Operation Lighthouse (1937)

Operation Lighthouse was the name given to the failed experimental launch of four Aggregate 3 liquid-fuel rockets by Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger on the German island of Greifswalder Oie in December 1937.

In the summer of 1937 the German Aggregate 3 series of rockets was nearing the testing stage. Several were tested on a special stand at Kummersdorf in an attempt to evaluate guidance systems. These consisted of vanes designed to deflect the rocket exhaust and control the missile's course. On September 1, Dornberger ordered that von Braun's team prepare for a series of test launches in the first part of November from the small island of Greifswalder Oie in an operation he designated "Lighthouse". Von Braun assigned the head of his measurement unit, Gerhard Reisig, to prepare the expedition to the island.

In November, rain and snow storms kept the project behind schedule, delaying ferries and nearly collapsing the tent erected as a preparation site. Rodents gnawed on tar paper and telephone cables. Amidst the setbacks, Dornberger and von Braun hunted rabbits and pheasants. The rockets and launch site were not ready until December.

The first launch was ordered for December 2, but again weather and technical problems delayed the operation. On December 4 the first rocket blasted off just after 10 AM. Set on a test ring without a guide rail, the rocket rose vertically for three seconds, but then the parachute deployed and dragged, burning, behind the vehicle. After less than seven seconds the engine cut out and soon the rocket fell back to the ground, landing 1,000 feet (300 meters) from the launch site. It exploded and burned upon impact, leaving little wreckage to examine.

Another missile was launched on the afternoon of December 6 and followed a similar pattern, crashing and exploding in the sea less than twenty feet from the island's cliffs. The wreckage did not yield an explanation for the failure, but the parachute system was suspected.

For the third launch, the parachute was replaced with a flare. The rocket was set off in the afternoon of December 8. The missile turned from the vertical into the wind and after four seconds the flare deployed. At 1,000 feet (300 meters) the engine quit, and without the drag of a burning parachute (like the previous two rockets) it achieved a greater distance before crashing over a mile offshore and exploding in the sea.

...
Wikipedia