying fortress"), one would have to use 66000 V-2, the production of which would require 6 years.
The V-2 rocket was the first object in history to commit . IN first half of 1944 , in order to debug the design, a number of vertical missile launches were carried out with a slightly increased 67 sec. engine operating time. The lifting height reached 188 kilometers, which, by modern standards, is considered suborbital flight, since the rocket passed 100 km Karman line, accepted as the “beginning of the cosmos.”
Moreover, among certain circles there is a popular hypothesis about the first German cosmonauts . It is based on information that based on V-2 there is still from 1941 - 1942 the project was being developed 100-ton guided two-stage world's first intercontinental ballistic missile A-9/A-10 « America-Rakete ", or " Project America ", height 25 m., diameter 4.15 m., with flight range 5000 km. for bombing New York and other cities east coast USA:
Here are the estimated technical data of this missile:
Purely technically, however, this missile was, rather, supersonic cruise, since its second stage was cruise rocket plane, moving not along a ballistic but along a gliding trajectory. To aim the head of a missile with a warhead at a target, it was planned to use beginning and middle of flight - signal from a radio beacon, on final part - pilot, which shortly before the target was supposed to leave the small cabin by parachute and splash down in Atlantic Ocean hoping to be picked up by a German submarine after he committed suborbital spaceflight.
Uncontrolled flight variant A-9/A-10 . After separation of the first stage at altitude 60 km. unguided cruise missile A-9 reaches a speed at the end of the active section of about 10,000 km/h. After passing the top of the trajectory and returning to the dense layers of the atmosphere with the help of aerodynamic rudders, the dive stopped, and the subsequent movement of the rocket occurred in the form series of successive atmospheric dives. This flight pattern allowed dissipate heat into the surrounding space, released due to the friction of the rocket with the air, and increase the flight range up to 5000 km., of course, at a price reducing speed at target .
According to some data found in the literature, the winged second stage A-9 has been tested several times, starting from January 8, 1945 .
As for the first stage - A-10, then according to some data it was not completed, and according to others, it still in mid-1944 was built at the Peenemünde rocket center launch pad, larger than for A-4, which could be used for A-10 launches.
There is also information about at the end of 1944 operations " Elster» (« Magpie") V New York to neutralize those who have already penetrated German agents, whose task was to install radio beacons on city skyscrapers. If so, the America-Rakete project may have been close to entering combat use. The full development of the US missile bombing project was apparently no longer possible, since the German missile range was subjected to Allied air raids and then occupied Soviet troops in the early spring of 1945 .
If the A-9/A-10 missiles were nevertheless tested and there were pilots on board, then if the altitude in these launches was exceeded 100 km. they could be considered the first cosmonauts.
However, the fact of any significant work on the A9/A10 program raises strong doubts, since there is no material evidence of any practical implementation of work on the project. According to data carried out by the magazine “ Technology - youth» investigations, program did not progress beyond sketches and calculations.
After the end of World War 2, the V-2 became prototype of the first intercontinental ballistic missiles in the USA and USSR and other countries. With the launch of captured and later modified V-2 rockets, some American, so Soviet rocket and space programs. First Chinese ballistic missiles Dongfeng-1 also began with the development of Soviet missiles R-2, created on the basis of the V-2.
April 11, 1945 American troops captured the plant Mittelwerk" V Thuringia where they found 54 assembled rockets. In addition, in the assembly shops there were also 35 V-2 in varying degrees of readiness.
V-2 on the assembly line of the Mittelwerk plant in Mount Konstein, July 3, 1945
Near the rocket factory, on the southern slope of the mountain Konstein, V 5 km. from the city Nordhausen was Dora concentration camp(Dora-Mittelbau, Nordhausen) - camp subdivision Buchenwald. The main purpose of the camp was to organize the underground production of weapons at the Mittelwerk plant, including V-2 missiles. In the camp, prisoners worked in tunnels specially cut into the mountain. It was one of the most difficult camps in Germany. However, in the camp there was anti-fascist underground, which organized secret sabotage in the manufacture of rockets, due to which about half all launched V-2s did not reach the target.
After the Dora camp was occupied by the Allies, they were found buried 25,000 corpses of prisoners, and further 5000 people was shot before the advance of the American army. Thus, rocket production was carried away 10 times more lives than ourselves missile strikes.
About 100 V-2 missiles captured by American troops on 16 transport ships were sent to America, where they became a real discovery for American engineers. In the first post-war years, with the help of Wernher von Braun, the first American ballistic missiles were created on their basis: Redstone, Mercury, Jupiter who played a key role in the implementation first US space successes:
In the United States, research on captured missiles was carried out as part of the ballistic missile development program Hermes. In 1946-1952 US Army carried out 63 missile launches for research purposes and one launch from the deck of an aircraft carrier US Navy. However, due to the presence of a parallel program in the United States to develop an all-American series of missiles WAC Corporal, development of the V-2 line in the United States was limited.
Strong impression made acquaintance with German military equipment and Soviet engineers. Here's how I wrote about it B.E. Chertok, sent to Germany after the end of the war, along with other rocketry specialists, to become acquainted with German captured V-2 rockets:
« A.M. Isaev, then I, N.A. Pilyugin, V.P. Mishin and several other specialists were allowed to examine secret German weapons.
Entering the hall, I immediately saw a dirty black bell from which the lower part of Isaev’s torso was sticking out. He climbed headlong through the nozzle into the combustion chamber and used a flashlight to examine the details. An upset Bolkhovitinov sat nearby.
I asked:
- What is this, Viktor Fedorovich?
- This is something that cannot happen!- came the answer.
At that time we simply could not imagine a rocket engine of this size ».
