KerbalX

Description

Development of the A3 can be traced at least to February 1935 when Major Ernst Ritter von Horstig sent General Karl Becker a budget of almost half a million marks for the construction of two new test stands at Kummersdorf.
Included were mobile test rigs, small locomotives, and office and storage space. The A3 plans called for a rocket with an inertial guidance system and a 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) thrust engine.

In March 1936, Army General Werner von Fritsch witnessed a static firing of an A3 engine at Kummersdorf, and was sufficiently impressed to lend his support to the rocket program.
Like the earlier A1 and A2 rockets, the A3 also used a pressure-fed propellant system, and the same liquid oxygen and 75% alcohol mixture as the earlier designs. It generated its 14.7 kN (3,300 lbf) for 45 seconds. It used a three-gyroscope system to deflect tungsten alloy jet vanes.
The design was finished and secretly patented[clarification needed] in the spring of 1936 and further modifications that made the rocket stable at supersonic velocities were finalized in the autumn.

This was the first of the Aggregat rockets to be launched from the Peenemünde area.
As part of Operation Lighthouse the first A3 was launched on 4 December 1937, but suffered problems with both premature parachute deployment and engine failure, and crashed close to the takeoff point. The second launch on 6 December 1937 suffered similar problems. The parachute was disabled in the third and fourth rockets launched on 8 and 11 December 1937, but these, too, experienced engine failures, though the lack of parachute drag allowed them to crash further from the launch site.

According to another source, one A3 reached a maximum downrange of 12 km (7.5 mi) and maximum altitude of 18 km (11 mi).

With each launch a failure, von Braun and Dornberger looked for the cause. At first there was some thought of an electrostatic charge that prematurely set off the parachute, but this was largely disproved. Ultimately, the failures were attributed to the inadequate design of the rocket’s experimental inertial guidance system and minor instabilities in the body and fin design. The control system was found to be unable to keep the rocket from turning with a wind greater than 12 feet per second.

After this unsuccessful series of launches, the A3 was abandoned and A4 work postponed, while work on the A5 commenced.

According to Dornberger, the A-3 …had not been equipped to take any payload. It was a purely experimental missile. Similarly, the A-5 was to be for research purposes only.

A stock rocket called Germany 1937 Aggregat A-3. Built with 23 of the finest parts, its root part is probeCoreCube.

Built in the VAB in KSP version 1.9.1.

Details

• Type: VAB
• Class: ship
• Part Count: 23
• Pure Stock