Even more fascinating for me was that 12 disassembled V-2 rockets were shipped to Djakarta in August 1944 aboard U-219, reaching Djakarta in November
1944.
Rheinmetall developed the unguided solid fueled Rheinbote missile in 1943. In the same year the first launch took place. The Rheinbote was the first
four stage rocket. The small (20 kg) warhead rendered this missile practically useless
Not entirely useless Fulcrum.
Ten solid fuel booster rockets were delivered to Peenemunde in December 1944 and in January 1945 some winged A-4b rockets with 600nm range were test
fired. The boosters were intended as a clustered first stage to boost the winged A-4b at lift off for 11 seconds raising the range to 2,800 miles.
Then von Braun and 450 engineers were evacuated south to a large barracks compound near Oberammergau.
SS Scharsturmfuhrer Dr Kurt Debus who later worked for NASA took over Peenemunde for the SS to continue testing for another 2 months until the Soviets
reached Peenemunde.
Three long tunnels were built under the Jonastal valley near Arnstadt. On 16 March 1945 a V-2 was launched at Rudisleben near Arnstadt.
All thios was kept classified until December 1998 when east Germany collapsed and the Arnstadt archives came to light. These were records of testimony
by three Arnstadt locals and one concentration camp survivor about a 30 metre long V2 rocket assembled underground at Jonastal.
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