A Precursor to Genius: the V-1 Flying Bomb

From 1936 and into the middle of WWII, the Peenemunde facility focused on designing winged rocket powered aircraft that travel horizontally through the air.  Although Von Braun himself specifically worked on what would later be the V-2, the V-1 was the first mass produced and combat-proven rocket powered ballistic weapon pioneered at Peenemunde.

A German crew prepares a V-1 for launch
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/546976317213448344/

Components of the V-1:

[1] Argus As 014 Pulse-jet

The Pulse-jet
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pulse_jet_(PSF).png

The As 014 Pulse-jet was a fairly simple rocket thruster.  It was essentially a piece of sheet metal rolled into a cylindrical tube and outfitted with an air vent on the front and a fuel injection pipe and spark-plug.  The air vent would regulate the flow of air into the combustion chamber, and the fuel pipe and spark-plug would provide the other two necessary ingredients for combustion, and the rest of the tube would serve as an exhaust pipe to focus the energy of the combustion reaction in a straight direction, propelling the fuselage on a straight trajectory.  Since it was a relatively simple design, the combustion process could be powered by gasoline of various grades.

[2] The Fuselage

V-1 Cross-Section
Source: Source: http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//26/media-26724/large.jpg

The Fuselage contained a gyro-compass autopilot system.  The gyro-compass is configured to point in a specific direction at the target, and because the gyroscope apparatus stays in a fixed position relative to magnetic north despite movement of the surround body, any deviation of the aircraft’s velocity was measured and self-adjusted.  Both the V-1’s gyro-compass and fuel injection tube were powered by two spherical tanks of compressed air.

 
Descending V-1
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/V-1_%28Fieseler_Fi_103%29_in_flight.jpg

The V-1 was an effective weapon; causing death and injury to thousands of Allied citizens in London at a time when Germany could no longer afford to use its conventional air force for bombing raids.  However, the V-1 was not a real rocket; it was more of a rocket powered unmanned self-destructing airplane.  Because of this it had to be launched using special inclined railway launch ramp.  These launch ramps were often easily spotted from air reconnaissance, and were gradually destroyed or captured by allied forces.  To continue their non-conventional assault on allied cities, the Germans needed longer- range, more sophisticated weapon.  They turned to Von Braun.

Title Page	Introduction	Early Life	The V-1
The V-2	NASA and the Saturn V	Death and Legacy	Bibliography