Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: RE. Need book about the V1 "Buzz Bomb"
Message-ID: <7669@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 22 Jun 89 11:51:07 GMT
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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>...The author's contention was 
>that had the Germans relied more on the V1, rather than being caught up in the 
>high-tech'ness of the V2, the overall effect on the Allies would have been 
>greater...

W.S. Bainbridge, in his book "The Spaceflight Revolution" (I think I've got
names correct here; it's been a while though), came to a similar but more
sweeping conclusion:  considered strictly as a military weapon, the money
spend on the A-4 (popularly known as the V-2) would have been better spent
on any of several alternatives, including better cruise missiles.  It's
only very recently that ballistic missiles have become accurate enough to
be arguably a worthwhile way of delivering conventional explosive.  (The
conventional warheads provided for many tactical missiles are basically
political ploys rather than useful weapons.)

At one point, Von Braun was arrested by the Gestapo on the grounds that he
cared more about spaceflight than about winning the war.  He was released
when Dornberger insisted that he was vital to the project, said project of
course being the apple of Hitler's eye...  I don't believe Dornberger ever
bothered actually denying the charge, which was undoubtedly valid.

Actually, mind you, there is room to doubt that shifting attention to the
V-1 would have accomplished much:  neither weapon was accurate enough for
anything but random bombardment of cities, and that's just not a very useful
tactic.

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu