Anniversary of V2

This Monday evening, I was rushing to catch my flight to Amsterdam in London as I was getting late. As usual, once I reached the airport, huffing, puffing, panting and having ulcers the size and numbers of a bunch of Loire grapes, I find that the flight has been delayed.

So I was bumbling around the airport shop and was flipping through Flight International or one of those magazines which showed a plane on top. I whistled involuntarily when I saw a picture of a Raptor with all its ironmongery, ammunition and missiles laid out in front, and this chap with a strong German - Swiss accent looked over and said,"difficult to believe that it has been almost 70 years since that the V2 missile hit London and we have steadily improved our methods of killing."

I said to him, well, we are doing a bit better on the killing front by laser guided missiles, reduced payload, better target selection... He looked at the picture and said something totally bizarre, "I wonder what would have happened if my father had shot those bastards instead of worrying about girls", then turned to me and said, "he was a guard at Peenemunde " and then he walked off to go to catch the Zurich flight.

I forgot about it totally but typically, I remembered it on Wednesday late night at 2 AM when I crawled into the hotel bed. I call it the BD Bed Law. You will remember something to do outside the bed as soon as you have pulled the duvet/blanket over you and settled down to sleep. Well, went back to the laptop and went to check on it. As it so happens, September 8, 1944 was the first date on which a German V2 missile hit London. The first ballistic missile launch in anger.

Did you know more people (20,000) were killed in the making of the rockets than at the receiving end (7,000)? These were the slaves, workers etc. etc. who built the pens, the factory, the launch site, etc. This does NOT include the number of German and other workers and PoW's killed by the Allied bombing of Peenemunde. More than 3100 V2's were fired.

Did you know that the main clincher for the Allies to know that Peenemunde was important was when a petrol coupon report showed that Peenemunde was rated as a high priority military station over and above many stations which were previously known to be important?

So how does it feel to be protected by missiles in the UK, USA, China, Iran, India, USSR, and all countries which have ballistic missiles, all which can be traced back to these V2 missiles, their scientists and knowledge? These fascist Nazi history behind our protection? What would have happened if that German soldier had turned his sub-machine gun on some of the big chaps like Werner van Braun ? It wouldn't have stopped the development of ballistic missiles but it could have delayed it. But it would have definitely impacted space exploration. Curious counter-factual rumination there.

Well, Happy Birthday, V2.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!