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Author Topic: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style  (Read 1779 times)

Nordsee

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WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« on: April 14, 2011, 07:52:53 pm »

A book has just been published here in Germany describing the German Nuclear weapon programme during WW2. It seems ther programme was well along, the Research was being done on the Island of Helgoland. The programme was for the first weapon would be ready for the 6th August 1945, Target not decided. Delivery weapon to be either  V2 Rocket or a Junkers 322, which was a 4 jet high speed bomber with an expected top speed of close to 600 mph. There were plans for a larger engined version that would be capable of bombing the East coast of America and returning. The jet engines for this aircraft were not finished and were still being tested.
 This all came to a halt when the Junkers Factory was destroyed in a Bombing raid and the prototypes , jigs and plans were destroyed.There was no time to rebuid and the project was stopped in favour of the need for fighters.
  There has recently been the discovery of a sunken U Boat of the Norwegian coast, which was carrying 62 tons of Mercury and some sort of Radio Active material, what is not known, it is well known that the Germans had a Heavy Water plant in Norway,so that could well be a clue. I have ordered the book and when I have read it, will keep you informed, if any interest is shown....
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john s 2

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2011, 08:44:03 pm »

I was always under the impression that the Germans did not have such a progamme. The jewish scientists
were interned. Leaving a big shortful of input. It raizes all sorts of question of the what if ? Kind. When you
look at their firsts nothing surprizes me. The first fly by wire missile. A tv camera in a missile. Jet planes.
Plans to bomb America, and the Bell experiment. This book will make an interestingread. John.
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DavieTait

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2011, 09:05:12 pm »

There was a BBC documentary about the German A-Bomb program on a few years ago. When they had interred the German Scientists at the end of the war they secretly taped them talking and when they were shown the newspapers about the bombing of Japan they all said it was impossible , they had calculated the amount of Uranium needed for a viable bomb to be ( might be wrong going by memory here ) 50x's the amount actually used in the US design.

If they had got their calculations right they may have built a bomb by 1945 but one of the senior German scientists later admitted to slowing down the research and deliberate miscalculations to stop the Nazi party getting an A-bomb. They did have a bomber that it was claimed could reach New York , the Junkers Ju-390 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_390 , but claims that it had reached New York in 1944 have been disproved later.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4598955.stm
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dreadnought72

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2011, 09:54:08 pm »

Given that the Manhattan Project cost the equivalent of around $30B and required over a hundred thousand workers, combined with some of the brightest (Nazi-fleeing) minds of the century, I doubt Germany could have developed a bomb before the 50s.

That said, the designs for the A9/A10 piloted two-stage rocket were well underway in the early 40s, which could have reached America.  :o

Andy
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Nordsee

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2011, 02:11:49 pm »

They already had a bomber capable of reaching New york, the Fw Condor, that had flown as a passenger plane before the outbreak of war. It was well used to attack atlantic convoys. The problem was it could not carry enough fuel to return, so it would have been a suicide mission.
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pugwash

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2011, 02:17:31 pm »

It would have made things more interesting if they had finished the aircraft carrier they started to build, but on the other hand
the chance of it getting near American waters undetected would have been fairly slim.

Geoff
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dodgy geezer

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2011, 05:09:37 pm »

They already had a bomber capable of reaching New york....

I was always most impressed by Sanger's sub-orbital bomber. This was a rocket-powered space shuttle, launched from a monorail ramp, capable of reaching near orbital speeds of around 22,000 kph.

A typical mission would involve a launch from Germany, flying to over 100 miles altitude, and re-entering the atmosphere over New York. It could then bomb, or 'skip' off the thick atmosphere and re-enter over the West Coast, with the ability to bomb mid-west towns on the way, or places like San Francisco. It would then skip over the Pacific in smaller hops, and eventually return to Germany by gliding back down over Asia, having flown once round the world....

http://www.luft46.com/misc/sanger.html refers, or you may like the images over New York   http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/seymour/32/sangerny.html  
and Chicago http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/seymour/32/sangerch.html .


It would have been interesting if it had ever been made....




 
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Nordsee

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2011, 08:44:15 pm »

The Junkers was built and flown. The Factory ended up in the Russian zone and they continued the build until 1946 when the Western Powers complained that warplanes were being constructed in a occupied zone and the production was moved to Russia, The aircraft was the Junkers 288, later 277, ( yes, depended on which jets were fitted) and later named the Baarde 152, a really mean machine! There was also the Ju EF-140, a high speed plane that exceeded Mac .76 in Test flights at a height of  9,000 metres. I think at that height and speed it would have caused considerable problems to defending fighters.
 There was also the EF 131, a plane with 6 jets, forward swept wings and a stunning performance, it was a very good thing the war ended when it did, could have been very dodgy if D Day had been put off for a couple of months !
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john s 2

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Re: WW2 Atomic bombs, German style
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2011, 08:55:32 pm »

Yes they certainly were developing a lot of ideas. It makes our development programmes seem poor. John.
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