However, our engineers managed to repeat exactly German rocket and create its domestic analogue R-1. In parallel with this analogue, S.P. Korolev developed a rocket R-2, which has already flown on 600 km distance. Our rocket was the last direct descendant of the V-2 R-5, which became the first domestic missile with a nuclear warhead:
Direct descendants of V-2
So, the birth of the greatest rocket of the 20th century, which then became the basis space rockets, was paid for by thousands of lives– residents of European cities that were hit by missile attacks, prisoners of concentration camps. And in subsequent years, missiles were considered by the superpowers as means of military domination. All talk about peaceful exploratory space flights was seen as more than just fantasy, but as harmful diversion of resources from the main goal - the creation of means of destruction, destruction, murder. Only for these purposes did the “powers of this world” consider it worthy and necessary to allocate huge funds. And only to those designers who were space dreamers and strong personalities rolled into one, such as S.P. Korolev, Wernher von Braun, V.P.Glushko and others managed to channel some of this militant energy into peaceful, exploratory channels. Maybe, subsequent space exploration atoned for the sacrifices that were made during the first stage of rocket development in the 20th century. Or not redeemed?
Some of those exported to USA V-2 was used to carry out scientific research.
October 24, 1946 automatic 35mm camera installed on a captured V-2 rocket launched by American military engineers from the test site White Sands(state New Mexico), first photographed the Earth from above 65 miles (105 kilometers). These are the photos:
February 20, 1947 in the USA, using a V-2 rocket, were launched into space along a suborbital trajectory first living things - fruit flies. A study was made of the effects of radiation exposure at high altitudes.
In 1948 in the USA, captured V-2 missiles were launched in the nose cone rhesus monkeys - Albert And Albert 1. A monkey preparing to fly it was difficult to get used to the cabin conditions, did not respond well to training, sometimes they had nervous breakdowns, and then they showed aggressiveness, which they fought against, plunging the animals into a state drug intoxication. After launch they died of suffocation. The rocket's height reached 63 km.
June 14, 1949 monkey Albert II was launched into space in the same way. Unfortunately, so did Albert II died because of the parachute did not open. But nonetheless Albert II became the first monkey in the world to go into space, because it took off on 133 km.
September 16, 1949 AAlbert III - cynomolgus macaque- died at altitude 10.7 kilometers when a rocket explodes.
December 8, 1949 Albert IV died during the flight, reaching altitude 130.6 kilometers.
August 31, 1950 mice Mickey, Mighty, Jerry or Danger, were launched into space aboard the V-2. It is not known how many of them survived.
April 18, 1951 nicknamed monkey Albert V died due to parachute failure.
September 20, 1951 Yorick, also known as Albert VI, together with 11 mice, flying 70 km., became the first monkey to survive a rocket flight. However, he died 2 hours after landing. Two mice also died. Their deaths were caused by overheating in a sealed capsule in the sun before they were found.
May 21, 1952 monkey Patricia And Mike, who flew and survived the flight, flew only 26 kilometers. Patricia and Mike have lived their entire lives in National Zoological Park in Washington, DC USA.
IN THE USSR in 1949 – 1951 launches were carried out of the successors of the V-2 - geophysical rockets R-1A (V-1A), R-1B (V-1B), R-1B (B-1B) With scientific purposes , including with dogs on board(cm. project VR-190):
To be continued...
History of the creation and launch of V-2 in Germany
,K.Gatland Space technology M.Mir, 1986,
http://ru.wikipedia.org/, http://supercoolpics.com/, http://www.about-space.ru/, http://fun-space.ru/, http://biozoo. ru/, http://vn-parabellum.narod.ru/,
In the first half of the 20th century, Germany brought down the power of its forces on the heads of Londoners three times. air force. During the First World War, the city was terrorized by Zeppelins; during the Battle of Britain, London experienced the devastating Blitz. Exactly 70 years ago, the Germans began shelling the city with flying rockets.
Residents of London nicknamed the bomb planes "buzz bombs" because of the distinctive sound of the pulsating jet engine. Just before the explosion, the engine fell silent, and these few seconds of silence, as witnesses say, terrified people.
The V-1 (V-1) was the first cruise missile in history to be used in actual combat. The letter V in its name comes from the word vergeltungswaffe - “weapon of retribution.”
The leadership of the Third Reich hoped that the V-V would become that “miracle weapon” that would change the course of the war, however, despite the effectiveness of the missiles, they still did not bring victory.
Regular bombing of London continued until September 1944, with the last bomb falling on the city in March 1945.
Residents of London first heard the buzzing sound of an aircraft shell in the early morning of June 13, 1944. On that day, the Germans fired 10 V-1s across England.
Only four of them reached Britain, and one fell in London's Bethnal Green, killing six people.
After this, bombs began to fall on England every day. The worst day was July 2, 1944, when 161 V-1 rockets crossed the English Channel.
In total, about ten thousand V-1s were launched, of which only about three thousand reached England.
About six thousand people died as a result of the explosions of these missiles, and about 20 thousand houses were completely destroyed.
Compared to modern cruise missiles, the V-1 was designed rather primitively - it was launched, it flew in a straight line, and after flying a certain number of kilometers, it fell down, exploding.
Before the explosion, the engine was turned off and the shell fell down in a silence that terrified the Londoners. This lasted for tens of seconds.
As Eric Grove, a British historian from Hope University in Liverpool, told the BBC in an interview, there was a belief among residents of the British capital that the rocket was simply running out of fuel.
“The rocket had a rather primitive guidance system - in the nose there was a propeller that had to turn a certain number of times. And after this number of revolutions, the air rudders directed the rocket down. And when it began to dive, the injection system simply failed. The Germans spent a lot of effort to cope with this problem, but it had a great psychological effect,” he told the BBC.
"Wunderwaffe"
German propaganda liked to use the term “miracle weapon”, in German - “wunderwaffe”. As the prospect of defeat in the war became more and more obvious for the leadership of the Third Reich, and for the entire people, this term was heard more and more often.
At the very end of the war, according to numerous memoirs, hope for a miracle for many Germans remained the only support that helped them somehow hold on. However, this term was not just a propaganda invention of Joseph Goebbels - in fact, it reflected Adolf Hitler’s passion for new and unusual species weapons.
It cost the Third Reich a lot of money, spent on creating super-heavy and ineffective tanks, or an underground multi-chamber cannon capable of firing at targets in England, but never fired a single shot.
