NARRATOR: Devised
in desperation, designed to devastate the
enemy, top-secret warcraft of the Allied and Axis
powers are unleashed in surprise attacks, attempting
to turn the tide of war. Suicide submarines, manned
rocket interceptors, and radio-controlled bombers. Now you're in the pocket of the
secret weapons of World War II. Experience the battle,
dissect the tactics, relive the dogfights. [tense music] August 24, 1944. A massive B-17 bomber stream
pierces the skies of Germany. The tide is turning
against the Nazis. The Allies strike targets
throughout the country with near impunity. Their main target was a
complex in the Mersberg area which involved an
armament factory and some chemical plants. NARRATOR: The Allied
bombers are each packed with a heavy payload. P-51 Mustangs, the most advanced
Allied fighter in Europe, provide top cover, ready to
take on any fighters that rise to challenge the heavies. But 30,000 feet below, a lethal
new threat is lying in wait. Luftwaffe pilot
Siegfried Schubert prepares for the most
dangerous mission of his life. He is one of the men
of JG 400, tasked to fly an experimental
interceptor into combat-- the rocket-powered ME-163. From Schubert's perspective,
he saw an American aerial armada of about 450 B-17s
escorted by 120 or more fighters headed
towards Mersberg. The bombers were
inbound to the target. NARRATOR: Command
sounds the alarm-- torpedo-- the code
word for launch. Schubert's rocket
engine ignites. 3,700 pounds of thrust
crushes him back in his seat. The Komet rapidly reaches 200
miles per hour on the runway. Schubert eases the
stick back slightly, the rocket plane
lifts into the air. At 200 feet, Schubert
ejects his landing gear. A small propeller and the
nose generates electric power for the aircraft. Schubert accelerates
past 400 miles per hour. BARRETT TILLMAN: When
that speed was reached, the pilot [inaudible]
back on the stick into a dramatic 60-or
even 70-degree climb. And with the tremendous amount
of thrust that that rocket engine provided, from
takeoff to 40,000 feet could be as little
as 3 or 3 and 1/2 minutes. And nothing on Earth
came close to that. NARRATOR: Schubert launches
into the stratosphere. In just 3 minutes, his Komet
is perched nearly 10,000 feet above the incoming
bomber stream. The 163s positioned themselves
overhead so that they could make a high-speed diving pass,
which was their preferred method. NARRATOR: Schubert will use
a standard Komet tactic. He'll climb above the
bomber stream, then dive through it, making
an attack run. After this first
high-speed pass, he'll zoom climb again, back
around, and make a second pass. By this time, the ME-163's
fuel will run dry, and he will be forced
to return to base. Schubert noses over and dives
on the B-17s, accelerating past 500 miles per hour. At nearly three times
his enemy's speed, he closes rapidly. The German selects a target. No one inside the
bomber is aware that they are being
stalked from above. The Komet pilot opens fire. High explosive shells burst
inside the B-17's left wing. Schubert zooms past, too
fast for any Allied gunner to track him. His victim lurches,
dropping out of formation. Now, at that time,
Schubert wasn't able to try to keep score. He just knew that
he had scored hits. In point of fact, that airplane
never returned to base. NARRATOR: The Komet climbs,
circling for another attack. Within seconds, Schubert
has a new target in sight. He pitches over. Schubert's heavy cannon pummels
another flying fortress. The B-17's right outboard
engine bursts into flame. That airplane went into
an uncontrolled spiral and blew up in midair. So there was no doubt that
that was a confirmed kill. After a mere eight
minutes of powered flight, Schubert's rocket
engine flames out. The German breaks
off, having scored two victories in a single
sortie, a record for a Komet pilot. Schubert glides back to
base, scanning cautiously for Allied fighters. The ME-163 touches
down on its belly-- a bumpy ride, but one
that the tough airframe is designed to take. The mission was brief, but
it wreaked great havoc. For stunned American
bomber crews, the top secret ME-163 is
a terrifying new threat. The design that became
the rocket-powered ME-163 started as a glider
in the 1930s. BARRETT TILLMAN: The ME-163-- stubby little thing with a
lot of wing for an airplane that small. And that was really the reason
