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Wikipedia thinks that the V2 project cost 50% more than the Manhattan project. If this is credible (and it roughly matches what I remember) then the Germans' pr
by iguy 8y ago
Wikipedia thinks that the V2 project cost 50% more than the Manhattan project. If this is credible (and it roughly matches what I remember) then the Germans' problem wasn't that they were unable to (afford to) build factories fast enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket#Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket#Assessment
I think what the article is saying is that there was an awful lot of technical knowledge between the scientific understanding (e.g. talking about what Heisenberg did or didn't know) and being able to build a factory. This knowledge the allies also didn't have at the beginning, of course.
- ethbro 8y agoAlso, as the article points out, it's really hard to write exciting books about achieving incredibly tight tolerances in manufacturing. And engineers tend to be less colorfully interesting than physicists. (No offense intended, I'd include myself in this characterization)
- Tsubasachan 8y agoKeep in mind that the Germans didn't have access to many resources. The allies had Africa, the Middle East and South America to supply them with all they needed.
- iguy 8y agoIndeed, there could have been some other critical shortage barring the way. (IIRC the soviet bomb-makers mined half their uranium in germany, but something else maybe.) But aggregate industrial capacity wasn't obviously a show-stopper, if they were able to fund another very high-tech high-cost project.