5.8 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V-2 rocket | 9/10 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:12:26.817016+00:00 | kb-cron |
Between May and September of 1946, CEPA, the forerunner to today's French space agency CNES, undertook the recruitment of approximately thirty German engineers, who had previous experience working on rocket programs for Nazi Germany at the Peenemünde Army Research Center. Much like their counterparts in the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, France's objective was to acquire and advance the rocket technology developed by Germany during World War II. The initial initiative, known as the Super V-2 program, had plans for four rocket variants capable of achieving ranges of up to 3,600 km (2,200 mi) and carrying warheads weighing up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). However, this program was canceled in 1948. From 1950 to 1969, the research done on the Super V-2 program was repurposed to develop the Véronique sounding rocket, which became the first liquid-fuel research rocket in Western Europe and was ultimately capable of carrying a 100 kg (220 lb) payload to an altitude of 320 km (200 mi). The Véronique program then led to the Diamant rocket and the Ariane rocket family.
=== UK ===
During October 1945, the Allied Operation Backfire assembled a small number of V-2 missiles and launched three of them from a site in northern Germany. The engineers involved had already agreed to relocate to the US when the test firings were complete. The Backfire report, published in January 1946, contains extensive technical documentation of the rocket, including all support procedures, tailored vehicles and fuel composition. In 1946, the British Interplanetary Society proposed an enlarged man-carrying version of the V-2, named Megaroc. It could have enabled sub-orbital spaceflight similar to, but at least a decade earlier than, the Mercury-Redstone flights of 1961.
=== China === The first Chinese Dongfeng missile, the DF-1 was a licensed copy of the Soviet R-2; this design was produced during the 1960s.
== Surviving V-2 examples and components ==
At least 20 V-2s still existed during 2014.
=== Australia === One at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, including a complete Meillerwagen transporter. The rocket has the most complete set of guidance components of all surviving A4s. The Meillerwagen is the most complete of the three examples known to exist. Another A4 was on display at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook outside Melbourne. Both rockets are now in Canberra.
=== Netherlands === One example, partly skeletonized, is in the collection of the Nationaal Militair Museum. In this collection are also a launching table and some loose parts, as well as the remains of a V-2 that crashed in The Hague immediately after launch.
=== Poland === Several large components, including the hydrogen peroxide tank and reaction chamber, the propellant turbopump and the HWK rocket engine chamber (partly cut-out) are displayed at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków. A reconstruction of a V-2 missile containing multiple original recovered parts is on display at the Armia Krajowa Museum in Kraków.
=== France === One engine at Cité de l'espace in Toulouse. V-2 display including engine, parts, rocket body and many documents and photographs relating to its development and use at La Coupole museum, Wizernes, Pas de Calais. One rocket body with no engine, one complete engine, one lower engine section and one wrecked engine on display in museum La Coupole. One engine complete with steering pallets, feed lines and tank bottoms, plus one cut-out thrust chamber and one cut-out turbopump at the Snecma (Space Engines Div.) museum in Vernon. One complete rocket in WWII wing of the Musée de l'Armée (Army Museum) in Paris.
=== Germany === One complete V2 rocket and several engines at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. One engine at the German Museum of Technology in Berlin. One engine at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. One rusty engine in the original V-2 underground production facilities at the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp memorial site. One rusty engine in Buchenwald concentration camp. One replica was constructed for the Historical and Technical Information Centre in Peenemünde, where it is displayed near what remains of the factory where it was built.
=== United Kingdom ===
One at the Science Museum, London. One, at the Imperial War Museum, London. The RAF Museum possesses two rockets, one of which is displayed at its Cosford site. The Museum also owns a Meillerwagen, a Vidalwagen, a Strabo crane, and a firing table with towing dolly. One at the Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham, Kent. A propulsion unit (minus injectors) is in Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum near Bungay. A complete turbo-pump is at Solway Aviation Museum, Carlisle Airport as part of the Blue Streak Rocket exhibition. The venturi segment of a V-2 discovered in April 2012 was donated to the Harwich Sailing Club after it was found buried in a mudflat. Fuel combustion chamber recovered from the sea near Clacton at the East Essex Aviation Museum, St Oysth. A gyroscope unit, a turbo pump unit and a steam generating chamber are on display at the National Space Centre in Leicester.
=== United States === Complete missiles
One at the Flying Heritage Collection, Everett, Washington One at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, including complete Meillerwagen, Dayton, Ohio. One (checkerboard-painted) at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. One at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. One at the Fort Bliss Air Defense Museum, El Paso, Texas. One (yellow and black) at Missile Park, White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico. One at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. One at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Components