that the 163 was developed in the first place-- to test that wing and
airframe configuration. But at some point around
1941, some German engineers got the bright idea-- suppose we put a rocket
engine in this machine and see what that does. NARRATOR: The
top-secret design was meant to supply the Luftwaffe
with a cheap short-range interceptor that could unleash
lightning-quick attacks on Allied bombers. An interceptor
is a short-range, direct-contact
weapon with a pilot. And their only
mission in life is to take off, engage
in the aircraft, and get back down to the ground. NARRATOR: A vaulter rocket
motor was selected for testing. The engine was a
technological marvel. Reaction chemicals
were first mixed in a steam generator which
powered the primary fuel pump. This pump drew more reactants
from the fuel tanks, carrying them to the
combustion chamber, where they were mixed and
ignited to produce thrust. The engine's main drawback
was the extreme volatility of the fuels. What it was-- you had the
[inaudible] and the [inaudible] configuration. [inaudible] was nothing more
than a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide. [inaudible] was a combination
of methyl alcohol and hydrazine hydrate and water. Separately, in two
separate containers, they were harmless compounds. But if you throw those things
together pretty quickly, you have an explosion. So the technology
issues they faced was, how do you control the explosion
with piping in these fuels to get a controlled explosion,
to create rocket power without killing the pilot and
blowing up the Aircraft ? NARRATOR: The first ME-163 Komet
prototypes were tested in 1941 at Peenemunde. In October of that year, German
pilot Heini Dittmar nearly broke the sound barrier, flying
his Komet up to 623 miles per hour. BARRETT TILLMAN: They knew
after testing, by '42, that they would have a very fast
interceptor which would reach altitudes of 15,000
feet per minute in 2 minutes of its
operational altitude. NARRATOR: But there was a catch. The fuel burned up in
only eight minutes. And once expended,
the rocket plane turned back into a glider,
a sitting duck for enemy fighters. The definitive version of
the Komet, the ME-163B, was combat-ready by mid-1944. The aircraft was
tiny in comparison to other fighters in
the air, basically consisting of wings
and an engine. It was merely 18 feet in length,
roughly half that of a P-51. Both wing roots
housed extremely heavy armament, 30-millimeter
Rhein-Borsig Mark 108 cannons. A few well-placed shells could
knock out a heavy bomber. On March 16, 1945,
pilot Rolf Glogner will take to the skies in
this incredible machine. While attacking a
formation of B-17s, he'll find out his
ME-163 isn't just fast. It can dogfight as well. In a thrilling head-to-head
match-up with a British Mosquito, Glogner will pit his
Komet in a struggle of life and death. March 16, 1945. JG-400 pilot Rolf Glogner straps
into the cockpit of an ME-163 Komet. [speaking german] INTERPRETER: I was on call and
then on sitting call, where you were inside the cockpit in case
things had to happen quickly. NARRATOR: The fuel onboard is so
unstable that Glogner must wear a protective suit. [speaking german] INTERPRETER: We wore asbestos
suits and long gloves in case the fuel
spilled in an accident. We were completely covered. If the fuel came into contact
with your skin, it burned. And normal cloth would
have burned immediately. It was dangerous. NARRATOR: The corrosive fuel
is but one of the many dangers facing the Komet pilot. If he didn't blow up, if
he didn't get shot down, and if he didn't die and
explode on impact landing, then he had to look forward
to doing it all over again. NARRATOR: Suddenly, the
German flatgunners cease fire. The alarm is sounded. Allied bombers are
passing overhead. It's up to the Komets
to try to stop them. Glogner lifts off,
ejects his landing dolly, accelerates to over
400 miles per hour, then pulls into a
steep 70-degree climb. [speaking german] INTERPRETER: From takeoff, it
took 2 minutes to reach combat altitude, 30,000 feet. A standard fighter
like the ME-109 would have taken 30
minutes to do that, and the enemy plane would have
been long gone by that time. NARRATOR: Above
the bomber stream, the navigator of a
twin-engine RAF Mosquito spots a telltale vapor
trail heading his way. Allied pilots have come
to dread such a sight. Glogner flies up
