Silbervogel
Silbervogel | |
---|---|
Role | Bomber |
Status | Project |
Primary user | Luftwaffe |
Number built | None |
Silbervogel (
Concept
The design incorporated new rocket technology and the principle of the
The Silbervogel was intended to fly long distances in a series of short hops. The aircraft was to have begun its mission propelled along a 3 km (2 mi) long rail track by a large rocket-powered sled to about 1,930 km/h (1,200 mph). Once airborne, it was to fire its own
Postwar analysis of the Silbervogel design involving a mathematical control analysis unearthed a computational error. It turned out that the heat flow during the initial atmospheric re-entry would have been much greater than the original one calculated by Sänger and Bredt. Hence, if the design had been actually constructed, it would have been destroyed by the heat, which would have exceeded design limits and melted the craft. The problem could have been solved by augmenting the heat shield, but this would have reduced the craft's payload capacity significantly, reducing its use for the intended mission of bombing distant areas.[1]
History
On 3 December 1941 Sänger sent his initial proposal for a suborbital glider to the
Professor Walter Gregorii had Sänger rework his report, and a greatly reduced version was submitted to the RLM in September 1944, as UM 3538. It was the first serious proposal for a vehicle which could carry a pilot and payload to the lower edge of space.[citation needed]
Two crewed and one uncrewed version were proposed: the Antipodenferngleiter (antipodal long-range glider) and the Interglobalferngleiter (intercontinental long-range glider). Both were to be launched from a rocket-powered sled. The two crewed versions were identical, except in payload. The Antipodenferngleiter was to be launched at a very steep angle (which would shorten the range) and after dropping its bomb load on New York City was to land at a Japanese base in the Pacific.[3]
Postwar
After the war ended, Sänger and Bredt worked for the
In the US, a similar project, the
One lasting impact of the Silverbird project is the "
Sänger (Raumtransportsystem)
On 18 October 1985
In popular culture
- V-S Day by Allen Steele is a 2014 alternate history novel in which Hitler instructs Wernher von Braun to build the Silbervogel in 1941.[8]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 9781894643054.
- ^ Skoda-Kauba Sk P.14 – Ramjet fighter project.
- ISBN 978-1-894643-05-4.
- ^ Eugen Sänger; Irene Sänger-Bredt (August 1944). A Rocket Drive For Long Range Bombers (PDF). Astronautix.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ISBN 0-275-96684-4.
- ISBN 1-85233-744-3.
- ^ Sæger II, Astronautix, archived from the original on 2014-08-05.
- Tor.com. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
External links
- "Eugen Saenger and related". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016.
- "Seanger Antipodal Bomber". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016.