Was the A-4b ever put in a wind tunnel?

I read about how the wings fell off after launch, and I read about how
it worked up to a point, but there's nothing about any drawings,
static testing, or practically anything else. It seems that someone
took a V-2, added the swept wings (apparently made just for the test),
stretched the tail fins, and launched the thing. That doesn't seem
to fit with what I think I know about Teutonic thoroughness or about
the painstaking work to coerce the A-4 to fly.

wrote:
I read about how the wings fell off after launch, and I read about how
it worked up to a point, but there's nothing about any drawings,
static testing, or practically anything else. It seems that someone
took a V-2, added the swept wings (apparently made just for the test),
stretched the tail fins, and launched the thing. That doesn't seem
to fit with what I think I know about Teutonic thoroughness or about
the painstaking work to coerce the A-4 to fly.

They did indeed do supersonic wind tunnel tests on the design, and tried
out several wing configurations in the wind tunnel before they built the
prototypes.
The first one went out of control immediately after launch (there's
surviving video of that, with the cameraman ducking as it goes crazy)
The second one ascended correctly, but one of its wings fell off on the
descent. This was probably due to the heat and G loads it was
encountering, and the fact that the wings were made of wood.

Pat

" wrote:

That doesn't seem to fit with what I think I know about Teutonic
thoroughness or about the painstaking work to coerce the A-4 to fly.

Teutonic thorougness decayed noticeably as the war progressed.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

Derek Lyons wrote:
" wrote:

That doesn't seem to fit with what I think I know about Teutonic
thoroughness or about the painstaking work to coerce the A-4 to fly.

Teutonic thorougness decayed noticeably as the war progressed.

The Peenemunde team had a hard time getting support for it, as the top
brass wanted them to concentrate on other projects (like the Wasserfall
SAM) rather than the A9 - which the A4b was a cover name for - to get it
any funding.
There is a surviving photo of a third A4b with enlarged control surfaces
on its fins, and that one seems to have metal skinning on the wings, as
its starboard aft wingtip is damaged...and it is wrinkled, not cracked
like a all wooden wing would be.

Pat

On Sep 4, 10:47*am, Pat Flannery wrote:

They did indeed do supersonic wind tunnel tests on the design, and tried
out several wing configurations in the wind tunnel before they built the
prototypes.

Got anything on the airfoil choice? Dimensions?

The first one went out of control immediately after launch (there's
surviving video of that, with the cameraman ducking as it goes crazy)
The second one ascended correctly, but one of its wings fell off on the
* descent. This was probably due to the heat and G loads it was
encountering, and the fact that the wings were made of wood.

That must have been hilarious, in retrospect. At the time, I'd have
had to change, too.


Mike

wrote:
On Sep 4, 10:47 am, Pat Flannery wrote:

They did indeed do supersonic wind tunnel tests on the design, and tried
out several wing configurations in the wind tunnel before they built the
prototypes.

Got anything on the airfoil choice? Dimensions?


Scott Lowther had a article that included info on this in one of his
Aerospace Projects Review issues:
http://www.up-ship.com/apr/v5n6.htm
http://www.up-ship.com/apr/images/raumwaffearticle.gif
I assume the airfoil profile had to be symmetrical to prevent the
missile pulling to one side as it ascended due to the wing generating lift.


That must have been hilarious, in retrospect. At the time, I'd have
had to change, too.


There were more than one film like that; here you can see why Peenemunde
cameramen should have gotten combat pay:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtjavGsYvao
The one at the two minute mark went over the the adjoining Luftwaffe
test center, who were not enthused by its arrival.
I've never gotten specific figures on this, but apparently quite a few
V-2 launch crews suffered fatalities as the missiles went out of control
at launch; this was probably exacerbated by the fact that the
concentration camp inmates working on the missiles discovered that you
could urinate on the components of the guidance system as they were
being made and they would still pass inspection, only to malfunction
days later from the corrosive and gumming-up effects of the dried urine.

Pat