through the B-17 stream without scoring any
hits on the bombers. His focus quickly narrows to
the Mosquito passing overhead. On this day, Glogner will
see how his ME-163 stacks up in a dogfight. The Mosquito's
lightweight wooden frame was powered by twin Rolls
Royce Merlin engines. The aircraft was
known for its speed and its hard-hitting combination
of 20-millimeter cannon and 30-caliber machine guns. The ME-163 is far
faster than the Mosquito and surprisingly maneuverable
in a turning fight. But the Mosquito has
much better armament and can absorb more punishment. Glogner is here. The Mosquito is here. The Mosquito pilot
will turn into Glogner, hoping to get a shot while the
Komet is still in the climb. The Mosquito breaks hard. Glogner eases the stick forward. ROLF GLOGNER: [speaking german] INTERPRETER: When I
was underneath him, he dropped his wing tanks,
and he almost hit me. But they passed right
by the tips of my wings. That would have been terrible. I got lucky. NARRATOR: Glogner banks left to
get onto his enemy's 6 o'clock. So as he banks and
rolls himself, he sees the Mosquito pilot trying
to turn tight to get him. NARRATOR: The engagement has
turned into a classic circling fight. Both pilots turn as tight
as their planes allow. ROLF GLOGNER: [speaking german] COLIN HEATON: But I had the
ME-163, and it was so agile. So that's how I was
able to shoot him. I shot the right
engine, and then it went down and disappeared. I didn't follow him because
to me, he was finished. [tense music] NARRATOR: Just then,
Glogner's fuel runs dry. He won't get the chance
to attack any bombers. And with more Allied
fighters in the air, survival becomes top priority. Glogner glides back to base. BARRETT TILLMAN: All Luftwaffe
pilots began their training in gliders. Therefore, when a 163 pilot
took off and had burned that seven or eight
minutes of rocket fuel getting to
altitude, every takeoff meant it was going to
be an unpowered landing. And therefore, the early glider
training that each pilot had was a definite benefit. NARRATOR: Glogner safely
belly lands the Komet, having scored a rare
fighter kill for the rocket interceptor. The Komet went on to shoot
down a total of 16 aircraft. Its main achievement
was instilling a sense of fear of German technology
in the minds of Allied pilots. They just did not know
what else was out there. If they had the 262 jet, now
they have this thing here. What else do we have
to look forward to? What other nightmares
are waiting for us? NARRATOR: But despite all
this, the ME-163 program proved a military failure. BARRETT TILLMAN: The problem
was it was not really a viable weapon because so few
were ever available at anytime. They were complex and
dangerous to operate. COLIN HEATON: The ME-163
program has a unique distinction of having killed more pilots in
training than it did in combat. NARRATOR: Even Siegfried
Schubert, the most successful Komet pilot, was not immune from
the risk of flying the ME-163. Schubert continued flying
Komet missions until October, about two months after his
record-setting two-victory day. But that month, he was
getting ready to launch in another Komet when,
apparently, the fuel exploded, and he was killed
in the detonation. NARRATOR: Regardless
of the danger, there was never a shortage
of volunteers ready to take the rocket planes into battle. They were willing to sacrifice
their lives if necessary to protect their home
country, a sentiment echoed halfway across the
world in the Empire of Japan. At the end of the
war, the kamikaze terrorized the
American Pacific fleet. But a far more frightening
application of the suicide pilot was in the works, a
manned torpedo known simply as Kaiten, the heaven shaker. November 20, 1944, 4:00 AM. Most sailors aboard the USS
Mississinewa are fast asleep. The fleet oiler
sits in the midst of a massive American
anchorage near the Pacific atoll of Ulithi,
the final staging area for the invasion of Japan. MICHAEL MAIR: The
Ulithi anchorage measures 21 miles wide by 9
miles, a very, very large area. At any one point in
time, 200 US ships could be anchored in there. As a matter of fact,
US veterans often joked that they could walk
all the way across the length of Ulithi and never
touch the water. NARRATOR: To the southwest,
aboard the Japanese submarine I-47, Captain Senji
Arita observes the massive American
