OP conditions
trurle
Banned
Hydrogen peroxide had generally marginal performance and handling problems. Its main advantage was actually high availability to developer, due to widespread civilian applications.A review of the various European groups and research is conducted and hydrogen peroxide, or more precisely high-test peroxide (HTP), catches their eye. Engines like de Havilland's Sprite were how several companies entered the field in our timeline IIRC. Development leads to the idea of adding kerosene to improve thrust and using silver mesh as a catalyst.
black power 70-90 sec
rocket candy 115-130 sec (when invented?)
H2O2 117-220 sec (largest number is for H2O2/kerosene deHavilland Sprite of 1951)
ethylene oxide 160-190 sec
nitromethane 190-230 sec
nitrocellulose 160-200 sec
asphalt/KClO4 ~180sec (developed in 1936-1942?)
Mental inertia to blame i suspect. Soviets did have interwar an industrial capability for 1-inch solids only, yet they fielded 82mm and 132mm rocket motors, by bundling together 7 or 19 propellant rods in single case. Igniter was fitted to central rod only. Not good design for sustainer motor i suspect (burn speed, torques and center of mass are not well controlled), but it was good enough for booster.Unrotated Projectiles and Rocket Projectile 3-inch (RP-3) rockets since IIRC that was the largest diameter solid they could produce at the time.
Interesting. Brakemine was beam rider with 1944 tech level, fitting 2 control channels roughly in 25cm diameter case. It sets a good reference for understanding technology limitations.Lubbock was off doing his own thing with Lizzie plus kerosene and oxygen was a very interesting field of research, if you approached Sedgfield and Bedford who were running Brakemine
Good idea. Keeping projectile simple is good for crude tech. The beacon on SAM can also double as radar proximity fuse, therefore you would not need an additional command channel for detonation. I would elaborate what oscillating fin/vane design (forgot OTL model name using it) will need only one radio control channel for spinning missile, alternating between pitch and yaw commands. You need to have a gyro in missile to make proper de-multiplexing of control inputs, but i remember it was initially lighter and more reliable tech compared to radio receivers. Or (just my wild idea) - make not-spinning missile with (airflow-spun) spinning antenna. The ground station will detect polarization of beacon and send pitch or yaw commands alternatively, while beacon antenna slip ring will control on missile which channel to control - pitch or yaw.Automatic Command to Line-Of-Sight (ACLOS) guidance is potentially even easier - stick beacon on the SAM so that it can be tracked accurately, the target is tracked by the radar, data on their locations and directions of travel is passed to a simple computer to work out the path needed for the missile to follow, and those instructions are transmitted to it.
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