However, among such projects there were also successful ones, for example, jet fighters and bombers, the V-2 ballistic missile and, finally, the V-1.
Cruise missiles, as the leadership of the Third Reich believed, should have changed the course of the war. They did not live up to these hopes, but turned out to be an effective and relatively inexpensive weapon, which the British found quite difficult to resist.
The V-1, for all its advantages, had serious drawbacks. The biggest one is a complete, 100% lack of maneuverability.
The rocket was launched from the European mainland towards London, it flew a certain number of kilometers strictly in a straight line and fell. That's all. She could neither dodge a fighter attack, nor maneuver during anti-aircraft fire, nor rise above the barrage balloon.
Any sudden change in position in space led to a fall. Many fighters took advantage of this and simply tilted the rocket in flight, pushing it with the wing, or even simply directing the turbulent flow from the propeller to it, which overturned the Vau.
This was not just a spectacular trick - it was not easy to shoot a shell with a ton of explosives, the explosion could destroy the interceptor itself.
Soon a new strategy was developed to combat missiles using... an intelligence network.
Primitive guidance using an impeller on the nose did not allow its course to be adjusted during flight - the fired rocket fell after a certain time.
At the same time, the Germans learned about the results of the shelling in the only possible way - through agents. When the British realized this, they learned to knock these shells off course without even getting close to them.
“We then controlled every German spy in England, and why not force them to transmit incorrect information about the missiles? If the Luftwaffe thinks that the missiles are flying over London, then they will reduce the distance to the target. And it is clear that it will be better if the V " will explode in areas with a lower population density, say in Kent or Sussex, than in London. In fact, it was later calculated that rockets falling in Kent and Sussex, which sometimes resulted in the destruction of houses, nevertheless reduced the number of victims half of what’s possible,” said Eric Grove.
Projectile planes that were shot down or did not reach London fell in the counties of Sussex, Kent and others - these places soon became the most dangerous in England.
Historian Bob Ogley said that one of the missiles, being shot down, fell on a house in Kent, where children who were evacuated from London lived: “It hit a tree, ricocheted and hit the house where the children from London lived. And 22 of them died. They were all no more than two years old. Then they cleared away the rubble and took out their small bodies from the pile of ruins. It was an absolute tragedy and the most terrible incident of that time in Kent."
Interceptors, anti-aircraft guns, bombs
It was difficult to shoot down missiles. Firstly, detecting a single target was not easy even with radar. And when this was successful, there was very little time left for interception.
It was necessary to send fighters to it, and they had to be fast enough to catch up with the missile and have heavy small arms to shoot the metal projectile.
Machine guns were not suitable - their bullets often ricocheted without causing much harm to the metal body. The guns coped with the task well. But it was not worth approaching the missile - if a ton of explosives exploded, the interceptor itself could be damaged.
As a result, through trial and error, it was found that the modernized Hawker Typhoon fighter, called the Tempest, was best suited for this purpose.
This most powerful British single-engine fighter carried four 20-mm cannons, which gave the missile little chance.
In total, this aircraft accounted for 638 V-1s shot down. In addition, twin-engine Mosquito, Spitfire and Lend-Lease American Mustangs also took part in the missile hunt. At some stage, the first English Gloster Meteor jets began to hunt for winged bombs. But not a single car broke the Tempest record.
Britain also improved other methods of combating cruise missiles. The new radio fuses on the artillery shells anti-aircraft batteries.
A conventional fuse was triggered either at a certain altitude at a point where there might not be a missile at that moment, or when it hit a flying vehicle, which happened infrequently.
The radio fuse was triggered at a certain distance from the flying missile, guaranteed to destroy it - even a simple blast wave could destroy the V-1. The number of downed missiles has increased significantly.
It seemed the most logical thing to destroy the launchers. Only a small part of the V-1 was launched from flying bombers.
Most of the rockets were launched from flat rails 45 meters long. The launch positions were very difficult to locate.
It was possible to stop the mass shelling only after the allies reached the launchers
This was carried out by a special service of the Royal Air Force. The task of the operators of this service was to scrutinize the photographs aerial reconnaissance, looking for a needle in a haystack - and this metaphor is not a big exaggeration, since the launch rails in photographs of this quality looked like ordinary scratches. But still they were found.
It was a game of cat and mouse. The Germans hid their launchers, which British intelligence called "skis", and mounted the missiles on them at the last moment so that they only needed to be fueled and launched.
In response, KVVS analysts improved their skills. The furrows on the ground, stretching along towards the coast, were traces of launches, and they often gave away the rocket launchers.
Bombing these targets was not easy - even the 617th Squadron of the RAF, the famous "Dambusters", was forced to develop a special tactic - dropping markers in order to aim better.
Massive bombings stopped in September when the Allies reached V-launching sites in France. The Germans still tried to launch rockets from Holland, increasing the range by reducing the weight of the explosives, but as the Allies advanced, air attacks became less and less frequent. The last V-1 crashed in England in March 1945.
See also:
Fieseler Fi 103 is a projectile aircraft (cruise missile) developed by German designers Robert Lusser from the Fieseler company and Fritz Gosslau from the Argus Motoren company. Thanks to Goebbels' propaganda, this missile was widely famous name"V-1" - V-1, abbr. from him. Vergeltungswaffe, "weapons of retribution". In German sources, this aircraft is also known as the FZG-76. The rocket project was proposed to the Technical Directorate of the Ministry of Aviation in July 1941. Production began at the end of 1942.
The V-1 was equipped with a pulsating air-breathing engine and carried a warhead weighing 750-1000 kg. Initially, the flight range was limited to 250 km, later it was increased to 400 km.
Beginning in 1942, the development of the FAU-1 projectile began at the Peenemünde-West research station.
V-1 projectile aircraft were produced from March 1944 to secret factory in the Nordhausen region in Thuringia. During the war years, about 16,000 units of these weapons were manufactured.
Description.