anchorage by periscope. Arita's attack plan was
to move I-47 to southeast of Ulithi and make his
attack to the northwest and into the central
part of the anchorage. NARRATOR: Mounted on
the top deck of I-47 are what look like
modified torpedoes. These are the Kaiten,
piloted suicide submarines intended to destroy
ships anchored at Ulithi. For honor and the
glory of Japan, Sub-Lieutenant Sekio Nishina,
co-inventor of the Kaiten, leads the terrifying mission. At 4:00 AM, Nishina and
three other suicide pilots launch from the deck of I-47. The top-secret plan
quickly goes awry. Two Kaiten run aground
shortly after launch. Another is detected as a midget
sub and sunk by US destroyers. That leaves one Katen,
piloted by Nishina. Nishina's target is
an aircraft carrier. But aiming the torpedo
proves difficult. Kaiten pilots, unlike
kamikaze, could not see where they were going. They were sealed in
their submersible and essentially blind. The only opportunity they
had to see their target was to hand crank up a stubby
periscope and take a bearing, try and sight your target, and
take a final high-speed run in. NARRATOR: An aircraft carrier
is an unattainable target, but honor demands that
an American ship be sunk. Nishina makes a
fateful decision. He will attack the
nearest American ship-- the USS Mississinewa. The sailors cannot know the
horror that lies in store for them at the hands of
Imperial Japan's newest secret weapon, the Kaiten. By mid-1944, Japan's Pacific
empire was collapsing. Scarred by crushing defeats
at Midway and the Marianas, Japanese military
commanders turned to increasingly
desperate measures, including the toko,
or suicide weapons. The hopeless logic that
put pilots in the cockpits of kamikaze aircraft was soon
applied to the infamous Type 93 Long Lance torpedo, an idea
pioneered by Sekio Nishina and Hiroshi Kuroki. By adding a small
cockpit amidships and some rudimentary
steering equipment, the torpedo was transformed
into a guided missile. The pilot could steal in right
under the nose of picket ships and PT boats that were not able
to detect such small craft. In the summer of 1944,
the Imperial Navy sought volunteers to take
the suicide subs into battle. The trainees in
Kaiten were referred to as pilots of this weapon. And they were largely drawn
from the ranks of the Imperial Japanese Navy aviators. NARRATOR: Harumi Kawasaki
was one such aviator. [speaking japanese] INTERPRETER: I assumed
that it had something to do with aircraft. Upon graduation, we were put on
a train, destination unknown. They wouldn't tell us
where we were going. Later onboard, we were told
that we were going to Kure. In Kure, we were taken
to a submarine base. Then, only then, I realized
what the new weapon may be. [speaking japanese] NARRATOR: The Kaiten was 48 feet
long with a simple propeller engine driven by compressed air. And packed in through the nose
of the Kaiten was the warhead. [speaking japanese] INTERPRETER: It was
extraordinary, simply breathtaking. The Kaiten carries 1.6
tons of explosives. The bomber carries
just a quarter of that. There is no other weapon
that alone carries this much. Only we could singlehandedly
sink a battleship or an aircraft carrier. I was proud. [speaking japanese] NARRATOR: The co-inventor
of the Kaiten, Sekio Nishina, volunteers
to be one of the first men to take the weapon into battle. On November 20, 1944, at the
controls of the Kaiten suicide submarine, Sekio Nishina
prepares for impact. Former Kaiten pilot
Harami Kawasaki describes the attack run. [speaking japanese] INTERPRETER: Once in
range of the enemy, we take the safety off. But it wouldn't explode yet. We identify our target
and make a high-speed run in with the detonator
in our hand. On impact, we'd
be thrown forward. That would trigger
a second detonator as a failsafe mechanism. NARRATOR: At 5:45 AM, the
heaven shaker strikes. A massive explosion
rocks the Mississinewa. Fuel oil ignites,
creating a firestorm. MICHAEL MAIR: Flames swept
through the forward berthing compartment through the open
hatches and enveloped men who were instantly
killed in the bunks. NARRATOR: On the
opposite end of the ship, 19-year-old seaman second
class, Herb Daitch, gets a rude awakening. I was in my bunk. And when the blast
hit, I hit the floor. I was the second bunk up. And then naturally, I wanted to
find out what the trouble was. NARRATOR: Flames leap from
