Unit 2

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The unit 2 (short: A2) (of the Wehrmacht referred to as "smoke trail unit II") was the first of Wernher von Braun developed airworthy test rocket .

Unit 2

Technical parameters

The starting point in Borkum, the Steerenk-Klipp (from the southwest), is the hill in the center of the picture

The unit 2 had:

  • a length of 1.61 m,
  • a caliber of 31.4 cm,
  • an empty weight of 72 kg,
  • a takeoff weight of 107 kg and
  • a starting thrust of 3.14  kN (320 kilopond ).

The drive was made from a mixture of pressurized ethanol and liquid oxygen (LOX). The rocket thus achieved a burn time of 16 seconds.

In contrast to the unsuccessful predecessor model, Aggregate 1 , the stabilization gyro was attached to this rocket in the middle of the rocket between the alcohol and oxygen tanks, which allowed it a stable flight as long as the rocket developed thrust.

Start on Borkum

Two units of the unit 2 were built, which were named Max and Moritz , and both of which were started one after the other by Borkum . For this purpose, a 12 m high mast was built as a " launch pad " in the Steerenk cliff dunes at the northeastern end of the island . During the test, the Ostland district of Borkum was evacuated. "Max" was launched on December 19, 1934, reached the end of the fire at an altitude of 1,700 m and an altitude of 2.3 kilometers. After the burnout, the rocket began to spin strongly and fell on the island about 800 m south of the launch site near the sea ​​dike . “Moritz” followed a day later on December 20, 1934. The rocket reached the burnout height and a peak height of 2.2 kilometers. It was lost sight of by the observers and was later found 1.5 kilometers east of the launch site in the mudflats .

Further development

Due to the successful tests in Borkum, unit 2 was further developed. First the unit 3 followed , then the unit 4 , the "V2 rocket", which was used as a weapon in World War II . The unit 2 was thus also a direct forerunner of the rocket programs of the post-war period in both military blocs and the space programs , including the moon landing .

literature

  • Olaf Przybilski: Rocket engines from the German Army Armed Forces Office. Volume 1. Mixing strategies in injector development in Kummersdorf . BoD-Verlag, Norderstedt 2017, ISBN 978-3-7386-3199-9 .
  • Volker Apfeld: Borkum - fortress in the sea. The interesting history of the Borkum sea fortress from its beginnings in 1902 to the closure of the Bundeswehr base in 1996. Eigenverlag, Borkum 2008, DNB  1003566537 , p. 39 ff .

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