The fuselage of the V-1 rocket was a spindle-shaped body of rotation with a length of 6.58 m and a maximum diameter of 0.823 m. The fuselage was made of thin sheet steel using welding. The wings were made of both steel and plywood. A 3.25 m long jet engine was located above the fuselage.
The engine for the rocket was developed by designer Paul Schmidt in the late 1930s. The production of this engine was undertaken by Argus Motoren in 1938 and it was named Argus-Schmidtrohr (As109-014).
The way a pulsejet engine works is that it uses a combustion chamber with inlet valves and a long cylindrical outlet nozzle. Fuel and air are supplied to the combustion chamber periodically. In one minute, 50 pulsations or cycles occurred in the engine.
The operating cycle of such an engine consists of the following phases:
1. The valves open and air and fuel enter the combustion chamber, from which a mixture is formed;
2. The mixture is ignited using a spark from a spark plug, after which the excess pressure generated closes the valve;
3. Combustion products exit through the nozzle and create jet thrust.
An autopilot was introduced as a control system for this aircraft, which kept it at a given altitude throughout the flight. Stabilization in heading and pitch was carried out according to the readings of the main three-degree gyroscope, which were summed up in pitch with the readings of the barometric altitude sensor, and in heading and pitch with the values of angular velocities measured by two two-degree gyroscopes. Before launch, the V-1 was aimed at the target using a magnetic compass, which was part of the rocket control system. During the flight, the course was corrected according to this device, namely, when it deviated from the compass readings, the electromagnetic correction mechanism acted on the pitch frame of the main gyroscope, forcing it to precess along the course in the direction of the given compass reading, then the stabilization system itself brought the rocket to the correct course.
The rocket had no roll control. Thanks to its excellent aerodynamics, it is quite stable around its axis and there was no need for such control.
The logical part of the system operated pneumatically using compressed air. The angular readings of the horoscopes, using rotating nozzles with compressed air, were converted into the form of air pressure in the output pipes of the converter and in this form the readings were summed up through the corresponding control channels, activating the spool valves of the pneumatic machines of the heading and elevator rudders. The gyroscopes were also spun by compressed air through special turbines. To power the system, two wire-braided steel ball cylinders with air compressed under a pressure of 150 atmospheres were placed in the rocket.
The flight range was noted on a mechanical counter before the rocket launched. A blade anemometer, located in the nose, rotated the incoming air flow and it turned the counter to zero with a possible error of ± 6 km. After reaching zero, the blocking of the warhead fuses was removed and the rocket went into a dive.
There were two options for launching a rocket into the air: a ground-based Walter catapult and from a carrier aircraft. The second option was the Heinkel He 111 bomber.
The catapult was a massive structure 49 meters long, which was assembled from 9 sections. The catapult had an inclination to the horizon of 6°. During acceleration, the rocket moved along two guides as if on rails. Inside the catapult there was a pipe with a diameter of 292 mm, which played the role of a steam engine cylinder. A piston moved in the pipe, to which the rocket was attached. The piston was driven by the pressure of the vapor-gas mixture. The front end of the cylinder was open and the piston flew out along with the rocket and was already disconnected from it in flight. The catapult gave the projectile a speed of approximately 250 km/h per second of acceleration. Theoretically, 15 launches per day could be made from the catapult. In practice, the maximum output was 18 missiles. It is also worth considering the fact that about 20% of all launches turned out to be emergency.
A well-known myth is that a rocket needs a speed of at least 250 km/h to start its engine. This is a fundamentally incorrect judgment. The engine of the projectile aircraft was started before the actual launch from the catapult.
To launch missiles from a carrier aircraft, it was formed special part Luftwaffe - III./KG3 "Blitz Geschwader", the third group of the 3rd Bomber Squadron ("Lightning Squadron"), which was armed with He 111 modifications of the H22. From July 1944 to January 1945, she made 1,176 launches. According to post-war estimates, the losses of this group during missile launches were quite high, namely 40%. The carrier aircraft could have been damaged both by enemy fighters and by the jet stream of the missile itself.
Production.
The following German military industry enterprises took part in the creation of these weapons:
Gerhard Fieseler Werke, Kasell;
Argus Motors, Berlin;
Walter, Kiel;
Askania, Berlin;
Rheinmetall-Borsig, Breslau.
The production of individual parts and final assembly line took place in the Mittelwerke underground plant in Niedersachswerfen, near Nordhausen. The plant was codenamed "Hydras".
Construction of this plant began in August 1936. In 1937, work on 17 transverse galleries was completed. The rest were built in two stages between 1937 and until March 1944. It was originally planned to use this facility as a chemical weapons storage facility. However, due to the extensive damage suffered by German war industry factories due to Allied air raids in September 1943, it was decided to locate the plant there. Mass production of V-1 rockets began at Mittelwerk in March 1944. Transverse galleries No. 1 - No. 19 were used for the assembly of aircraft engines, the rest - No. 20 - No. 46 - for V-1 and V-2 missiles.
This huge plant was located under Mount Kohnstein, two kilometers southwest of the village of Niedersachswerfen and six kilometers north of Nordhausen. He was one of eight large factories in this district. The entire process of assembling V-1 and V-2 missiles and Junkers Jumo 004 and Jumo 213 aircraft engines took place there. In addition, the plant produced parts for the latest German anti-aircraft missile systems "Typhoon" and "Red Plates(?)" (Schildrote). The plant was in full swing around the clock, employing about 12 thousand people in two 12-hour shifts. About 75% of them were foreign workers. From 800 to 1000 V-1 and V-2 missiles were produced per month, as well as about 200 aircraft engines.
The main production was located around two main tunnels, each approximately one and a half kilometers long, 10 meters wide and 7.5 meters high. These tunnels ran from one side of the mountain to the other, thus having exits at all ends. The main tunnels were connected by 46 galleries, each about 150 meters long. The main tunnels had a pair of railway tracks for quick transportation necessary materials And finished products. Despite the fact that the total planned area on the lower and upper levels was about 600,000 m2, 120,000 m2 was used on the lower and 45,000 m2 on the upper.
