Amerika Bombers Appendix 1: A4 Guidance
When writing the post on the V-2/A4, I fell down the rabbit hole learning how the A4's guidance system worked. I couldn't really work it into that post, as it was already way too long, so I present those details here, both because the details I learned are pretty cool, and also to back up a claim I made: that the guidance system was a hard limit on the Third Reich's missile ambitions. While in theory later missiles could have been developed with the A4's motor, the guidance system would have to be completely redone, an development project that it's difficult to imagine the historical Third Reich ever finishing. The Obvious, Stated I know quoting the dictionary is a hoary old cliche, so let me just say my research made me reflect on the phrase "guidance system". Before I started, I assumed a kind of black box that did the guidance thing. But once I got into it, I realized that "system" implies a bunch of mechanisms doing guidance: working, but...