the 73-foot hole in the hull. The choking smoke billows
over a mile into the sky. Sailors throughout Ulithi
and surrounding vessels saw the ship was completely
enveloped in smoke and flames and felt that not a single
Mississinewa sailor could possibly have survived. NARRATOR: Herb Daitch
makes it to the top deck and surveys the scene. All you saw was
smoke, endless smoke. And it was getting cold because
it was blocking out the sun. You looked around because
you're bewildered. And then we saw a fire. It was ran along the
sides of the ship. And after a while,
even the railings got hot because the heat
came up through the steel. NARRATOR: The flames race aft. The sailors begin to abandon
ship, diving into an ocean of fire as thousands of gallons
of burning fuel oil leaks into the sea. I told them, don't
put your life preservers on because the oil will-- the fire will burn you. You have to be below the water. In other words, you
get down, you've got to go under the water,
clear it, which they taught you in bootcamp. NARRATOR: Rescue boats
from surrounding vessels brave the flames, oil, and
smoke to drag fellow sailors to safety. In the end, 200 men are rescued. At 7:00 AM, the
Mississinewa lists heavily to port, capsizes, and
sinks beneath the waves, carrying 63 sailors with her. The heaven shaker has
left its murderous mark. The sinking of the
Mississinewa would prove to be one of the only
victories for the Kaiten. The program was
a dismal failure. Only roughly half of the
Kaiten pilots released from an I-class submarine ever
even saw their target. Over 2,000 Japanese submarines
on the mother submarines carrying Kaiten to
combat were lost as well. The results were dismal
at best with a weapon that had high hopes. NARRATOR: Japan and
Germany's development of unconventional secret
weapons was a tactical failure. The existence of these
shocking tools of destruction would drive the Allies to
their own top-secret weapons programs. One such secret initiative,
codenamed Aphrodite, developed an ingenious weapon-- a radio-controlled bomber packed
with explosives, a precursor to the modern-day
guided missile. But the effort would cost a
prominent American his life. August 12, 1944. A US Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator,
codenamed Zoot Suit Black, takes off from Fairfield
Airbase in England. At the controls is 29-year-old
Captain Joseph Kennedy Jr., elder brother of future
president John F. Kennedy. His co-pilot is Weapons
Systems Officer Wilford Willy. The two men are veterans of
dozens of dangerous combat sorties, but today's
is no ordinary mission. In July 23, 1944,
the Navy set up what was called Project
Anvil, which was the US Navy's counterpart to the
Army's Aphrodite. And what that entailed
was stripping down a PB4Y-1 Liberator from
all of its components except those used to fly
the drone with and pack it in with up to 20,000 pounds
of Torpex high explosive. NARRATOR: The aircraft is also
equipped with state-of-the-art radio and television technology. Zoot Suit Black is a massive
radio-controlled bomb tasked with destroying one of
Nazi Germany's most feared secret weapons. BARRETT TILLMAN: In
the summer of 1944, Germany unleashed some of its
most secret projects, which were the V series
of weapons, V being the German word for [german],,
or revenge type weapons. NARRATOR: The first of the new
revenge weapons to be unleashed is the V1 buzz bomb,
followed quickly by the V2 ballistic missile. And now Hitler prepares to
complete his trilogy of terror with the V3 supergun, a
very long-range artillery piece capable of lobbing
heavy shells from Mimoyecques, France, all the way
into the heart of London at the rate of two a minute. ALAN CAREY: The V3 was
particularly fearful because it could launch up to 600
projectiles within the city, and there's no telling how
many thousands of people might have been injured and
killed during such an attack. NARRATOR: The Allies
make a concerted effort to neutralize the V weapon sites
dotted throughout the landscape of Northern France. The secret German bases
are guarded intensely. These installations
were so heavily reinforced with steel and concrete that
conventional bombing was not harming them. NARRATOR: Allied desperation
reaches a fever pitch. An idea is proposed that would
merge the latest technology with outdated,
war-weary aircraft, resulting in a rudimentary