The structure of the soil in which the tunnels were located was sensitive to high temperature. Temperatures above 20° could cause landslides. There were major collapses in 1944 and 1945. One of them killed 12 factory workers.
The plant operated until the Allied troops arrived. All equipment remained in place. American reports noted that about 5,000 different machines were found at the site, as well as some classified materials - boxes of films about the V-2 tests. It was also mentioned that SS officers managed to destroy copies of secret missile drawings.
Combat use.
Large cities were chosen as targets for these projectile aircraft: London, Manchester, and later Antwerp, Liege, Brussels and even Paris.
On the evening of June 12, 1944, German long-range guns located in the Calais area on the northern coast of France began an unusually heavy bombardment of the British Isles. It was a diversionary action. At 4 o'clock in the morning the shelling stopped and some time later, British observers in Kent discovered a certain “plane” that made a strange sound and emitted a bright light in the tail. The craft continued to fly over the Downs before diving and exploding at Swanscombe, near Gravesend. This was the first V-1 rocket to explode in British Isles. Over the next hour, three more such rockets fell - in Cuckfield, Bethnal Green and Platte. After this, daily systematic V-1 raids on English cities began. Londoners began to call these rockets "flying bombs" or "buzz bombs" because of the distinctive sound of their engines.
The British began to urgently develop a plan to defend their cities from attacks by German V-1 aircraft. The plan provided for the creation of three lines: fighters, anti-aircraft artillery and balloons. To detect targets, it was decided to use the already existing network of radar stations and observation posts. It was decided to deploy the barrage balloons immediately behind the line anti-aircraft guns in the amount of 500 posts. Anti-aircraft artillery was urgently reinforced. On June 28, only 363 heavy and 522 light anti-aircraft guns took part in repelling the V-1 attack on London. Soon it was decided to use anti-aircraft tanks, rocket launchers and twice as many balloons.
The Royal Navy sent ships to the French coast to detect the missile launch. They stood seven miles from the coast at an interval of three miles. Fighters were also on duty there. When a target was detected, the ships gave a signal to the fighters using flares or flares. The task of shooting down a missile plane was not an easy one because of its high speed. The fighters had only 5 minutes to do this. During these 5 minutes, the V-1 passed from the French coast to the anti-aircraft fire zone, and after another minute to the barrage balloon zone.
To increase the effectiveness of defense against German shell aircraft, the British moved their anti-aircraft artillery from the outskirts of the cities directly to the coast. August 28th was a turning point, of the 97 V-1s that crossed the English Channel, 92 were shot down, only 5 reached London. The last V-1 aircraft bomb fell in England only in March 1945, shortly before the end of the war.
German V-1 missiles hit England great damage: 24,491 residential buildings were destroyed, 52,293 buildings became uninhabitable. Losses among the population amounted to 5,864 people killed, 17,197 people seriously wounded and 23,174 people slightly wounded. On average, for every shell that reached London and its environs, there were 10 killed or seriously wounded. In addition to London, Portsmouth, Southampton, Manchester and other cities in England were bombed. Despite the fact that only half of the V-1 reached its target, these attacks had a great moral and psychological effect on the population of England.
| From June 13th to July 15th |
From July 16th to September 5th |
Total | |
| Number of V-1s released in London: | 4361 | 4656 | 9017 |
| Detected by the English air defense system: | 2933 | 3790 | 6723 |
| Overcame the air defense system: | 1693 | 1569 | 3262 |
| Number of V-1s that exploded within the city: | 1270 | 1070 | 2340 |
| Number of V-1s destroyed by the air defense system: | 1240 | 2221 | 3461 |
| Including: | |||
| - fighters | 924 | 847 | 1771 |
| - anti-aircraft artillery | 261 | 1198 | 1459 |
| - barrage balloons | 55 | 176 | 231 |
| Percentage of V-1s shot down to the number detected: | 42 | 58 | 50 |
After the Allied landings in France and their rapid advance on Western Front with the liberation of France and Holland, attacks began to be made on Antwerp and Liege. Several missiles were even fired at Paris. The launchers themselves were located on the northern coast of France and Holland.
In late December 1944, General Clayton Bissell presented a report comparing the effectiveness of German bombers during the Battle of Britain with subsequent V-1 bomber raids. The data included in this report is presented in the table below.
This table compares Operation Blitz (night bombing of London) over a period of 12 months with the V-1 attacks over a period of 2.75 months.
| "Blitz" | V-1 | |
| 1. Cost for Germany | ||
| Departures: | 90 000 | 8025 |
| Bomb weight: | 61,149 tons | 14,600 tons |
| Fuel consumption: | 71,700 tons | 4681 tons |
| Aircraft lost: | 3075 | 0 |
| Crew losses: | 7690 people | 0 |
| 2. Results | ||
| Structures destroyed or damaged: | 1 150 000 | 1 127 000 |
| Population losses: | 92,566 people | 22,892 people |
| Ratio of losses to bomb consumption: | 1,6 | 4,2 |
| 3. Cost for England (actions of interceptor fighters) |
||
| Departures: | 86 800 | 44 770 |
| Aircraft lost: | 1260 | 351 |
| Crew losses: | 2233 people | 805 people |
Project "Reichenberg".
The essence of the project was to create a manned version of the V-1 projectile aircraft. Prototypes of this version were designated Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg". These are in mass production aircrafts didn't come out.
The idea of creating similar weapons attributed to the famous German pilot Hannah Reich and a very extraordinary personality, SS Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny. Guided missiles were supposed to be used against Allied ships and fortified ground targets. Initially, several aircraft were considered and the V-1 was rejected in favor of the Me 328, and then the FW 190. The calculation was made that after directing the aircraft to the target, the pilot would leave his seat. A separate unit was even allocated for this project - the 5th squadron of the 200th bomber squadron (5./KG200), headed by Hauptmann Lange. This squadron received the unofficial name "Leonidos Squadron", hinting at the special heroic mission of this unit.
