October 1939 - Launch Site: Peenemuende. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: A5. -
 A-5 development rockets with gyroscopic controls and parachutes Nation: Germany. Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi). New test series at Greifswalder Oie. The island had changed a lot, with massive new concrete installations. Three A3's were flown with a new Siemens control system. The first was launched vertically, reaching 7 km at 45 seconds into the flight at the time of engine cut-off. Both the drogue and main parachutes functioned correctly, and the rocket splashed down in the harbour and was recovered a half hour later by a motor boat (the rocket could float for up to two hours before water entering the empty propellant tanks would sink it).
References: 17.
October 1939 - Launch Site: Peenemuende. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: A5, V-2. - Second functional A5 launch. Nation: Germany. Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi). This was a vertical launch, replicating the first launch of the series, and was again recovered successfully. References: 693.
October 1939 - Launch Site: Peenemuende. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: A5, V-2. - Third functional A5 launch. Nation: Germany. Apogee: 4.00 km (2.40 mi). This was the first test of the pitch-over manoeuvre required for the operational A4. The test went perfectly - the rocket pitched over 4 seconds after lift-off, reaching 4 km altitude, and was 6 km downrange from the launch point when the drogue parachute deployed. The rocket was recovered from the ocean successfully. This was finally a complete success after seven years of developmental effort. But the rocket had not broken the sound barrier.
References: 693.
October 1939 - Launch Site: Peenemuende. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: A5, V-2. - Further A5 test launches. Nation: Germany. Apogee: 18 km (11 mi). The German rocket team successfully fired and recovered further A5 development rockets with gyroscopic controls and parachutes, attaining altitude of 12 km and a range of 18 km. References: 693.
Late 1939-1943 - Launch Site: Peenemuende. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: A4b, A9/A10, V-1, V-2. - A9 basic research and design Nation: Germany. By adding wings to the A4, the 800 m/s of kinetic energy the rocket had at cut-off could be exploited in a glide attack, extending the range of the missile from 250 km to 550 km. Such a supersonic aircraft had never been flown and presented many aerodynamic and engineering problems in 1943. Various tests of the A4's with wings began in early 1940. These were successful, and the configuration was dubbed the A9. The trajectory for such a missile involved a boost to an apogee of 29 km, then a stable glide at 20 km altitude at a speed of 1250 m/s. At the end of the glide, the missile would have descended to 5 km altitude, then make a vertical dive on the target in the fashion of the Fi-103/V-1. The A9 would be equipped with wings with a total area of 13.5 sq m. A manned version of this boost-glide rocketplane was also designed. This could reach a conventional airfield 600 km from the launch point in only 17 minutes, landing at a speed of 160 kph. Another possibility to further extend range would be a catapult-launched A9, using the technology developed for the V-1. This would provide an extra velocity of 350 m/s, further extending the missile's potential range.
References: 693.
November 1939 - Launch Site: Peenemuende. Launch Complex: -. Launch Pad: -. Launch Vehicle: A4b, A9/A10, V-2. - Peenemuende wind tunnel goes into operation. Nation: Germany. The tunnel was used an average of 500 hours per month. 1000 cubic metres of vacuum vessels were pumped to a 98% vacuum in three to five minutes by three banks of double vacuum pumps. When vented, they provided the tunnel with 20 seconds of run time at velocities from Mach 1.2 to Mach 4.0, or 1500 m/s. Models 4 to 5 cm in diameter x 30-40 cm long could be accommodated in the tunnel, instrumented at 110 data points. These tests showed that drag increased 70% at the sound barrier and that the centre of pressure on the missile moved back one-half calibre. The wind tunnel runs showed that the basic A4 shape was all right, but that it needed load-carrying wings and a new rudder for the higher-speed A9 glider version. Huge trial and error was required to develop an A9 configuration that was stable, but not so stable that the control surfaces were too large. An arrow wing was the best performing, but the control surfaces were then in the turbulent flow of the wing and inadequate. Swept wings provided 12% less glide ratio than the arrow wing, resulting in a 60 km loss of range. Trapezoidal wings were the final solution, the end of a long iterative process.
Peenemuende-developed delta wings were adapted to Army artillery rounds of the 105 mm flak gun and K5 280 mm cannon, decreasing drag by 35%. The result was an increase of 6 kg in the explosive load, a 6 kg increase in the iron mass of the round, but with a range increase from 59 to 90 km. Equipped with a new, lighter warhead, and a sabot boosting a slimmer round, the gun could shoot projectiles to a range of 135 to 150 km, with an accuracy of 2 per mill.
References: 693.
1939 November 18 - Launch Vehicle: Goddard. Model: Goddard P-C. -
 Goddard Series P Section C rocket tests Nation: USA. Section C tests would run through October 10, 1941. The series of twenty-four static and flight tests (P13-P36) was made with rockets of large fuel capacity, with the rocket motor, pumps, and turbines previously developed. These rockets averaged nearly 22 ft in length, and were 18 in, in diameter. They weighed empty from 190 to 240 lb. The liquid-oxygen load averaged about 140 lb, the gasoline 112 lb, making 'quarter-ton' loaded rockets.
References: 482.
1939 December 2 - Launch Vehicle: Goddard. Model: Goddard P-C. - Goddard Series P Section C rocket static test Nation: USA. Static test at flight tower; steady 40-sec run; lift 760 lb. References: 482.
1939 December 20 - - Ames Research Center founded Nation: USA.
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