Missile, Surface-to-Surface, V-2, Alcohol Tank

Object Details

Summary: The V-2, the world first ballistic missile, was deployed by the German Army in 1944-45 against cities in Britain, Belgium, and France. Its aluminum-magnesium alloy fuel tank normally carried a load of 3965 kg (8740 lb) of a mixture of 75% alcohol (either pure ethanol, or an ethanol/methanol mix) and 25% water. The tank was tapered toward the front to fit into the missile's shape, and had a pipe for fuelling on top and a main fuel duct on the bottom. The water-alcohol mixture was sucked by the rocket engine's turbopump through a pipe which passed through the liquid-oxygen tank, located below it in the missile.; It is not clear where NASM's artifact was made, but was in all likelihood captured in 1945 by the US Army at the Mittelwerk underground plant near Nordhausen, Germany, where concentration-camp prisoners would have installed it in a missile on the assembly line.

Materials: Aluminum-magnesium alloy; Paint; Wool/ Natural Fabric; Wood; Steel
Dimensions: Approximate (Diameter of wider end): 342.9 x 157.5cm (11 ft. 3 in. x 62 in.)

National Air and Space Museum

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv942142fd7-d5ee-49a3-9bd8-d7138e59e3b1