WI Goddard was more successful?

I once dreamed of a timeline in which Robert Heinlein went to work with Goddard instead of going to California to write science fiction. He basically was the tub-thumper who got people enthused and Goddard was able to do some spectacular work.
Just a dream

I'd wanted to expand on this a bit but got side-tracked :)

Straight to the point; William Proxmire would approve of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_William_Proxmire

In essence RH going to California and writing writing "SF" lead to his eventually writing novels which was what made him 'respectable' rather than just another 'pulp' hack. And much as I like the idea of a "booster" (note I used Goddard's dead brother) it isn't going to be very effective due to the circumstances and attitudes of the American public and leaders. Which is why I never wrote it.

"SF" was actually LESS respected than Fantasy or Horror writing, which is why most people with 'day-jobs' had pen-names to write under. At least in the latter cases you would admit to the work being "nonsense" while one writing "SF" seemed "to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools" to quote the New York times. (Written of Goddard's published work in 1920 and not retracted till Apollo 11 was on the way to the Moon and NEVER apologized for)

There was of course money to back such 'fantasy' and even support though not greatly advertised for fear of the obvious ridicule. (Hence "Jet Propulsion Lab" and "Reaction Jets Incorporated" even somewhat AFTER the word "rocket" had become somewhat more acceptable) It took after WWII, the V2, the Atomic Bomb and a multi-media, (Colliers and Disney) to actually "sell" the idea of space travel and rockets to the average American public and leadership.

Goddard was rightly insulted by the reaction to his work but he still stepped up when called for WWII but until that point he'd had enough reason to question "help" from afar, (which often asked for his work but did not show or offer significant actual "support") and collaborations which seemed far to one sided.

Keep in mind that while Goddard was "very successful" with his rockets his highest flight was ONLY 1.6 miles at a time when manned balloons had reached over 10 miles. His "technical" work was pretty far beyond the average Americans understanding, (or interest) and while in and of itself was advanced it had little actual 'utility' to anyone till many years later.

I don't recall the name but it was pointed out here in one thread that a lot of similar work was carried out by someone almost 50 years (or more) earlier which stalled only because the technology was lacking and the inventor moved on to other more 'near-term' work. Had Goddard been willing to work with others in a larger team and been convinced that doing so would not endanger his patents and ideas I have little doubt more would have been achieved but there's probably a pretty 'hard' limit to what anyone in America would have been willing to fund and support.

If there was some more 'tangible' goal or project that had proceeded Goddard's work for him to move towards then I think more 'success' might be possible. I've toyed with the idea that "Hap" Arnold and his Kettering Bug "cruise missiles" had actually gotten to the field in WWI might have such an effect, but to be honest what I've gathered is that unlike the V1 or later "cruise missiles" the Bug was going to deploy poison gas rather than high explosives so the "effect" would be far less than I'd hoped for. I begin to suspect that having Goddard's WWI "bazooka" deployed would have a greater effect and even then it wouldn't be so compelling when he switched to liquid propellant from solids.

Frankly the British had an effective 'anti-Zeppelin' ship launched rocket with a better range (two miles) than Goddard's best design during WWI and that didn't lead to more effective rockets between the wars so my whole basis of assumption seems off.

Basically it falls back to someone approaching Goddard with a "practical" use such as Air Racing or speed and/or distance records that seems the most straight forward way to slide into more advanced rocket development in the US between the wars.

Randy
 
OK so say he does complete the bazooka in time and a few see action in WW1 he takes some time after the war to work on some improvements and while working on that he proposes something like the JATO it at least sees a few uses and maybe catches on with the army or navy but it does with the racers looking for an edge sees the money for improvements in rocket development spread around to a few people but it is still fairly limited. Goddard probably still mostly drops this to work on his bigger rockets for atmospheric research. The point about the British already having a better rocket is interesting but the government probably isn't going to put to much into it and their laws were much more strict I think regarding the testing of rocket engines so individual development is harder.
 
OK so I was thinking about this and the way you get the bazooka in ww1 would be have Goddard avoid tuberculosis since that delayed it's development so it avoided being in the war. I also started to wonder what kind of effects that would have after ww1 and before and during ww2. With having the rocket in service and maybe including the addition possibly of a jato unit that could possibly be used by racers and people using it to set speed or attitude records could there have been enough of a development of rockets to at least out distance ballons before the war in more places? And more interestingly what happens after ww2 the development of military rockets and space programs?
 
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