Kummersdorf West: The German Army’s rocket facility outside Berlin where Dornberger, von Braun, and their engineering colleagues developed the Aggregate series of rockets.
Mittelwerk: The underground factory in the Harz Mountains in Germany where A-4/V-2 rockets were built using concentration camp prisoner labor.
Muroc Air Force Base: Established in 1933 by Army Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Henry H. “Hap” Arnold as a bombing and gunnery range. In 1949 it was renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of Captain Glen Edwards.
NACA: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Pronunciations vary, but typically each letter is pronounced individually as N-A-C-A as opposed to “NASA,” which is pronounced as a single word.
NACA Ames: The second NACA laboratory established in Sunnyvale, California, in 1939. It is named for physicist Joseph Sweetman Ames, one of the founding members of the NACA.
NACA Langley Memorial Laboratory: The first NACA laboratory established in 1917, named for American astronomer, physicist, and aviation pioneer Samuel Pierpont Langley. It is now a NASA center.
NACA Lewis Research Center: Established as an NACA center in 1942 as the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory, it was renamed the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory in 1947 then the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in 1948 in honor of George W. Lewis, head of the NACA from 1919 to 1947. In 1999, the site was renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center in honor of the first American in orbit.
Peenemünde: The German Army’s rocket facility on the northern German island of Usedom where Dornberger, von Braun, and their rocket engineer colleagues built the A-4/V-2.
Raketenflugplatz: The Verein für Raumschiffahrt’s rocket development site seventeen miles outside Berlin.
Redstone Arsenal: A World War II munitions production site closed after the war then reopened as the Ordnance Rocket Center in 1949 where it hosted the German scientists and their rocket research and development programs. The site was also home to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency from 1956 to 1960 when it was transferred to NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.
Verein für Raumschiffahrt: The VfR, or Society for Space Travel, founded by Max Valier. Notable members included Oberth and von Braun.
White Sands Proving Ground: A U.S. Army missile range in New Mexico where the first recovered V-2s were launched in America. In 1958, the site was renamed the White Sands Missile Range.
Glossary of Rockets
The Aggregate series: The German-built series of rockets that ultimately led to the V-2 offensive weapon.
A-1: The first in the series featured a rear-mounted engine. It had a one-foot diameter and was 4.6 feet long.
A-2: The second A-rocket featured a gyroscope in the center of the rocket’s body, a change the team hoped would solve the instability problems of the A-1 with the same dimensions. The rockets Max and Moritz were A-2s.
A-3: The third A-rocket stood 21.3 feet tall and measured 2.3 feet around at its widest point and featured small stabilizing fins.
A-4: Also known as the V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe Zwei), this 47-foot tall rocket that measured 5.5 feet in diameter was the German Army’s first operational missile.
A-5: Though numerically after the A-4, this rocket actually preceded the first operational rocket. It was an intermediary stage to rectify problems with the A-3.
A-6: Sixth in the Aggregate series, this rocket was a concept study designed to test different propellants.
A-7: This Aggregate rocket was a concept study featuring small wings. Unlike its predecessors, it was designed to launch from underneath an aircraft on high arcing trajectories rather than launch from an upright position on the ground.
A-8: This eighth Aggregate rocket was designed with a longer fuselage than any predecessors.
A-9: The ninth in the Aggregate series, this was a concept for an A-4 with wide, swept-back wings running from its nose to midsection turning the rocket into a glider that could coast through the atmosphere rather than arc over it. One conceptual variant included a pressurized cockpit for a pilot on board. One A-9 was launched in 1945 under the name A-4b.
A-10: The last in the Aggregate series, this was another concept and the first for a multistage weapons system. It consisted of an A-9 stacked on top of an 85-ton booster. The two-stage configuration could have covered the distance between a western European launch site and a major city on America’s East Coast.
Atlas: Originally designated MX-1593, this U.S. Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile first flew in 1957.
Hermes: Hermes was the American V-2 program designed to understand the German missile and eventually create an American offshoot.
Hermes A1: This was planned as an antiaircraft missile.
Hermes A2: A surface-to-surface missile.
Hermes A3: This was designed to deliver a 1,000-pound warhead over a distance of 150 miles with an error of just 200 feet.
Hermes II: This was a Hermes variant designed to use a ramjet engine, a type of engine that literally rams air into the combustion chamber without any moving parts.
Hermes C1: A three-stage missile that used clusters of solid fuel rockets to generate enough power to deliver larger payloads to distant targets.
Jupiter: A longer-range offshoot of the Redstone rocket.
Jupiter A: The first generation Jupiter missile, Jupiter A was designed to gather test data of the guidance system as well as evolved separation procedures for multistage missiles.
Jupiter C: Three modified Redstones were designated Jupiter C for composite reentry vehicles that would test ablative materials on scale nose cones.
