Publications

Some years ago when, for the first time after the war, a scientific meeting was held in the German Federal Republic, to discuss rockets, a Swiss rocket expert commenced his lecture with the words: ;I need not say anything about the history of rockets in front of German experts, because the history of modern rockets has been written in Germany.; In giving an abstract of German guided missile development I take the liberty of quoting these words, since this history is closely connected with the development of the modern rocket. Onc task of the AGARD Congress is to describe the history of German developments in guided missiles, before and during the war, and to consider them as a basis and example for discussing the principal problems of remotecontrolled missiles. For the first time we have a meeting of all ;guided-missiles experts; of nations united within the NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION, and as I see it, the purpose of this Congress is to provide the human contact which is most essential and necessary for the improvement of our joint work. As the lectures held today, and to be held on the following days, will once more make us thoroughly familiar with many technical details of the various systems, I should like first to consider a question which is common to all the remote-controlled missiles, viz.: Why was it that just these weapons were, in those days, developed in Germany? Remote-controlled missiles owe their origin to the techniques of two formerly separate fields, i. e. projectiles and aeroplanes. Rocket-driven projectiles have been used for military purposes for several hundred years, but the guided missile did not become possible until advanced aerodynamics, automatic guidance and high-frequency techniques were applied to the modern rocket. The origin of the individual German weapons is revealed by their appearance: the V-2 was derived from the projectile, whereas the V-l and Hs 293 were derived from the aeroplane.