GRGR(12)Notes (9)B

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

GR.V.272.32-34  Special Projectiles Operations
Group
Operation Backfire
Cuxhaven
SPROG was subsidiary organization of CIOS, for Combined
Intelligence Objectives Subcommittee, created by
British-American Combined Chiefs of Staff in the summer of
1944 to plan and administer an orderly exploitation of
German scientific targets. The British name for the recovery
and testing of V-2 rockets was operation Backfire; in
October 1945 this program succeeded  in launching three
rockets northward from Cruxhaven. The comparable American
effort, code named Project Hermes, involved the transfer of
one hundred partially completed rockets to White Sands, New
Mexico, for test firing. 

The world's first liquid fuel rocket was built by the
American Robert Hutchings Goddard . His work was largely
ignored by the American government at first. Later, he and
his team moved to the White Sands Proving Grounds near
Roswell, New Mexico for test firing of their rockets.
Although the American did not take much interest, Germans
rocket scientists, led by von Braun , followed Goddard 's
work. Under Hitler's direction, von Braun  had developed
liquid-fueled rockets for use against England. The German
development of rockets during World War II is discussed in
the section on Germany. 

Contemporaneously with Goddard 's work, the American
Interplanetary Society flight tested rockets of its own
design. The Society had been founded on April 4, 1930 by G.
Edward Pendray, Daid Lasser, and others. (On April 6, 1934
it changed its name to the American Rocket Society. On
February 1, 1963, it was incorporated into the Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics) (Gatland 1989, p. 8). The
first liquid fueled rocket built by the American
Interplanetary Society was static fired on November 12,
1932. The rocket, fired in Stockton, New Jersey, was based
on the German Repulsor rocket, and produced 27 kg (60
pounds) of thrust for 20-30 seconds. It was damaged in the
test and not subsequently flown. (Gatland 1989, p. 10). The
second was launched on May 14, 1933 from Great Kills, Staten
Island, New York. It rose 250 feet (76 meters) before the
liquid oxygen tank burst (Gatland, p. 10). The fourth liquid
rocket was launched on September 9, 1934 from Marine Park,
Staten Island, New York. It flew 407 meters downrange,
landing in the New York Bay. It had a single thrust chamber
with four canted nozzles. It was originally tested on June
10, 1934 [sic 1943], but did not fly because the fuel ports
were too small (p. 10). H.F. Pierce of the American rocket
Society launched a liquid fueled rocket to about 250 feet
(76 meters) on May 9, 1937. The launch took place from Old
Ferris Point, the Bronx, New York (Gatland 1989, p. 11). On
December 10, 1938, the American Rocket Society tested a 90
pound (41 kg) thrust regeneratively cooled liquid rocket
motor designed by James H. Wyld (Gatland 1989, p. 11).

In May 1944, the Army's Ordnance Department began a
collaboration with a group of
researchers at Caltech interested in high altitude research.
The collaboration was finalized with a contract on Jun 22,
1947, and became known as the ORDCIT Project. The first
vehicle constructed was the 8 foot long Private A.
Twenty-four Private As were fired from California in
December 1944. A modification of the design from four rear
fins to two wings led to the development of the Private F,
17 of which were fired in April 1945. Expanding on this
work, the WAC Corporal rocket was developed (Wilson 1982).
This design was also fin stabilized. WAC may have been
intended as a pun on the Women's Army Corps and on the fact
that the rocket carried no guidance and was thus without any
control. The Corporal portion of the name was a logical
succession to the earlier Private series. A one-fifth scale
Corporal was test fired, and the
first full size launches took place at White sands in
September and October 11, 1945, reaching a maximum altitude
of almost 70 km. The WAC Corporal used a modified Tiny Tim
solid fuel rocket developed by the Navy as an air-to-surface
missile to boost the vehicle out of the launch tower
(Smithsonian Air and Space Museum WAC Corporal Display). The
WAC Corporal thus became the first American sounding rocket
to reach significant altitude, designed to send
meteorological and sounding instruments into the atmosphere
beyond the range of balloons. In sum, there were six
launches of the WAC Corporal. 

In parallel with the ORDCIT project, the US Army's Ordnance
Department signed a contract with General Electric to
develop surface-to-surface and surface-to-air projectiles in
November 1944. This research project was termed Hermes, and
produced technology later used in the Redstone. The A-3
rocket was developed as a part of this project. Thirteen A3s
were launched between its designation as a test vehicle in
1953 and the cancellation of the program in 1954. The major
part
of General Electric's research, however, consisted of firing
captured German V2s from White Sands under the direction of
Werner von Braun  (Wilson 1982). In the closing days of the
War, German rocket scientists surrendered themselves to
advancing American troops rather than allowing themselves to
be captured by the Soviets. Their experience launched the
American rocket program on its way. 

Von Braun  and his group had large numbers of V-2 parts at
their disposal. After three V-2 flights under the auspices
of the British Operation Backfire, the plans, parts, and
German rocket scientists had all been taken out of Germany
and relocated to New Mexico under Operation Paperclip at the
end of World War II. They scientists accepted U.S.
contracts, and began launching rockets from White Sands, New
Mexico. 

Between April 16, 1946 and September 19, 1952, von Braun 
and General Electric launched more than sixty V2s from the
White Sands Proving Grounds as a part of Project Hermes
(Wilson 1982, pp. 2-3). Wilson says 63 were launched from
White Sands (p. 2), whereas Gatland claims 64 (Gatland 1989,
p. 12). It is possible that Gatland accidentally included
the launch of a V-2 on
September 6, 1947 from the aircraft carrier USS Midway, the
first large rocket to be launched from the deck of a ship
(Gatland 1989, p. 13) 65 captured German V-2 rockets were
fired from White Sands (Clark 1968, p. 53). A rhesus monkey
named Albert became the first animal to flyby in a rocket
when he was launched in a USAF V-2 rocket in 1948. He was
also the first animal to die in a rocket. Six of the V2
launches were as the first stage of the Bumper rocket.
Initial launches focused on achieving altitude, but later
were intended to achieve large downrange
distances. 

The V2 and WAC Corporal programs were combined on June 20,
1947 into the Bumper program (Gatland 1989, p. 13). The WAC
Corporal was used as an upper stage on the V2, producing
Americas first large multi-staged rocket. This combination
was named Bumper, and reached an altitude of 405 kilometers
on February 24, 1949.

GR.V.272.37 a l'etat c'est moi frame of mind
Louis XIV, in 1651 announced, "I am the state."