V-2 BOMB SECRETS

Evening Star, Issue 25472, 1 May 1945, Page 6

V-2 BOMB SECRETS

KNOWN IN ENGLAND BEFORE ONSLAUGHT EARLY SPECIMEN OBTAINED FROM SWEDEN, (Ree. 11"5 a.m..) RUGBY, April 30. Britain been red a V-2 rodket bomb for the purposes of investigation before the Germans commenced firing these weapons at Southern England. How .this caiiie about is revealed in London to-day. Last June a mysterious B,ooolb object fell alirtost intact near Kalmar, in Sweden. The British managed to obtain permission to transport it to England for scientists to .investigate. The, only plane available capable of flying the dismembered projectile was an ancient After a hazardous journey through cloud and storm with faulty instruments and inadequate navigational aids, the American pilot, Lieutenant-colonel Keith N. Allen (since killed in action), landed at a Swedish airfield with his petrol almost exhausted. When loaded with the V-2 parts the overcrowded plane only just managed to take off. Enemy flak was met over the Norwegian coast, but no damage was done, and the plane lumbered uneasily on to its base in Scotland, where its valuable cargo was transferred for transit to Southern England. '• The secrets learned from it did much to prepare • Britain against later onslaughts.