Kegeldüse: A basic engine designed by Hermann Oberth featuring a hollow steel cone as a combustion chamber.
Mirak: Short for minimumrakete meaning “simple rocket,” the Miraks looked like firecrackers: a simple copper rocket engine similar to the Kegeldüse engine in a cylindrical fuselage sitting behind a bullet-shaped cover. A long aluminum tube served as a guiding stick.
Redstone: The Hermes C1 was renamed for the Redstone Arsenal on April 8, 1952.
Repulsor: Designed in early 1931, this rocket had a liquid oxygen and gasoline-fueled engine encased in water, and featured rear fins for stability and a long support stick for guidance.
Thor: An air force intermediate-range ballistic missile based on components of the Atlas missile.
Titan: The United States’s first real multistage intercontinental ballistic missile that started flying at the end of the 1950s.
Selected Notes
Chapter 1: Hobby Rocketeers
11 at the end of a warm, clear Saturday: Record of Climatological Observations, National Climatic Data Center.
11 he pushed for one final test: Essers, Max Valier: A Pioneer of Space Travel, 210.
15 Unwilling to stand by and be ridiculed: Essers, Max Valier: A Pioneer of Space Travel, 147.
17 Stamer managed one of the finest landings of his career: Stamer’s recollection on the flight appears in Essers, Max Valier: A Pioneer of Space Travel, 158.
18 “Help to create the spaceship!”: Essers, Max Valier: A Pioneer of Space Travel, 170
18 most felt Valier’s showmanship denigrated what they were trying to do: Essers, Max Valier: A Pioneer of Space Travel, 184.
23 just ten German marks: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 12.
23 The Raketenflugplatz slowly took shape: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 14.
25 happy resolution for the VfR, and an entertaining newsreel: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 16.
Chapter 2: The Rocket Loophole
29 The army representatives weren’t impressed with the VfR: Ordway and Sharpe, The Rocket Team, 18–19.
30 The sophistication of Kummersdorf West awed the VfR pioneers: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 18.
30 Wernher von Braun did leave a mark on Dornberger: Stuhlinger
and Ordway, Wernher von Braun: Crusader for Space, 215.
30 Both men knew a partnership would be beneficial: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 22–23.
30 not everyone at the Raketenflugplatz shared his enthusiasm: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 54–55.
30 they wanted to build exploratory rockets, not missiles: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 22.
35 the solution came through the von Brauns: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 80.
36 Sänger imagined a future: Myhra, Sänger: Germany’s Orbital Rocket Bomber in WWII, 49.
38 The Austrian army thought it unlikely: Myhra, Sänger: Germany’s Orbital Rocket Bomber in WWII, 55.
39 The Luftwaffe had no problem with Sänger’s Austrian background: Myhra, Sänger: Germany’s Orbital Rocket Bomber in WWII, 61.
40 came with the caveat that he join the Nazi Party: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 90.
41 parachute was the most immediate cause: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 104.
43 His eyes, thought Dornberger, seemed unfocused: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 53.
46 he worried that his American forces wouldn’t be ready: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 167.
49 Dornberger could feel the tension in the air rise: Dornberger, V-2, 16.
49 the spaceship, Dornberger knew, had been born with that launch: Dornberger, V-2, 25.
49 Himmler was there to learn as much as he could about the weapon: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 75–76.
50 the group retired to the Hearth Room: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 146.
51 The Führer was impressed, far more than he had been after his 1939 visit: Dornberger, V-2, 96–97.
Chapter 3: The Turning Tide of War
53 It was a familiar sound, as were the sounds of planes overhead: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 153–55.
53 slid on his bedroom slippers: Dornberger, V-2, 141.
56 Quality control remained an issue as more A-4s came out of Mittelwerk: Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era, 225.
57 persistent knocking in the early hours of the morning: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 169.
58 Dornberger knew all four men were indispensable to the A-4 effort: Dornberger, V-2, 179.
58 strong-arm control of the rocket program: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 111.
60 Roosevelt’s indecision lasted the full five days: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 316.
62 they also assumed it was a feint: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 362.
65 expert opinions on how these technologies might benefit the future: “Memorandum for Dr. von Karman” in von Kármán, “Towards New Horizons,” iii.
68 turned to their leader for guidance: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 179.
69 the V-2 scientists and sites being high on everyone’s list: Bob Ward, Dr. Space: The Life of Wernher von Braun, 55–6.
69 the rocket team could hear artillery fire: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 190.
70 Conflicting orders gave him some freedom to pick: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 192.
Chapter 4: Escape and Surrender
72 It was one of the few times, if not the only time, he exploited this title: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 193.
73 by raising his left arm above his head: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 195.
74 It was one of Eisenhower’s happy moments in the war: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 420.
76 watched the soldier’s face as he pictured the scenario: Piszkiewicz, The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War, 199.
