[AR] Re: Roll control...
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:38:08 -0400 (EDT)
On Tue, 12 Jun 2018, John Dom wrote:
But didn't V-2 also have vanes in each fin tip, possibly independent
from the 4 vanes inside the exhaust?
It did, and yes, they were independently controlled. Some issue or other
was thought to require being able to control them separately on the V-2;
may not have actually been necessary, since Scout likewise had jet vanes
plus elevons, and I believe did have common actuators.
The V-2 guys would have preferred to rely solely on the elevons, but they
just weren't effective enough until the airspeed built up a bit. A launch
rail hefty enough for a V-2 and long enough to get it up to aerodynamic
control speed would have been impractical for a mobile launch system.
(The wisdom of making the launch system mobile was demonstrated soon after
V-weapon operations began, as fleets of Allied bombers systematically
demolished anything that even looked like it *might* be a V-1 launch site,
while their best efforts did no more than hamper V-2 operations a bit.)
Henry
Other related posts:
