Editing V-2 rocket (section)

== Development history ==
{{further|Wernher von Braun#Early life|Wernher von Braun#Career in Germany}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1978-Anh.024-03, Peenemünde, Dornberger, Olbricht, Brandt, v. Braun.jpg|thumb|Wernher von Braun at Peenemünde Army Research Center.]]
[[File:Wind channel model of an A4 b.jpg|thumb|[[Wind tunnel]] model of an A4 in the [[German Museum of Technology]] in Berlin.]]

During the late 1920s, a young [[Wernher von Braun]] bought a copy of [[Hermann Oberth]]'s book, ''[[Wege zur Raumschiffahrt|Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen]]'' (''The Rocket into Interplanetary Spaces''). In 1928 a ''Raketenrummel'' or "Rocket Rumble" fad in the popular media was initiated by [[Fritz von Opel]] and [[Max Valier]], a collaborator of Oberth, by experimenting with rockets, including public demonstrations of manned [[rocket car]]s and [[rocket plane]]s.  The “Rocket Rumble” was highly influential on von Braun as a teenage space enthusiast. He was so enthusiastic after seeing one of the public [[Opel-RAK]] rocket car demonstrations, that he constructed and launched his own homemade toy rocket car on a crowded sidewalk and was later taken in for questioning by the local police, until released to his father for disciplinary action.<ref name="Neufield_vonbraun">{{cite book |last1=Neufeld |first1=Michael |title=Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War |year= 2008 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0307389374 |pages=52–54, 62–64}}</ref>

Starting in 1930, von Braun attended the [[Technische Hochschule]] in Charlottenburg (now [[Technische Universität Berlin]]), where he assisted Oberth in [[Liquid-propellant rocket|liquid-fueled rocket]] motor tests. Von Braun was working on his doctorate when the [[National Socialist German Workers Party|Nazi Party]] gained power in Germany. An artillery captain, [[Walter Dornberger]], arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, who from then on worked next to Dornberger's existing solid-fuel rocket test site at [[Kummersdorf]]. Von Braun's thesis, ''Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket'' (dated 16 April 1934), was kept classified by the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German Army]] and was not published until 1960.<ref>''Konstruktive, theoretische und experimentelle Beiträge zu dem Problem der Flüssigkeitsrakete. Raketentechnik und Raumfahrtforschung, Sonderheft 1'' (1960), Stuttgart, Germany</ref> By the end of 1934, his group had successfully launched two rockets that reached heights of {{cvt|2.2|and|3.5|km|mi}}.

At the time, many Germans were interested in American physicist [[Robert H. Goddard]]'s research. Before 1939, German engineers and scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. Von Braun used Goddard's plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the ''[[Aggregate series|Aggregate]]'' (A) series of [[rocket]]s, named for the German word for mechanism or mechanical system.<ref>Christopher, John (2013). ''The Race for Hitler's X-Planes''. The Mill, Gloucestershire: History Press, p. 110. {{ISBN?}}</ref>

After successes at Kummersdorf with the first two Aggregate series rockets, Braun and [[Walter Riedel]] began thinking of a much larger rocket in the summer of 1936,<ref name=Ordway>{{cite book |last1=Ordway |first1= Frederick I III | author1-link = Frederick I. Ordway III |last2=Sharpe | first2=Mitchell R. |title=The Rocket Team | isbn = 1-894959-00-0 |series= Apogee Books Space Series 36|year= 2003 |page=32 | editor1-last = Godwin | editor1-first = Robert }}</ref> based on a projected {{cvt|25000|kg|lb}} thrust engine. In addition, Dornberger specified the military requirements needed to include a 1-ton payload, a range of 172 miles with a dispersion of 2 or 3 miles, and transportable using road vehicles.<ref name=walter />{{rp|50–51}}