Tests were carried out with an FW 190 carrying various bombs. It was soon determined that the chances of a heavily loaded fighter getting through Allied interceptor screens were extremely low. The German Glider Institute in Ainring was tasked with creating a manned version of the rocket. Given the high stakes this project, in just 14 days, training and combat versions of the missile were manufactured and testing began. At the same time, a line was prepared near Dannenburg to convert conventional V-1s into manned ones.
The first flight tests were carried out in Lyarz in September 1944. Fi 103R was launched into non-powered flight by He 111, but crashed after losing control due to the accidental release of the canopy. The second flight the next day also ended in the loss of the aircraft. The third flight was more successful, although the Fi 103R was damaged when it hit the carrier during uncoupling. On the next flight, the plane crashed due to loss of sand ballast.
In total, four manned versions of the projectile aircraft were created under the Reichenberg program, including three training ones. These were the "Reichenberg-I" single-seat version with a landing ski, "Reichenberg-II" with a second cabin in place of the warhead, "Reichenberg-III" single-seat version with a landing ski, flaps, an Argus As 014 impulse engine and ballast in place of the warhead .
The combat version of the Reichenberg IV was a simple modification of the standard rocket. The conversion included the installation of a small cabin in front of the engine air intake. The instrument panel included a sight, clock, speed indicator, altimeter, attitude indicator, and a gyrocompass on a stand attached to the floor with a three-phase inverter and a small 24-volt battery. Controls are a regular handle and pedals. Plywood seat with soft headrest. The canopy opened to the right, had an armored windshield and markings indicating the dive angle. The cabin occupied a former compartment with two round compressed air cylinders. "Reichenberg-IV" carried only one such cylinder. It was located on the site of the former autopilot. The entire rear part of the wing was occupied by the aileron.
V-1 - CHELOMEY'S TRUMBO CARD
Winged guided missile(aircraft-projectile) V-1 was designed for launch from ground installations. During the war, the vast majority of V-1 missiles were launched from ground-based launchers. Therefore, I will talk about it briefly, focusing on the use of airborne missiles.
The Fi-YUZ projectile was created in a very short time in 1942 by the Fieseler aircraft manufacturing company in Kassel under the leadership of the German Air Force and tested at the Peenemünde-West experimental training ground. To keep all the work on its creation secret, it was conditionally named “Kirshkern” and received the code name FZG 76.
After its first combat use on June 12-13, 1944, in addition to the factory mark Fi-YUZ, it was given the designation FAU-1 (V-1, where V (fau) is the first letter of the word Vergeltung - retribution, retribution).
The missile warhead had three contact fuses. The rocket was equipped with an Argus 109-014 pulsating engine, which developed a thrust of 2.35-3.29 kN. Low-grade gasoline was used as fuel. Marching flight speed is about 160 m/s (580 km/h). Firing range is about 250 km. Several later production missiles had their firing range increased to 370 km.
FAU-1 missiles were equipped with an inertial guidance system. For most of the projectiles, the course was set by the direction of launch and remained unchanged throughout the flight. But by the end of the war, individual models began to be equipped with turning devices, so that after launch the missiles could turn according to the program.
The flight altitude could be set using a barometric altimeter in the range of 200-3000 m. To determine the distance to the target, a path counter (“air log”) driven by a small propeller was placed in the bow of the object. Upon reaching a pre-calculated distance from the launch site, the path counter turned off the engine, simultaneously sent a command to the elevator, and the rocket was transferred to a diving flight.
Some of the V-1 missiles were equipped with radio transmitting devices, so that with the help of cross direction finding it was possible to follow the flight path and determine the location of the projectile's impact (once the transmitter stopped working).
The hit accuracy according to the project is 4 x 4 km with a flight range of 250 km. Thus, the rocket could effectively operate on major cities.
In June-August 1944, V-1 missiles were launched only in London and only from ground-based stationary catapults. To protect London, the Allies threw huge forces against the new German weapons. Hundreds of heavy bombers almost daily bombed the V-1 launch sites. In the first week of August alone, 15,000 tons of bombs were dropped on them.
Given the short firing range of the V-1, when firing at London, the missiles could cross the coast of England in a very narrow area - less than 100 km. By mid-August, in this sector the British had concentrated 596 heavy and 922 light anti-aircraft guns, about 600 launchers of unguided anti-aircraft missiles, as well as 2,015 barrage balloons. Near the English coast, fighters continuously patrolled over the sea (15 squadrons of night fighters and 6 squadrons of day fighters). All these measures led to the fact that the number of missiles shot down reached 50 percent by September.
Finally, by September 5, most of the German launch sites were captured by Allied forces, and the launch of V-1 missiles to England temporarily ceased.
In this regard, the Germans converted several dozen He 111, Ju 88, Me 111 and FW 200 Condor bombers. The problem of converting aircraft for the Germans was eased by the fact that even during the Fi-YUZ testing period, some of them were launched from the Me 111 aircraft.
At 5 a.m. on September 16, seven V-1 missiles were launched from German He 111 and Ju 88 aircraft. Of these, two fell in London and the rest in the county of Essen. This was the world's first use of aircraft long-range missiles. By the end of September, German aircraft had launched 80 V-1 missiles, of which 23 were destroyed by the Allies. During the first two weeks of October german planes fired 69 missiles, of which 38 were destroyed.
The Germans' use of the V-1 rocket made a great impression on the Western Allies. In 1944-1945 Americans
created several copies of V-1 missiles, which were launched from ground launchers, from carrier aircraft B-17 and B-29.
On the basis of the FAU-1 in the United States, the KUW-1 “Loon” naval aircraft-projectile was created. At the end of 1949, two boats were converted into submarines carrying the Lun: Carbonero (SS-337) and Kask (SS-348). Each boat carried one projectile aircraft, placed in a hangar behind the wheelhouse. (Diagram 26)
Formally, Lun was accepted into service and remained on these submarines until the early 1950s. The Americans did not make any more projectile aircraft with pulsating jet engines.
