I've always been fascinated by the technology developed during WW2, too numerous to list here.
But a pair of those specifically interest me: the Vergeltungswaffen 1 and 2 flying bombs.
This is not a political nor historical forum, so I won't entertain discussions about the effectivity as weapons, or whether an earlier development would have helped Germany win the Blitz. Or about the morality of its deployment. Or the effect on British morale. Those are speculations, and other forums are ablaze with related discussions. You are welcome to join the fray.
Rather, since this is a technical forum, let's focus on the technical aspects of these fascinating weapons.
Now, there is plenty of information on the web, books and museums about those aspects, but they tend to focus on the propulsion systems.
Don't get me wrong...the propulsion systems were revolutionary, and in the case of the V2, it helped launch the space age.
But too little is discussed about their control and electronics systems. In a sense, those systems allowed them to become the world's first mass-produced autonomous robotic weapons.
So those systems were also revolutionary. True, they were primitive and very inaccurate, but it helped that London back then was already a huge urban sprawl and not very far inland.
Unfortunately, I've been able to find precious little information, and I'm not sure that it is all correct.
I know that both weapons used fuel cutoff to determine where they would fall. The V1 used a clock, and the V2 used an inertial system for the purpose.
But how about guidance? I know that the weapons had to be aimed in the general direction of London, but were there any mid-flight corrections?
I would assume that the V2 would use ballistic trajectories to complete its final leg, but how about the V1? How did they kept a level flight, how did they do course correction due to winds?
Also...were the controls electronic, mechanic, hydraulic?
And I've read that the V1 was the first to use mag-amps as their control devices. Is this correct?
But a pair of those specifically interest me: the Vergeltungswaffen 1 and 2 flying bombs.
This is not a political nor historical forum, so I won't entertain discussions about the effectivity as weapons, or whether an earlier development would have helped Germany win the Blitz. Or about the morality of its deployment. Or the effect on British morale. Those are speculations, and other forums are ablaze with related discussions. You are welcome to join the fray.
Rather, since this is a technical forum, let's focus on the technical aspects of these fascinating weapons.
Now, there is plenty of information on the web, books and museums about those aspects, but they tend to focus on the propulsion systems.
Don't get me wrong...the propulsion systems were revolutionary, and in the case of the V2, it helped launch the space age.
But too little is discussed about their control and electronics systems. In a sense, those systems allowed them to become the world's first mass-produced autonomous robotic weapons.
So those systems were also revolutionary. True, they were primitive and very inaccurate, but it helped that London back then was already a huge urban sprawl and not very far inland.
Unfortunately, I've been able to find precious little information, and I'm not sure that it is all correct.
I know that both weapons used fuel cutoff to determine where they would fall. The V1 used a clock, and the V2 used an inertial system for the purpose.
But how about guidance? I know that the weapons had to be aimed in the general direction of London, but were there any mid-flight corrections?
I would assume that the V2 would use ballistic trajectories to complete its final leg, but how about the V1? How did they kept a level flight, how did they do course correction due to winds?
Also...were the controls electronic, mechanic, hydraulic?
And I've read that the V1 was the first to use mag-amps as their control devices. Is this correct?
