Operation Lighthouse (1937)
Encyclopedia
Operation Lighthouse was the name given to the failed experimental launch of four Aggregate 3 liquid-fuel rockets by Wernher von Braun
and Walter Dornberger
on the German island of Greifswalder Oie
in December 1937.
in an attempt to evaluate guidance systems. These consisted of vanes designed to deflect the rocket exhaust and control the missile's course. On September 1st, Dornberger ordered that von Braun's team prepare for a series of test launches in the first part of November from the small island of Greifswalder Oie in an operation he designated "Lighthouse". Von Braun assigned the head of his measurement unit, Gerhard Reisig, to prepare the expedition to the island.
In November, rain and snow storms kept the project behind schedule, delaying ferries and nearly collapsing the tent erected as a preparation site. Rodents gnawed on tar paper
and telephone cables
. Amidst the setbacks, Dornberger and von Braun hunted rabbits
and pheasants
. The rockets and launch site were not ready until December.
deployed and dragged, burning, behind the vehicle. After less than seven seconds the engine cut out and soon the rocket fell back to the ground, landing 1,000 feet (300 meters) from the launch site. It exploded and burned upon impact, leaving little wreckage to examine.
Another missile was launched on the afternoon of December 6th and followed a similar pattern, crashing and exploding in the sea less than twenty feet from the island's cliffs. The wreckage did not yield an explanation for the failure, but the parachute system was suspected.
For the third launch, the parachute was replaced with a flare. The rocket was set off in the afternoon of December 8th. The missile turned from the vertical into the wind and after four seconds the flare deployed. At 1,000 feet (300 meters) the engine quit, and without the drag of a burning parachute (like the previous two rockets) it achieved a greater distance before crashing over a mile offshore and exploding in the sea.
Despite the disappointing results of the first three launches, Dornberger and von Braun decided to launch their last A3. After further weather delays, the last rocket was set off on the morning of December 11th but demonstrated a performance much like the third.
charge caused the parachute to deploy early in the first two launches. Tests conducted at Kummersdorf on an electrically insulated rocket seemed to discount this explanation. Instead, von Braun figured that the rocket had rolled upon launch enough to deploy the parachute, which was set to act when the missile rolled more than six degrees per second. Because the missiles tested had not been painted in patterns, it was only upon reviewing photographs that the roll was detected.
Ultimately, the failure of the A3 launches showed the relative lack of experience of von Braun's team and Kreiselgeräte, the company that designed the guidance system. The A3 was essentially abandoned and thoroughly redesigned as the A5. By January 1938 von Braun and Dornberger decided to keep the propulsion, pressurization, and tank systems, but discarded the body and fin design in favor of something that could be better controlled. Additionally, unlike the A3, the A5 would not be designed to carry any scientific instrumentation, but only guidance and control systems.
Furthermore, the failure of the A3 launches held back the development of the A4 (later known as V-2) rocket for at least a year. Von Braun had hoped to launch the world's first ballistic missile
by 1940, but the Oie expedition forced this aspiration further into the future.
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
and Walter Dornberger
Walter Dornberger
Major-General Dr Walter Robert Dornberger was a German Army artillery officer whose career spanned World Wars I and II. He was a leader of Germany's V-2 rocket program and other projects at the Peenemünde Army Research Center....
on the German island of Greifswalder Oie
Greifswalder Oie
Greifswalder Oie is a small island in the Baltic Sea, located east of Rügen on the German coast. The island covers an area of about 54 hectares.-History:...
in December 1937.
Background and preparation
In the summer of 1937 the German Aggregate 3 series of rockets was nearing the testing stage. Several were tested on a special stand at KummersdorfKummersdorf
Kummersdorf is the name of an estate near Luckenwalde at , around 25km south of Berlin, in the Brandenburg region of Germany. Until 1945 Kummersdorf hosted the weapon office of the German Army which ran a development centre for future weapons as well as an artillery range.In 1929 the Army Weapons...
in an attempt to evaluate guidance systems. These consisted of vanes designed to deflect the rocket exhaust and control the missile's course. On September 1st, Dornberger ordered that von Braun's team prepare for a series of test launches in the first part of November from the small island of Greifswalder Oie in an operation he designated "Lighthouse". Von Braun assigned the head of his measurement unit, Gerhard Reisig, to prepare the expedition to the island.
In November, rain and snow storms kept the project behind schedule, delaying ferries and nearly collapsing the tent erected as a preparation site. Rodents gnawed on tar paper
Tar paper
Tar paper is a heavy-duty paper used in construction. Tar paper is made by impregnating paper with tar, producing a waterproof material useful for roof construction. It can be distinguished from Roofing felt:Asphalt-saturated felt. Roofing felt has been in use for over a hundred years...
and telephone cables
Telephone line
A telephone line or telephone circuit is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system...
. Amidst the setbacks, Dornberger and von Braun hunted rabbits
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
and pheasants
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
. The rockets and launch site were not ready until December.
Launches
The first launch was ordered for December 2nd, but again weather and technical problems delayed the operation. On December 4th the first rocket blasted off just after 10 AM. Set on a test ring without a guide rail, the rocket rose vertically for three seconds, but then the parachuteParachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
deployed and dragged, burning, behind the vehicle. After less than seven seconds the engine cut out and soon the rocket fell back to the ground, landing 1,000 feet (300 meters) from the launch site. It exploded and burned upon impact, leaving little wreckage to examine.
Another missile was launched on the afternoon of December 6th and followed a similar pattern, crashing and exploding in the sea less than twenty feet from the island's cliffs. The wreckage did not yield an explanation for the failure, but the parachute system was suspected.
For the third launch, the parachute was replaced with a flare. The rocket was set off in the afternoon of December 8th. The missile turned from the vertical into the wind and after four seconds the flare deployed. At 1,000 feet (300 meters) the engine quit, and without the drag of a burning parachute (like the previous two rockets) it achieved a greater distance before crashing over a mile offshore and exploding in the sea.
Despite the disappointing results of the first three launches, Dornberger and von Braun decided to launch their last A3. After further weather delays, the last rocket was set off on the morning of December 11th but demonstrated a performance much like the third.
Aftermath
The failure the project launch came as a shock to von Braun, who set to trying to find the causes. He suspected both the guidance control system and the jet vanes. Additionally, he developed a theory that an electrostaticElectrostatics
Electrostatics is the branch of physics that deals with the phenomena and properties of stationary or slow-moving electric charges....
charge caused the parachute to deploy early in the first two launches. Tests conducted at Kummersdorf on an electrically insulated rocket seemed to discount this explanation. Instead, von Braun figured that the rocket had rolled upon launch enough to deploy the parachute, which was set to act when the missile rolled more than six degrees per second. Because the missiles tested had not been painted in patterns, it was only upon reviewing photographs that the roll was detected.
Ultimately, the failure of the A3 launches showed the relative lack of experience of von Braun's team and Kreiselgeräte, the company that designed the guidance system. The A3 was essentially abandoned and thoroughly redesigned as the A5. By January 1938 von Braun and Dornberger decided to keep the propulsion, pressurization, and tank systems, but discarded the body and fin design in favor of something that could be better controlled. Additionally, unlike the A3, the A5 would not be designed to carry any scientific instrumentation, but only guidance and control systems.
Furthermore, the failure of the A3 launches held back the development of the A4 (later known as V-2) rocket for at least a year. Von Braun had hoped to launch the world's first ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
by 1940, but the Oie expedition forced this aspiration further into the future.