Peenemüde is on the Baltic Coast island of Usedom in North East Germany, and was where von Braun and his team developed the V–2. After its discovery following intelligence gathered from RAF Medmenham photo-reconnaissance photographs, prisoner of war and Polish intelligence, it was subsequently bombed during Operation Hydra by the RAF on the 17–18 August 1943 – the RAF’s first precision bombing raid of WW2. The tour would focus on the development of the V-1 and V-2 and what remains of the facility, including the Historic Technical Information Centre.
Unlike the V–1, the V–2′s speed and trajectory made it invulnerable to anti–aircraft guns and fighters, as it dropped from an altitude of 100–110 km (60–70 miles) at up to four times the speed of sound. A plan was proposed whereby the missile would be detected by radar, its terminal trajectory calculated, and the area along that trajectory saturated by large–calibre anti–aircraft guns. The plan was dropped after operations research indicated that the likely number of malfunctioning artillery shells falling to the ground would do more damage than the V–2 itself.
In July 1944, three weeks after German V-1 “Buzz Bombs” first struck England on June 12th and 13th, American engineers at Wright Field, fired a working copy of the German Argus As 014 pulse–jet engine, “reverse–engineered” from crashed German V–1s that were flown back to the United States from England for analysis. The reverse engineering provided the design of America’s first mass–produced guided missile, the JB–2. The Republic Aviation Corp. was to have built the airframe for the JB–2, but sub–contracted the airframe to Willys–Overland. Ford Motor Company built the engine, which was a copy of the V–1′s 900–lb. thrust Argus–Schmidt pulse–jet.
Itineray
Below are the sites that can be visited on the tour. As each tour is bespoke, you will receive confirmation of your personal itinerary with your booking confirmation.
- Historic Technical Information Centre, Peenemünde Museum
- Power Station*
- Rememberance Memorial and Chapel
- Oxygen Factory*
- Consentration Camp*
- Werk Ost Railway Station*
- Main Checkpoint*
- Main living quarters*
- Airfield and V–1 launch site*
- Karlshagen Cemetary and Memorial
- V–1 Developemnt Bunkers*
- Dyke Pumping Station
- Schwabes Hotel, Zinnowitz
* The remains of these facilities and structures. Some are more damaged than others, as shown within the photographs.
By special arrangement flights can be taken over Usedom in a light aircraft from the private Peenemünde airfield.
