JNugget
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of March 3, 1879.
FrIdAyT^ANU ARY 5, 1945~
■ ■■ ■ ---.
THE V-2 ROCKET
IN ACTION
Prime Minister Church
ill’s admission that Ger
man V-2 rockets have land
ed in England still leaves
their effectiveness a mat
ter of conjecture. It will
remain so during the clos
ing phase of the war in Eu
rope. For military authori
ties aren’t going to oblige
the Nazis by confirming
claims that the V-2 has
landed in London, Paris
and Antwerp, any more
than they would announce
a direct hit on Manhattan
Island.
Even those who are in
the vicinity of a V-2 hit
(and survive the exper
ience) cannot know where
the missile was aimed, and
thus cannot judge its ac
curacy. It also seems un
likely that, with Allied air
superiority, German re
connaisance planes are
able to take home a very
complete picture of V-2
results. So at present the
■■■■»-■ -- -- -
Germans know the begin
ning of the story, and the
V-2 recipients the end. The
rest is speculation on both
sides.
It does seem certain,
though, that the present
V-2 is not so much a new
super-horror weapon as it
is counter-defensive modi
fication of the V-l. Neutral
sources say the V-2 is
about twice as long as the
V-l, and weighs some 15
tons. But Mr. Churchill
reports that it carries the
same one-ton explosive
load.
How much the V-2 has
been changed and scaled
down cannot be known.
But the fact remains that
it seems to be serving
largely as a supplement to
the V-ls launched by
plane from the North Sea
since the loss of the Chan
nel coast launching ramps.
The V-2’s great advantage
—a fiendish psychological
one—is that, since it falls
to earth at a speed greater
than that of sound, its ap
proach cannot be detect
ed. Wherever it strikes it
comes as swiftly and noise
lessly as a bolt of lightn
ing.
It seems doubtful that
V-2 can be very accurate.
Only a ballistic expert
could speak intelligently
on the difficulty of send
ing a missile 200 miles or
more through a trajectory
whose apex is 60 or 70
miles above the earth. But
one can guess that there
are tremendous mathemat
ical calculations involving
the earth’s rotation and
curvature, and various at
mospheric conditions.
Rocket weapons date
back 700 years and come
down to fairly recent his
tory . We sing of them
thoughtlessly in our na
tional anthem, but in the
same war of 1812 they
routed the defenders of
Washington in the battle
of Bladensburg. Their
abiding fault, however,
was their inaccuracy. And
with the development of
the rifled gun barrel they
became obsolete.
Now they are back, per
haps controlled by radio,
infinitely more deadly.
Unless a swift Allied ad
vance paralyzes their pro
duction, both their deadli
ness and accuracy will im
prove, for the Germans
still possess good technical
minds. And unless they
are outlawed after this
as poison gas was after the
last, they present a ghast
ly threat to the world in
another conflict.
Outlawing the produc
tion and use of rocket
bombs is a specific job for
the world’s peace guard
ians, even while they out
law war in general.—(An
chorage Times).
TOMORROWS
PLANE TODAY
Announcement of the
new Boeing Stratocruiser
is a by-product of the war.
In other circumstances it
might have been many
years before a plane of the
announced performance of
this new passenger liner
of the post-war airways
would have been develop
ed. The “bugs” that it
might have taken years to
iron out of a peacetime
model, if any company had
the reserves to finance ex
perimentation, have al
ready been surmounted
under the urgency of war
time.
The Stratocruiser is the
peacetime brother of the
B-29 Superfortress, with
perhaps as great a range,
even more powerful en
gines, and the planned
passenger luxuries that
cannot be afforded the
crews that ride the Super
fortresses over Burma,
China and the Japanese
home lands. It is not a
plane on a drafting board,
but a silver giant that al
ready has swum the clear
cold atmosphere of 30,000
feet above the earth, a
wartime cargo - carrying
model that soon will be
taking needed supplies to
the far corners of the
earth. When peace comes
the interior fittings can be
installed quickly so that it
can carry 100 passengers
in place of its announced
useful cargo load of 35,000
pounds.
Because of the necessity
of wartime secrecy, the
exact particulars of the
new plane have not been
revealed. This much, how
ever, is told, that it has the
same wing, tail surface
and landing gear as the B
29, four engines of 2,800
rated horsepower, 800
more each than those of
the Superfortress; a two
deck cabin considerably
larger than the cigar-shap
ed fuselage of its bomber
prototype; a pressurized
cabin; an operating alti
tude of 30,000 feet; an op
erating range, with ample
gasoline reserves, of 3,500
miles; and a cruising speed
of 340 miles an hour. It
will carry 100 passengers
New York - to - Paris non
stop in a third the time
that Charles A. Lindbergh
flew the route alone 17
years ago last May to ush
er in the age of aviation -
miracles.
As late as five years ago
aeronautical engineers
who spoke of a plane of
the performance of the
new Stratocruiser were
classed as visionaries look
ing to some vague day in
the unforseeabe future.
The Stratocruiser is a
dream flying. And not a
dream only for the rich,
but a flying ship for a
large public, wit a theor
etical operating cost of ,
one cent a passenger mile,
which should bring tte
actual cost of a ticket
within reach of nearly
everyone who has to
travel. The post - war
traveling public is being f
given its tomorrow in the
air today.—(Juneau Em
pire).
Nome Directory
% —— — ■ .—1 ■—
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