The fate of the V-1 in the USSR was somewhat different. On the 20th of September 1944, an FAU-1 projectile found in a swamp was delivered to Moscow from Poland. A few weeks later, another copy was delivered from England (several V-1s fell without exploding into Great Britain).
By order of the NKAP dated September 19, 1944, the staff of plant No. 51 was instructed to create a domestic analogue of the FAU-1.
At plant No. 51, located near the current Begovaya metro station (which was previously headed by aircraft designer N.N. Polikarpov), a special design department for work with aircraft projectiles. On October 19, 1944, V.N. was appointed chief designer of plant No. 51. Chelomey.
In accordance with the GKO decree of January 18, 1945, plant No. 51 was instructed to design and build a projectile aircraft of the FAU-1 type and, together with LII, test it in February-April 1945. The Chelomeevsky FAU-1 product was assigned the index 10X . Like the FAU, the 10X was manufactured in ground-to-ground and air-to-ground variants. Moreover, work on the aviation version was ahead of work on the ground-launch version.
Three Pe-8 bombers were converted for testing 10X. From April to September 1945, 63 10X missiles were launched at the test site in the Golodnaya Steppe (between Tashkent and Syr Darya), and only 30% of the launches were successful.
In 1946, two more Pe-8 bombers were converted into 10X carriers. From December 15 to December 20, 1948, another 73 launches of 10X air-launched missiles were carried out.
The aerodynamic design of the 10X rocket is normal for aircraft. The length of the rocket is 8 m. The maximum diameter of the body is 1.05 m. The wingspan is 6 m. The first samples of 10X had metal wings, and subsequent ones had wooden wings. Pulsating engine D-3 with a thrust of 310 kg. The launch weight of the rocket is 2126-2130 kg. The weight of the warhead is 800 kg. Maximum flight speed 550-600 m/s.
In 1948, based on the results of flight tests, the 10X was recommended for adoption, but the Air Force leadership actually refused to accept it. They are very easy to understand. The missile had a short range and speed, less than the speed of propeller-driven fighters of that time. The inertial guidance system allowed shooting only at large cities. Hitting a 5 x 5 km square was considered successful, and this was from a distance of 200-300 km! Finally, the Air Force had virtually no carriers for 10X. There were only a few dozen Pe-8s, and there were no Tu-4s yet.
Chelomey was doing no better with the projectile aircraft ground-based 10ХН, the development of which began in 1949. This rocket was created on the basis of the 10Х, its main difference was the installation of a solid propellant starting engine. (Ch. 27)
In March 1950, the preliminary design was presented to the customer, and in July 1951, flight tests began at the Kapustin Yar test site. The missiles, SD-10KhN starting powder engines, launch sleds and guides were tested. Based on test results State Commission proposed to form a military unit for the development and training of personnel Soviet army to the operation of this new type of weapon.
From December 17, 1952 to March 11, 1953, military unit 15644 underwent State tests of the 10ХН ground-based projectile aircraft, during which 15 products were launched. The shooting was carried out from a bulky PK-10KhN catapult with an air launch unit. The catapult, over 30 m long, was difficult to move by the heavy AT-T tractor. The fire was controlled from a special vehicle based on the BTR-40A1. The catapult deployment time averaged about 70 minutes. The reload time for the new missile is 40 minutes. The weight of the 10ХН product is 3500 kg, of which 800 kg was the warhead.
The shooting was carried out at a distance of 240 km at a target representing a square of 20 x 20 km. The specified flight altitude is 240 m.
The first launch took place on January 12, 1953. The rocket initially flew at an altitude of about 200 m, and then rose to 560 m. The average flight speed was 656 km/h. The rocket flew 235.6 km and missed 4.32 km, the lateral deviation was 3.51 km. For Chelomey it was a great success.
The engine of the second rocket failed at the 350th second of flight, and it fell at a distance of 113.4 km.
The third rocket flew 247.6 km at an average speed of 658 km/h. The flight was 7.66 km, and the lateral deviation was 2.05 km.
As a result, 11 missiles out of 15 hit a square of 20 x 20 km. The rocket's flight altitude was chosen by ourselves - from 200 to 1000 m. (63)
Nevertheless, work on 10ХН was continued in 1954-1955. By decision of the Council of Ministers on May 19, 1954, plant No. 475 (Smolensk) was given the task of producing 100 10ХН missiles, but already on November 3 of the same year the task was halved.
The 10ХН missile was again tested at the Kapustin Yar test site. During these tests, the length of the catapult was increased to 11 m, and at the very end of the tests two successful launches were carried out with a guide length of 8 m. However, the 10ХН rocket was never accepted for service.
Since 1951, Chelomey designed the ship version 10ХН, which in a number of documents was called “Swallow”. The Lastochka cruise missile had two powder accelerators, of which one was the “first-stage accelerator” and was placed on the launch trolley, that is, it served as a catapult, and the other, the “second-stage accelerator,” was placed directly on the rocket. The rocket was supposed to launch from a track about 20 meters long with an inclination to the horizon of 8-12° and required stabilization from roll during launch. The missile was stored on the submarine fully fueled, without removable wing and tail panels, which were located separately and had to be attached to the missile immediately before launch.
In 1949, TsKB-18 under the leadership of F.A. Kaverina developed in several versions a project for the P-2 missile submarine, armed with the R-1 ballistic missile and the Lastochka cruise missile. The displacement of the submarine P-2 was 5360 tons.
In the P-2 version, armed with cruise missiles, the ammunition consisted of 51 Lastochka missiles, placed in three waterproof blocks installed in special niche compartments. In other versions, waterproof blocks were supposed to contain R-1 missiles or midget submarines. But the P-2 project was considered too complex, and its development was stopped.
In 1952-1953 at TsKB-18 under the leadership of I.B. Mikhailov, technical project 628 was developed - the re-equipment of the XTV series submarine for experimental firing of 10ХН missiles. The cruise missile was placed in a container with a diameter of 2.5 m and a length of 10 m. The work on placing the 10ХН missile and related devices and instruments on a submarine was coded “Volna”.