After the [[Aggregate series#A4 (V-2 rocket)|A-4]] project was postponed due to unfavorable aerodynamic stability testing of the [[Aggregate series#A3|A-3]] in July 1936,<ref name=Dornberger>{{cite book |last=Dornberger|first=Walter|author-link=Walter Dornberger|title=V-2|year=1952|publisher=Viking|location=New York}} English translation 1954.</ref><ref name=Irving>{{cite book |last=Irving|first=David|author-link=David Irving|title=The Mare's Nest|year=1964|publisher=William Kimber and Co|location=London|page=17}}</ref>
Braun specified the A-4 performance in 1937,<ref name="Middlebrook">{{cite book|title=The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17–18 August 1943|last=Middlebrook|first=Martin|publisher=Bobbs-Merrill|year=1982|location=New York|page=19}}</ref> and, after an "extensive" series of test firings of the [[A5 (rocket)|A-5]] scale test model,<ref name="Christopher, p.111">Christopher, p.111.</ref> using a motor redesigned from the troublesome A-3 by [[Walter Thiel]],<ref name="Christopher, p.111" /> A-4 design and construction was ordered {{circa}} 1938–39.<ref name=Braun>{{cite book |last=Braun|first=Wernher von (Estate of) |author-link=Wernher von Braun |author2=Ordway III, Frederick I |title=Space Travel: A History |year=1985 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York |isbn=0-06-181898-4 |page=45 |orig-date=1975|author-link2=Frederick I. Ordway III }}</ref> During 28–30 September 1939, {{Lang|de|Der Tag der Weisheit}} (English: ''The Day of Wisdom'') conference met at [[Peenemünde]] to initiate the funding of university research to solve rocket problems.<ref name=Ordway />{{Rp|40}}
By late 1941, the [[Peenemünde Army Research Center|Army Research Center]] at Peenemünde possessed the technologies essential to the success of the A-4. The four main technologies for the A-4 were large [[Liquid fuel|liquid-fuel]] rocket engines, supersonic aerodynamics, gyroscopic guidance and rudders in jet control.<ref name=Neufeld>{{cite book|last=Neufeld|first=Michael J|title=The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951|url-access=registration|year=1995|publisher=The Free Press|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951/page/73 73], 74, 101, 281|isbn=978-0-02-922895-1|access-date=15 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028112702/https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951|archive-date=28 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> At the time, [[Adolf Hitler]] was not particularly impressed by the V-2; he opined that it was merely an [[artillery]] [[Shell (projectile)|shell]] with a longer range and much higher cost.<ref name=Irons>{{Cite book |last=Irons |first=Roy |title=Hitler's Terror Weapons: The Price of Vengeance |year=2002|isbn=978-0-00-711262-3|page=181|publisher=Collins }}</ref>

During early September 1943, Braun promised the [[Long-Range Bombardment Commission]]<ref name=Neufeld />{{Rp|224}} that the A-4 development was "practically complete/concluded",<ref name=Irving />{{Rp|135}} but even by the middle of 1944, a complete A-4 parts list was still unavailable.<ref name=Neufeld />{{Rp|224}} Hitler was sufficiently impressed by the enthusiasm of its developers, and needed a "[[Wunderwaffe|wonder weapon]]" to maintain German morale,<ref name=Irons /> so he authorized its deployment in large numbers.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz|last=Hakim|first=Joy|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn=0-19-509514-6|location=New York|pages=100–104}}</ref>

The V-2s were constructed at the [[Mittelwerk]] site by [[The Holocaust|prisoners]] from [[Mittelbau-Dora]], a [[concentration camp]] where 20,000 prisoners died.<ref name="Hunt">{{cite book|title=Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1990|last=Hunt|first=Linda |publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=1991|isbn=0-312-05510-2|location=New York|pages=72–74}}</ref><ref name=Beon>{{cite book |last=Béon|first=Yves |others=translated from the French ''La planète Dora'' by Béon & Richard L. Fague|title=Planet Dora: A Memoir of the Holocaust and the Birth of the Space Age|year=1997|publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-3272-9}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2020}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dora.uah.edu/|title=Dora and the V–2|work=uah.edu|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629085450/http://www.dora.uah.edu/|archive-date=29 June 2014}}</ref>

In 1943, the [[Austrian resistance]] group including [[Heinrich Maier]] managed to send exact drawings of the V-2 rocket to the American [[Office of Strategic Services]]. Location sketches of V-rocket manufacturing facilities, such as those in Peenemünde, were also sent to the [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force|Allied general staff]] in order to enable Allied bombers to perform [[airstrike]]s. This information was particularly important for [[Operation Crossbow]] and [[Operation Hydra (1943)|Operation Hydra]], both preliminary missions for [[Operation Overlord]]. The group was gradually captured by the [[Gestapo]] and most of the members were executed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/1271378203933/im-netz-der-verraeter |title=Im Netz der Verräter |trans-title=On the traitor network |language=de |work=Der Standard |date=4 June 2010 |access-date=12 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412131534/https://www.derstandard.at/story/1271378203933/im-netz-der-verraeter |archive-date=12 April 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Hansjakob Stehle (5 January 1996). "Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus". ''Die Zeit''.</ref><ref>Peter Broucek (2008). "Die österreichische Identität im Widerstand 1938–1945", p 163.</ref><ref>C. Thurner "The CASSIA Spy Ring in World War II Austria: A History of the OSS's Maier-Messner Group" (2017), p. 35.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/d-day/preliminary-operations/crossbow| title = Operation Crossbow – Preliminary missions for the Operation Overlord| date = 19 February 2016}}</ref>