Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-06-29
Sky Platform 500 Miles Up
Is German Idea for Next War

hour. The first use for this, in their
minds. would be to transport mail
from Europe to America in about
40 minutes. They believe that it
will require at least Is years of ex-
pertinent at the present pace before
it would be safe to carry passengers
at the same speed.
We Now Antiquated.
The W. now is quite an anti
quated weapon in the light of Ger
man research.
Experimentally practical was a
winged model with a 300-mile range.
The best range of the W. was ITO
miles. Within another six months
rockets might have been developed
that could have wiped out New
York.
The best W. in use had a peak
speed of $500 miles per hour and
a terminal speed OF 2,400 miles per
hour, going. straight up for "a miles
and then moving to its goal under
gyroscopic control.
The Germans also had a lot of
"screwball" weapons, designed to
please Hitler who liked big things
that made lot of noise even if
they were impractical. The scien-
lists, against their better Judgment,
strove to please him.
Other Secret" Weapons.
Some of the German secret"
weapons were:
A 38-cm. rocket projectile on a
Tiger tank with a Smile range. It
was used late in the war against
the American 9th Army. The big
engineering problem in connection
with this was to dispose of expelled
vapors SO as not to gas the tanks
crew.
A 28-cm. railroad gun with a
rocket-accelerated shell to obtain
greater range. It was used against
VervierS and Manstrich.
A 32-inch railroad gun, the big
gest in the world, throwing a
quarter-of-a-ton projectile nearly
40 miles. The only one found was
in Russian territory, but the Amer
leans have a shell for this gun.
A Comm. self-propelled gun
weighing 100 tons with a emile
range
A 15-cm. "cyclotron" gun with a
tube 400 feet long, a muzzle-velocity
Of $500 feet per second and a range
of 81 miles. 1t had no means of
elevation or lateral motion, but was
found embedded in q Channel cliff
zeroed on London. 1t is not known
whether it was ever used. At every
IL feet along the tube were booster
points to accelerate the missile.
Had Largest Mortar.
A 21-cm. mortar, the largest in
the world, but very inaccurate. It's
shell often exploded harmlessly in
the air.
An mor-piercing shell, shaped
like a pencil and carrying a carbine
shell of very hard steel inside a
soft shell to go through the tank.
It was very effective, but produc-
ton was stopped when tungsten
no longer could be imported from
Spain.
A water-glare rocket for firing
rockets at planes from submarines
under water, eliminating the neces-
sity for the sub to expose itself to
beat of air attacks.
A tank weighing 200 tons. It was
never in action, probably because
it was too unwieldy and was made
only to please Hitler. The bigger
German tanks had fine firepower,
but were hard to get under railroad
bridges. The Americans recognized
certain superiorities in them, but
stuck to lighter tanks which we
were equipped to produce In large
numbers.
German ordnance engineers found
they could increase the range of
their heavy artillery by so per cent
~ using rocket propellants behind
shells, but the lethal effect was
somewhat decreased.
Secret Laboratory Found.
Apparently practical plans for
bombing Boston, New York, Balti-
more and Washington were well adj
vanced before the end of the war.
These were revealed with the arrest
OF DR.. Heinrich Determann and his
IA assistants at q secret laboratory
on Toplitz Zee, a scenic lake in the
Austrian Alps.
Investigators were led to the SPOT
by a little Austrian boy who talked
of iron fish which leap from the
water high in the air" and an old
shoemaker who told of small un-
dersea boats which discharged fiery
comets in the night" The German
plan was to discharge V-2s from
submerged submarines from 100
miles or more on shore. Last Janu-
airy the scientists reached q point
where they could aim q va from
under water. and experiments con-
tinued until the approach Of a
United States division, when all
records were destroyed.
!. United States ordnance teams now
are testing the rockets. Determann
was confident that he had the wear-