79 and was the most expendable: Correspondence between Magnus von Braun and Francis French, September 8, 1995.
80 recognized the bounty that had fallen into their hands and became quite friendly: Correspondence between Magnus von Braun and Francis French, September 8, 1995.
82 Celebrity, it seemed, suited von Braun: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 201.
Chapter 5: Nazi Rockets in New Mexico
89 Once home to hunters and agricultural villages: Eidenbach, “Cultural History of the Tularosa Basin,” http://www.nps.gov/whsa/historyculture/cultural-history-of-the-tularosa-basin.htm.
92 The group recognized that nations on both sides had begun: Von Kármán, “Where We Stand: A Report of the AAF Scientific Advisory Board,” iv.
92 von Kármán similarly considered them the most capable missile research group: Von Kármán, “Where We Stand: A Report of the AAF Scientific Advisory Board,” 13.
94 if Hitler had given the Peenemünde team priority status and more support: Von Kármán, “Where We Stand: A Report of the AAF Scientific Advisory Board,” 13.
94 Dryden offered his opinion that the next major conflict: Dryden, et al., Guided Missiles and Pilotless Aircraft: A Report of the AAF Scientific Advisory Board, 1.
94 if this technological trend continued, the next major conflict: Von Kármán, “Towards New Horizons,” xi.
95 his reception was far from warm: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 215.
102 developing this technology into a viable missile now, he believed: Eisenhower, Waging Peace, 207.
103 subtext was that they might not be needed: Brzezinski, Red Moon Rising, 88.
105 he went to the American consulate: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 245.
Chapter 6: Rockets Meet Airplanes
108 Through a string of profanities and abuse: Arnold, Global Mission, 136–37.
109 the variables including the heating properties of air and density: Mack ed., From Engineering Science to Big Science, 62.
112 Bob Woods stopped by Ezra Kotcher’s office: Mack ed., From Engineering Science to Big Science, 86.
113 Kotcher was sure the only way to break the sound barrier: Mack ed., From Engineering Science to Big Science, 87.
116 with the gentle precision of a surgeon: Time, “Army & Navy: What Comes Naturally.” Monday, Dec. 23, 1946.
117 various flight test engineers refer to the X-1 as a death trap: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 119.
118 Boyd considered Yeager to be the most naturally instinctive pilot: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 126.
118 Colonel Boyd told Yeager it was his: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 123.
119 likely landed in a wastepaper basket: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn: The Story of a Rocket Test Pilot, 23.
119 Yeager’s wife, who had not been happy: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 163.
120 he privately promised, he would push the airplane through the sound barrier: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 164.
120 without his ears or anything else falling off: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 165.
Chapter 7: A New War, a New Missile, and a New Leader
124 Crossfield was disappointed: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 28–29.
124 a pioneering spirit among the small group of men: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 30.
125 Truman had asked Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower to command: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 493.
126 was willing to seek another term in office: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 504.
127 If he was offered the Republican nomination for the presidency: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 510.
127 Eisenhower realized he hadn’t been so emotional in years: Smith, Eisenhower in War and Peace, 511–12.
Chapter 8: Higher and Faster
135 Dornberger he would be tried in his stead for the crime of launching rockets: Ordway III and Sharpe, The Ro
cket Team, 303.
136 Bell, Dornberger alluded to his former colleague … von Braun spent sleepless nights: Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, 300.
136 Dornberger found a sympathetic and willing collaborator in Robert Woods: Jenkins and Landis, Hypersonics: The Story of the North American X-15, 11.
137 Dornberger reasoned that rocket propulsion would follow a similar path: Godwin, Dyna-Soar: Hypersonic Strategic Weapon System, 24.
140 By making the world more accessible, he anticipated, more people: Godwin, Dyna-Soar: Hypersonic Strategic Weapon System, 250.
141 Scott Crossfield knew he could reach Mach 2 in the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 161.
142 a navy pilot, Dryden dictated, who would be the one to push the airplane: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 168.
142 Crossfield offered to make an attempt at reaching Mach 2: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 168.
142 far more concerned with the Skyrocket’s health than his own: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 171.
144 he at least wanted to break Crossfield’s record: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 250.
145 Yeager realized he was flying too fast at too high an altitude: Yeager and Janos, Yeager, 253.
146 Crossfield was, Dryden countered, needed at Edwards: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 152.
148 the B-36, was too unknown to the team at the High Speed Flight Station: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 264.
151 To Crossfield, North American was the default winner: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 205.
152 North American turned out not to be too keen on the idea: Jenkins and Landis, Hypersonics: The Story of the North American X-15, 100–01.
152 One man, however, was extremely anxious to secure the X-15 contract: Jenkins and Landis, Hypersonics: The Story of the North American X-15, 101.
152 in the midst of the X-15 contract discussions, Rice called Storms: Crossfield and Blair Jr., Always Another Dawn, 205.
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