Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-10

WOAAA wal ~ EIOJGCb AZ. 1nlS
was plan for an intercontinental
missile-or. more accurately, q
rocket bomber-which was to
reach the United States after a
flight of an hour or so. It was to
combine principles used in the
German vi and va missiles
which bombarded England In the
closing days Of the war.
The Sanger Study
While Project A-9 literally never
got OF the ground, its director,
DR.. Eugen Sanger. produced a
comprehensive 375-page study on
= rocket propulsion for long-dis-
lance bombers. Completed at the
German Air Research Institute at
Trauen, this is said to have fallen
into Russian hands in l945. Ac-
cording to the Die Welt report,
the Soviets have used 1t like
Bible" ever since.
AS reported by the Germans,
only the first stage of the Rus
sian three-stage missile utilizes
the rocket principle. The second
stage is driven by a ram jet. The
third stage. Die Welt said, "is the
flight of the warhead which, be-
fore re-entry into the earth's at
mosphere-after the whole mis-
sile has flown through space-is
hlnurTa off rVlAs~ A.
fitted with a gliding I'm and has
an additional cruising motor so
that the missile approaching its
target does not lose speed in the
earths dense atmosphere"
The report said the Russians
were using nonmetallic boron COM
pounds as rocket fuel and that
they had made important adj
vances in the cooling of rocket
motors by graphiting the walls of
combustion chambers. AS let fuel
q refinement of kerosene was said
to be used.
From 1915 on, Die Welt said.
the Soviets burdened and pes
tered German physicists who had
to work for them with (the plan).
They were told to develop this
project, called A-9, which had
been intended to reach the United
States in the last days of the
war"
Whether or not this report is a
garbled one, the satellite launch
ing method shown in the Russian
Red Moon" movie seems to have
much in common with the Ger
man descriptions. Moreover, If the
Red Moon" version is correct and
If the Russians are using the same
launching technique for their
ICBM, then the alleged AZ project
could, as claimed, be q major con-
tributor to Soviet missile successes.
A Reuters dispatch on Septem-
Der 4 regarding DR.. Sanger, who
is now, head of the Stuttgart
Physical Institute, tends to bear
out the claims reported by Die
Welt.
TroiIed by Reds
Reuters quoted DR.. Sanger as
saying Russian agents trailed him
over a large part of Europe in the
post-Worid War II years in efforts
to secure his talents for their
guided missiles program. In I947,
he said, a Soviet agent, Col.
G. A. Tokaev. was personally as
signed by Stain to get DR.. Sanger
and his scientist wife to the So
Wet Union willingly or by force"
DR.. Sanger said he was working
in Paris for the French govern
ment at the time, but escaped kid
mapping when he fled to England.
DR.. Sanger. who produced the
worlds first authoritative textbook
on rocket techniques in 1888 and
won international acclaim, was
reported to believe the Soviet's
ICBM missile is one of two prof.
ectS known to him-the TIA and
the T-3-or a combination of
them. He added. however. that
both versions are based on rocket
motor principles which he and his
wife worked out for Germany.
Performance data Of the Russian
missile quoted by DR.. Sanger ap-
pears 70 correlate with conclusions
drawn by United States scientists
since the launching Of the Soviet
Sputniks, as well as information
released by the Communists. DR..
Sanger said the missile had a
5,000-mile range and a ceiling
of $40 miles. Subsequent reports
from Russian scientists indicate a
similar range, an 800-mile ceiling
and an error in target accuracy
of from 6 to IL miles.
Among other things. the fore
going reports may have signifi-
canoe in evaluating:
. How rapidly the Russians are
actually proceeding in basic
missile research and. correspond
ingly, how much Of their achieve
ment is due to World War II
momentum and German aid.
. Just how effective the Russian
technique Of concentrated tech
nical education and mass produc-
ton Of engineers actually is.
Who Gets the Credit?
Since the launching Of the first
Russian satellite there has been
much speculation concerning the
amount of credit due Soviet
dominated German scientists. For
the most part the idea has been
down-graded here. Many United
States authorities have said the
Germans probably exert only
minor influence on current Soviet
technology.
In other quarters, however, there
has been belief that without the
Germans--who admittedly were
far ahead of every nation in mis-
sile technique on We Day-Russia
could not today have her pre-
eminent position in rocketry. This
school Of thought asserts that
Russia, not the United States. got
the cream of German missile ex-