On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 09:26:36 -0500, Brian Thorn
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Aug 2012 05:16:12 -0700 (PDT), hinnersd
wrote:

Was there ever any consideration given to using the Saturn 1B as a Second Stage for the Saturn V, eliminating the troublesome development of the S-II entirely?

No, the payload hit would have been ruinous. First stages just aren't
good upper stages. They're built for high strength/high thrust at sea
level to get off the ground where upper stages are optimized for high
efficiency in vacuum and low weight. And Saturn IB's first stage was a
cluster of Jupiter and Redstone tanks with nine Thor engines,

Um, eight engines.