Chapter 67: Between the Peace and the War (13)

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After a loud "boom", all the onlookers jumped up from their bunkers, and then burst out with excited shouts: "Good! ”

This is the 14th round of testing of the rocket by the US Army Weapons Bureau, after repeated trials and explorations, and at the same time, under the pressure of German rocket weapons step by step, American scientists burst out with infinite strength, and finally achieved relatively ideal research results, marked by the success of this test, the prototype of the American No. 1 rocket developed by Professor Robert Goddard has been successfully launched 8 times in the last 10 test launches, and the last 6 times are all successful, basically reaching the technical parameters and flight indicators, and can pass the formal acceptance.

However, the American rocket was successful, but Professor Goddard finally couldn't support it, and at the site of the successful test, his body fell down with heavy weight.

"Professor!" People rushed forward with shouts, but they could no longer save his life.

In order to catch up with the German level as soon as possible and make up for the gap between the United States in the field of rockets, Professor Goddard did not hesitate to overload his sick body and work continuously at the last moment of his life. In the hospital's emergency center, the doctor shook his head at everyone: "I have warned the professor many times that he can no longer continue to work like this, but apparently he is not listening. ”

On April 6, 1945, Professor Robert Goddard, the world's rocket pioneer and an academic authority in the field of rocketry in the United States, passed away.

At the report meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, von Kármán said: "So far, our rockets have initially had actual combat capabilities, but there is still a big gap with the level of Germany. In addition, some progress has been made on the cruise rocket, and after collecting the wreckage at the Oak Ridge site, we have learned more and the first prototypes will be completed in October. ”

In fact, the V1 missile is much less technically difficult than the V2, and Carmen and others have long understood the characteristics of the V1, and the United States can come up with a finished product very early on, but Professor Goddard does not think that the V1 is a mature product, and Carmen holds a similar view, and they are determined to go directly to the more technically difficult and faster cruise rocket (similar to the German V3), and at that time they were full of confidence in hoping to shoot the bow left and right, but now it seems that the time is not so fast.

"How much capacity does the America-1 rocket have now?"

"A warhead with a load of 500 kg can fly about 320 kilometers, and the circular probability error is 20 kilometers"

"What about the Germans?"

"With a load of about 800 kilograms, a range of more than 1200 kilometers, and a circular probability error of nearly 10 kilometers."

Everyone frowned a little, although everyone didn't know what these numbers represented, but the difference in numbers was obviously very unpleasant.

MacArthur hesitated and asked, "When will we reach German parity?" ”

"It may take 1218 months, the extension of the rocket range is not just by doing a large volume, increasing the propellant can be achieved, the increase in propellant will increase the weight of the missile, and will increase the difficulty of control, just like building an airplane, if you want to be fast, you must be equipped with a high-power engine, but the engine power is large, the volume will inevitably increase, the weight will inevitably increase, which in turn will affect the aerodynamic structure and shape, will drag down the speed." "Professor Goddard came up with the idea of a multi-stage rocket, which I think works completely theoretically, and the fact that the new German rocket is also used in this way shows that we are on the right path, as long as we keep going, we will definitely reap the results, but it will take more time," Carmen said. ”

"Can't this be shortened?"

"It's basically difficult, of course, we also have a simplified, opportunistic way to reduce the weight of the explosive part of the warhead, but this makes no sense, a rocket that can fly 1,000 kilometers but can only carry a 50-kilogram warhead has no lethality at all, at most there can only be a psychological comfort."

Dewey nodded: "Scientific research projects still have to be done in a down-to-earth manner." We're still a little bit closer, but at least we're there, and that's a remarkable achievement, and I've nominated Professor Robert Goddard with the Presidential Medal and the Congressional Medal for his contributions to the cause of American defense. I now desperately want rockets to be put into actual combat, to tell the Germans with the sound of violent explosions that they are not the only ones in the world who can play with rockets! ”

Carmen was a little stunned, but nodded subconsciously.

"In May, I hope we will have 1,000 rockets ready for action, and the range of 320 kilometers will be enough to get from Costa Rica to Panama, and if we can establish a rocket position in Recife, we will have a greater deterrent range. In addition, I am eager to work on ship-based rockets, which can effectively compensate for the limited range. Dewey said eloquently, "The Joint Chiefs of Staff has decided to increase the intensity of appropriation to you, no matter what conditions you put forward, as long as they can be met, I will definitely do my best to meet them, and funding is not a problem, and there is a consensus among the three armed forces on this point." ”

The responsible persons of the army, navy, and air force nodded and told Carmen that the three branches of the armed forces have squeezed out more than $5 billion from this year's military spending to support the development of sophisticated weapons, and the rocket project is the top priority. In addition to funds, it is also planned to let General Motors and some other large enterprises specialize in the production of rockets. At present, the cost of the experimental rocket is about 250,000 US dollars, and if it is mass-produced, it is expected to be reduced to less than 80,000 US dollars, which is almost equivalent to the price of a new aircraft.

"At the moment we are trying to make peaceful contacts with Germany to see if we can reach a more decent armistice, and if not, we will consider launching an attack on Bermuda in 56 This thorn is too threatening. We suspected that the Germans would use this as a rocket launch base to threaten the east coast, and this was an extremely difficult weapon to defend against, which is why I was so eager to prepare a rocket that could be used in real combat. Dewey explained, "It's a tough test for you, but I hope our scientists can withstand the pressure, and America has never been more in need of sophisticated weapons!" This is not only a guarantee for winning the war, but also a source of strength to inspire the American people and restore confidence! ”

"We are very satisfied with the other resources, but now the time is very tight, if possible, we wonder" von Kármán hesitated for a few dozen seconds, but still said the second half, "can we ask the state to send spies to steal information about German rocketry or other scientific research projects"

His voice became deep: "It is immoral to think this way from a scientist's point of view, but since I put on this military uniform and fought for the American people, I have not seen it as a simple academic issue, but a matter of life and death for the country." Moreover, if the Germans can send agents to sabotage our scientific research projects, we should also be a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye! ”

Originally, according to the level, Carmen didn't know about the Manhattan Project, but as soon as Oak Ridge was bombed, he understood that even if he didn't know how to build an atomic bomb, the principle of this thing was at least clear in his heart, and he was deeply resentful in addition to being shocked.

Dewey paused for a moment and immediately nodded: "I will ask Director Donovan to find a way to deal with this matter, but you can't pin all your hopes here." ”

"It's natural, we're going to redouble our efforts, and as long as productivity can keep up, I promise you enough rockets by the end of May."

(End of chapter)

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