Science: Rocket Bombs

World War II’s most sensational new weapon since the magnetic mine plunged into the news last week, when German planes dropped rocket bombs on British ships in the Mediterranean.

The rocket bombs, which are said to be as destructive as a large-caliber shell, are slung from the underside of the wings, aimed by pointing planes directly at their targets. Self-propelled, the rockets trail a stream of sparks like the tail of a comet. In London some experts predicted that rocket bombs may soon make dive-bombing obsolete. Reasons: 1) the new weapon’s high potential accuracy, which enables planes to bomb with greater success from greater heights; 2) its greater penetrating power—the push of the rocket stream is added to the momentum given to the bomb by the onrushing plane.

Meanwhile, U.S. ordnance experts report, the Russians are reported to be firing rocket bombs from their Stormovik planes. They are also using two other types of rocket weapons against the Nazis:

> A multiple projector for use against tanks. It fires 20 to 30 rocket shells at once. Tanks which cross its pattern of fire are in somewhat the same fix as a rabbit in front of a double-barreled shotgun.

> A rocket gun mounted on airplanes for use against other airplanes and ground targets.

Fireworks at Waterloo. Rocket projectiles are at least as old as the early 19th Century. In 1804 Major General Sir William Congreve developed a rocket projectile with a range of nearly two miles. A British fleet fired salvos of Congreve’s rockets at Boulogne in 1806, at Copenhagen in 1807 and at Danzig in 1813, causing great fires.

Interest in rockets fizzled out about 1885 because of artillery improvements like the rifled bore, breech loading, independent recoil. As early as 1922, the Germans resumed secret experiments with military rockets. So did the armies of other nations, including the U.S.