JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Larry W. Jewell) (02/20/91)
From: "Larry W. Jewell" <JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
The NOVA show spoke about the V-3 as being a super-gun al la Gerald
Bull and I remebered what I'd read in "The Wizard War" by R.V. Jones. Chap-
ter 46 is titled "V-3" and starts off by talking about massive concrete
structures England had marked for "special attention".
"We felt the same way about yet another great concrete structure, that
at Mimoyecques, near Calais. It was heavily bombed, and could probably
never have come into action, but we did not divine its exact purpose until
our forces overran it. Under the name of 'HochDruckPumpe" (High Pressure
Pump) it was to contain 50 smooth-bore barrels approximately 6 inches (15
centimetres) in diameter and 416 feet (127 meters) long, firing finned pro-
jectiles, each weighing about 300 lbs. at a combined rate of up to ten per
minute at London. A final muzzle velocity of about five thousand feet per
second was to be achieved by igniting further propellant charges in side-
ports up the main barrel, as the projectile passed them on its way out.
The development of the scheme was pursued enthusiastically in Germany but,
fortunately, it hit a basic snag; above about 3,300 feet per second the
projectile became unstable and 'toppled', and thus fell badly short. This
fact was only discovered after twenty thousand shells had been partly
manufactured."
The article goes on the mention that A.H. had the site built even after
the proven failure to distract Bomber Command.zimerman@phoenix.princeton.edu (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) (02/21/91)
From: zimerman@phoenix.princeton.edu (Jacob Ben-david Zimmerman) >From: "Larry W. Jewell" <JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU> > "We felt the same way about yet another great concrete structure, that >at Mimoyecques, near Calais. It was heavily bombed, and could probably >never have come into action, but we did not divine its exact purpose until --stuff deleted--- > The article goes on the mention that A.H. had the site built even after >the proven failure to distract Bomber Command. For a fun read about Bomber Command vs. V-weapons among other things, including this specific target, have a look at 'The Dam Busters' by, I think, Paul Brickhill. A Bantam War Book, it gives an enjoyable (IMHO) account of 617 Squadron, the Bomber Command 'Special Ops' squadron, who were assembled to throw Barnes Wallis' brainchildren (dam buster, Tallboy, Grand Slam &c) with pinpoint accuracy at special targets. While I can't vouch for the veracity, it *is* fun. -JB ___________ |-In Washington, undercover DEA agents trick mayor || | Marion Barry into licking a toad. -Dave Barry || ||acob Zimmerman!+> <zimerman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> INTERNET === | <zimerman@PUCC> BITnet
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (02/21/91)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: "Larry W. Jewell" <JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU> > The article goes on the mention that A.H. had the site built even after >the proven failure to distract Bomber Command. Actually, other sources say that the instability problem was basically the result of not having competent ballistics people involved in the early development of the rather unconventional fin-stabilized shells, and it was solved (too late) once such people were brought in. There was also a problem with barrels bursting due to the extremely high pressures; again, this was eventually solved. The basic principle of supplementary powder charges along the barrel to achieve very high muzzle velocity is definitely workable, and this weapon could have been a severe problem to Britain had it been debugged earlier. The underlying problem was the chaotic nature of German military research, in which there was no central group responsible for evaluating weapons ideas and then arranging adequate development resources for the ones that looked promising. -- "Read the OSI protocol specifications? | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology I can't even *lift* them!" | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry