The V3 Supergun.

Peter Clare · 09-05-2008, 11:15 PM

Short range ballistic missile. Year: 1944. Family: Gun-launched. Country: Germany. Other Designations: Tausend Fussler. Manufacturer's Designation: HDP.

V-3

uksubs · 10-05-2008, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Clare

Short range ballistic missile. Year: 1944. Family: Gun-launched. Country: Germany. Other Designations: Tausend Fussler. Manufacturer's Designation: HDP.

V-3

I've been to V-3 complex at Mimoyecques with Leger tours & to me the V3 was a big white elephant

Gage · 10-05-2008, 07:39 AM

Hitler did like to waste his resources on wonder weapons. Didn't Saddam try to build one a few years ago?

MikB · 10-05-2008, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gage

Hitler did like to waste his resources on wonder weapons. Didn't Saddam try to build one a few years ago?

He did. Saddam was gonna blow a big piston down a side-cylinder with explosive, as I understand it, so the supergun itself would have been a giant airgun. Adolf was gonna burn progressive powder charges in side-chambers in a timed sequence. Theoretically I think he expected to throw 600 tons of shells at London a day - but I can only guess where Saddam thought he was going to stick his.

The idea seems to keep coming back as a way of launching stuff suborbitally. Nobody's really made it work yet, but at one time they said that about steam engines and aeroplanes.

Regards,
MikB

Gage · 10-05-2008, 09:06 PM

Can't lay my hands on it at the mo but I think ATB did a great V-Weapon magazine. That had a lot of the V-3 stuff in it.

Mark Hone · 11-05-2008, 01:14 PM

There was an article on the V3 site in a recent 'Military History Illustrated' (Jan 2008 from memory) which I saw in a W.H. Smith while I was on my travels. I didn't buy it at the time and then couldn't track a copy down locally. To be honest, I thought MHI had folded years ago! I am hoping to include Mimoyecques on a future school tour, so would be interested if anyone has a spare copy.

DaveBrigg · 12-05-2008, 01:50 AM

Saddam's gun was for launching satellites. Its designer, Gerald Bull, had already succeeded in launching shells to an altitude of 60 miles, and built the G5 howitzer for South Africa that can hit a target 30 miles away (Dover - Calais is 20 miles) The supergun was immobile and highly visible though, so an easy target for aircraft. Bull died in 1990 of lead poisoning, of the type that happens a split second after being shot 5 times in the back of the neck.

09-05-2008, 11:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
Peter Clare Very Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Windsor UK Posts: 4,789	The V3 Supergun. Short range ballistic missile. Year: 1944. Family: Gun-launched. Country: Germany. Other Designations: Tausend Fussler. Manufacturer's Designation: HDP. V-3 __________________ On weald of Kent I watched once more Again I heard that grumbling roar Of fighter planes; yet none were near And all around the sky was clear Borne on the wind a whisper came 'Though men grow old, they stay the same' And then I knew, unseen to eye The ageless Few were sweeping by

10-05-2008, 07:39 AM	#3 (permalink)
Gage Angels one-five Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Somewhere in Time Posts: 1,100	Hitler did like to waste his resources on wonder weapons. Didn't Saddam try to build one a few years ago? __________________ 'There I stood at the bar, wearing a Mae West, no jacket, and beginning to leak blood from my torn boot. None of the golfers took any notice of me - after all, I wasn't a member!' Kenneth Lee - after being shot down on the 18th August 1940. We had a squadron commander who believed in the head-on attack. 'The next raid we go up to intercept, we will do a head-on attack,' he said. So he attacked an Me 110 head-on and I'm afraid Jerry got the better of him and all we found of him was his shirt! Flying Officer Harold Bird-Wilson, 17 Squadron.

10-05-2008, 09:06 PM	#5 (permalink)
Gage Angels one-five Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Somewhere in Time Posts: 1,100	Can't lay my hands on it at the mo but I think ATB did a great V-Weapon magazine. That had a lot of the V-3 stuff in it. __________________ 'There I stood at the bar, wearing a Mae West, no jacket, and beginning to leak blood from my torn boot. None of the golfers took any notice of me - after all, I wasn't a member!' Kenneth Lee - after being shot down on the 18th August 1940. We had a squadron commander who believed in the head-on attack. 'The next raid we go up to intercept, we will do a head-on attack,' he said. So he attacked an Me 110 head-on and I'm afraid Jerry got the better of him and all we found of him was his shirt! Flying Officer Harold Bird-Wilson, 17 Squadron.

11-05-2008, 01:14 PM	#6 (permalink)
Mark Hone Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bury, Lancashire, England Posts: 264	There was an article on the V3 site in a recent 'Military History Illustrated' (Jan 2008 from memory) which I saw in a W.H. Smith while I was on my travels. I didn't buy it at the time and then couldn't track a copy down locally. To be honest, I thought MHI had folded years ago! I am hoping to include Mimoyecques on a future school tour, so would be interested if anyone has a spare copy. __________________ In memory of Corporal Jack Hone (1923-2004), proud 14th Army 'Steelback'.

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12-05-2008, 01:50 AM	#7 (permalink)
DaveBrigg Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 32	Saddam's gun was for launching satellites. Its designer, Gerald Bull, had already succeeded in launching shells to an altitude of 60 miles, and built the G5 howitzer for South Africa that can hit a target 30 miles away (Dover - Calais is 20 miles) The supergun was immobile and highly visible though, so an easy target for aircraft. Bull died in 1990 of lead poisoning, of the type that happens a split second after being shot 5 times in the back of the neck.

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