Operations Sandy and Pushover
{{Short description|1947 US Navy test launch of a captured V-2 rocket from the carrier USS Midway}}
File:USS Midway (CVB-41) V-2 launch (Operation Sandy).jpg
Operation Sandy was the codename for the post-World War II launch of a captured V-2 rocket from the deck of the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Midway on September 6, 1947. It marked the first launch of a large rocket, and the only time for a V-2, from a ship at sea.{{cite web |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/german/v-2_whitesands.html |title=Notes Regarding History of V-2 Operations at White Sands |publisher=Marshall Space Flight Center |accessdate=December 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223172535/https://history.msfc.nasa.gov/german/v-2_whitesands.html |archive-date=December 23, 2016 |url-status=dead }} Operation Pushover was a follow-up test in late 1949 to assess the danger to a carrier from a V-2 explosion.
Operation Sandy
Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery, Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations, was an early advocate of the concept. It was he who initiated Operation Sandy.
Preliminary testing was done at the White Sands Missile Range, using a simulated aircraft carrier deck. The V-2 to be used was assembled at White Sands. It was shipped across the country to the east coast and loaded aboard the Midway, then the largest carrier in the Navy and equipped with an armored flight deck. The aircraft carrier sailed to a point several hundred miles south of Bermuda for the launch.
After liftoff, the V-2 tilted at an angle and subsequently broke up at an altitude of {{convert|15000|ft|m}}, disappointing the distinguished witnesses.
Operation Pushover
Operation Pushover determined how much damage would result from a V-2 toppling or exploding on a carrier deck, using a simulated deck built at White Sands. In late 1949, a fully fueled V-2 was set on a pedestal with four legs, two of which were rigged with explosives to be "blown away just after ignition of the rocket motor."{{cite web |url=http://www.wsmr-history.org/HandsAcrossHistory-08-07.pdf |title=The Navy Blasted Off At Launch Complex 35 (p. 5) |author=George Helfrich |publisher=Hands Across History, A joint newsletter for the White Sands Historical Foundation and the White Sands Pioneer Group |date=August 2007 |accessdate=December 24, 2010}} Pushover No. 2 repeated the test with the deck raised several feet.
See also
- [http://www.midwaysailor.com/midway1940/opsandy.html Photos and link to a newsreel account of Operation Sandy]
- [http://www.cv41.org/photos/gallery3/index.php/op/opsandy Photos of Sandy and Pushover]