To launch a rocket, a device was installed consisting of a truss with mechanisms for raising and lowering it and mechanisms for feeding rockets to the launch device. The length of the starting truss was about 30 m, its elevation angle was about 14°. The starting device was located along the center plane in the stern of the boat. The launch was made against the progress of the submarine. The connecting link between the starting device and the container was the hinged aft lid of the container. In addition to this lid, there was a hatch in the bow of the container for personnel to enter the container. The container was designed for maximum immersion depth and had cork insulation inside. The missile was to be stored in a container with the wing panels removed.
For conversion to Project 628, the B-5 submarine was allocated (until May 1949 - K-51). According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers of February 19, 1953 on the termination of work on the Volna missiles, all development of Project 628 also ceased.
In 1948-1950 The option of installing 10X, 10XN and 16X missiles on the unfinished cruiser Tallinn (Project 82), the captured German cruiser Seydlitz and the domestic cruisers of Project 68bis under construction was being explored. (Ch. 28)
Back in 1946, Chelomey designed the 14X aircraft rocket with two more powerful D-5 pulsating engines. The aerodynamic configuration 14X is normal for aircraft. The warhead is the same as that of the 10X. The control system is inertial. The 14X variant with a guidance system based on the Comet project was considered, but it was soon rejected. But the 14X missile died quietly, the question of its adoption into service was not even raised.
On May 7, 1947, Council of Ministers issued resolution No. 1401-370 on the development of the 16X rocket. Externally and structurally, the 16X differed little from the 14X. The aerodynamic design is normal for an airplane. Tu-4 (2 missiles) and Tu-2 (1 missile) could be used as a carrier. (Diagram 29)
Chelomey assigned the indices 10ХМ and 16ХМ to modifications of the 10Х and 16Х missiles. In English, “X” sounds like “ex”, as a result, the nickname “eczema” stuck to Chelomey’s missiles - “eczema-10”, “eczema-11” (64).
During the testing of the 16X rocket, various pulsating engines were installed on it: D-5, D-312, D-14-4 and others. During tests at the test site in Akhtubinsk from July 22 to December 25, 1948. maximum speed increased from 714 to 780 km/h. In 1949, with the D-14-4 engine, the speed reached 912 km/h.
From September 6 to November 4, 1950, joint tests of 16X missiles were carried out. 20 missiles with D-14-4 engines were launched from Pe-8 and Tu-2 aircraft. The firing range was 170 km, and average speed- about 900 km/h. All shells hit a rectangle of 10.8 x 16 km, which is relatively good for the 16X inertial control system.
But the Air Force did not need such accuracy. Therefore, a decision was made to equip the 16X with a radio command guidance system, but it was never created.
From August 2 to August 20, 1952, joint tests of the 16X rocket and the Tu-4 launch vehicle took place, during which 22 launches of rockets with an inertial control system were carried out. The commission considered the test results successful, fortunately, the permissible circular deviation was considered 8 km.
However, on October 4, 1952, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Marshal K.A. Vershinin announced the impossibility of adopting the 16X due to failure to meet the requirements for shooting accuracy, reliability, etc. Vershinin proposed to test a pilot batch of 15 16X aircraft by the end of 1952, and in 1953, having formed a separate squadron of Tu-4 carrier aircraft in the Air Force, to test a military batch of sixty 16X, of which twenty should be in combat gear.
A serious conflict arose between the Ministry of Aviation Industry, which supports Chelomey, and the Air Force. They turned to Stalin for a solution.
As Chelomey’s first deputy, Viktor Nikiforovich Bugaisky, wrote: “Representatives of the Air Force command and the testing team from the test site were invited to the meeting. Vladimir Nikolaevich brilliantly reported in optimistic tones on the results of the tests and boasted, showing photographs of successful missile hits on the target and a diagram of the distribution of the points of their impact in a given circle on the ground in the target area. All this convincingly testified to the high efficiency of the missiles. Stalin asked representatives of the testing team to speak from the test site. The major came out and stated that all the successes that V.N. spoke about. Chelomey, they do take place, but in his diagram he showed only successful launches. But there are few such launches; the bulk of the tested missiles either did not reach the target, or their impact points lie far outside the given circle. He then presented his scheme with a completely unoptimistic picture of the results of the work. Stalin asked the generals present whether everything was really as the major reported. They confirmed that the major was right. Then Stalin summed up the results of the meeting: “We, Comrade Chelomei, placed great trust in you, entrusting us with directing work in such an important area of technology for us. You did not justify the trust. In my opinion, you are an adventurer in technology, and we cannot trust you anymore ! You can’t be a leader! ”(65).
On December 19, 1952, the USSR Council of Ministers issued a resolution No. 533-271, which stated: “Objects 10ХН and 16Х have been completed, and further work on the creation of unguided cruise missiles with PuVRD, carried out at OKB-51 (designer Chelomey), is unpromising, due to the low accuracy and limited speeds provided by these missiles.... Oblige MAP to transfer OKB-51 with its pilot plant to the OKB-155 system by March 1, 1953 [i.e. Mikoyan. -A.Sh.] as of March 1, 1953 to strengthen work on orders from the 3rd Main Directorate under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.”
Thus, in nine years of work, Chelomey’s office has not been able to bring a single missile into service.
Chelomey found himself out of work and went to teach at the Moscow Higher Technical School. N.E. Bauman. But then Stalin dies, and Khrushchev, with whom Chelomey had “old connections,” comes to power. On June 9, 1954, an order was issued from the Ministry of Aviation Industry on the creation of a special design group SKG p/ya 010 under the leadership of V.N. Chelomeya. An area was allocated for it in the buildings of plant No. 500, located in Tushino.
Cruise missiles P-5, P-6, P-7, P-35, S-5 and others will ensure Chelomey’s takeoff. But this is a topic for another story. And I refer those interested to my book “The Fiery Sword of the Russian Fleet” (M.: Yauza, EKSMO, 2004).