V-2 and "gusts of emotion," again

[Monte Davis]

Weisenburger and others make an unassailable case for P's familiarity with
David Irving's *The Mare's Nest*, a 1964 account of the V-weapons, what UK
intelligence knew about them, and UK/US military efforts to combat them.
What Irving captured best is London's confusion as late as mid-1944 among
"flying bombs," large rockets, and the ultra-long-range artillery in
northern France that could have hit London (but was overrun after D-Day
well before it was ready).

Those around Churchill who doubted a large rocket began by arguing "it
can't be done," and as evidence accumulated shifted to "maybe it could be
done, but it doesn't make sense." I.e., it  would cost so much more (about
fifty times as much as a V-1, as it proved) to deliver about the same
weight of explosive, and demanded much more in specialized high
technologies that were desperately needed in other areas of the war.

In an August 1944 report summarized by Irving, scientific advisor R.V.
Jones realized how he and his peers had been led astray by such practical
considerations:

"...he recalled how Intelligence had been forced to enter a fantasy world
where
romance had replaced economy. Why had the Germans expended years of
intensive research, an elaborate radio control, and tons of costly fuel to
throw at London a warhead not much larger than that already carried far
more cheaply by the flying bomb? To him, the answer seemed obvious: no
other weapon had produced a comparable “romantic appeal.” Here was a 13-ton
missile which traced out a flaming ascent to heights hitherto beyond the
reach of man, and hurled itself 200 miles at unparalleled speeds across the
stratosphere, to descend upon its defenceless target.

"What did it matter that the German Air Force [which ran the V-1 program]
was doing the same damage much more cheaply? The Army’s rocket was a
fantastic technical achievement which had captured the imagination of the
Nazis. There was surely no deeper policy behind the rocket."

You can't run a war on gusts of emotion, Adolf.
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