guided missile. BARRETT TILLMAN:
In June of 1944, about two weeks after D-day,
the Eighth Air Force in England got the approval to
launch Project A, which stood for Aphrodite. And that was an innovative
program to take war-weary B17s, load them to the gunnels
with as much as 11 tons of high explosives, and by
remote control using the brand new technology of television,
to guide them across the English Channel and dive them into
precision targets, mainly V1 sites. NARRATOR: The Navy
piggybacks onto Aphrodite with their own version of the
program, codenamed Project Anvil. The only difference is
the type of aircraft. The Navy flies the
PB4Y-1 Liberator. ALAN CAREY: They begin
stripping out components from the aircraft. The entire bombardier
station was stripped out. All the gun turret
equipment was stripped out. All the hydraulic and
electrical gear used to power the turrets were
stripped out, and then it started being filled in
with Torpex high explosives, probably 400 boxes. The explosives were placed. NARRATOR: The plane is rigged
to fly by remote control. Two television cameras
are fixed in the cockpit. BARRETT TILLMAN: One
showed the instrument panel so that the drone controller
in the other airplane could see the heading, the
altitude, and whether the wings were level. And also, he could monitor
the engine operation. But the second camera was
mounted in the nose looking straight ahead so that
when the drone operator had the target in sight, he saw
exactly where the drone was heading. NARRATOR: A pilot
and co-pilot are needed to take the
drone into the air and arm the weapons system. They then relinquish command
to the radio control officer aboard an accompanying
PV-1 Ventura that acts as a mothership. Once the drone
was in level flight and it was confirmed that
the drone operator did have positive control,
at that point, the armament officer
would flip the switch and arm the high explosives
aboard that airplane. Then he and the pilot would
bail out over England. NARRATOR: The radio control
officer aboard the mothership monitors the drone's flight
across the English Channel through the lo-fi TV monitor. Once over the target, the drone
is sent into a steep dive, exploding on impact and
causing an irreparable amount of damage. It is an incredibly
risky mission, especially for the pilot and
co-pilot of a flying bomb. This was a top-secret
mission that required the best of the best. And men such as Kennedy
and Willy were such men. NARRATOR: On August 12,
1944, Kennedy and Willy are part of a massive
secret mission to take out the V3 supergun
bunker in Mimoyecques, France. In the late afternoon
of that day, they take their
lumbering Liberator into the sky on a
date with destiny. August 12, 1944. Captain Joe Kennedy and
co-pilot Wilford Willy lift their massive flying bomb
off the runway of Fairfield Airbase in England. Once smoothly in the
air, the Liberator crew joins up with a dozen other
planes in the strike package. A B-17 heads the charge,
acting as navigator. Kennedy's Zoot Suit Black
follows about a mile behind. Flanking the
Liberator, two P-38s carry the mission commanders. Two miles behind the
drone, two PV-1 Venturas are the motherships, each
carrying a radio control officer and the equipment
necessary to steer the drone to target. Two twin-engine de Havilland
Mosquitoes fly recon. One checks the weather. The other photographs
the mission. Another B-17 flies in trail,
acting as a signal relay to ensure good communication
across the English Channel. A flight of B-51
Mustangs scan the skies from a perch position,
ready to head off the threat of enemy fighters. Kennedy heads for
the British coast where he and Willy will bail
out after handing control over to the motherships. Past [inaudible],, Willie
climbed out of the co-pilot seat, started arming
the aircraft and turning the television on. Meanwhile, Kennedy was preparing
to turn control of the aircraft over to the PB-1 mothership. NARRATOR: Kennedy begins
the handover procedure to the remote control
of the mothership. The PB-1 mothership's pilot
then started maneuvering the BQ drone to make sure all the
systems were checked out, which they did. BARRETT TILLMAN: At that
point, the mission was a go. The PB4Y-1 was responding
properly to the drone ship's control inputs. So at that point, Kennedy
would have been preparing to bail out, and Willy
was anticipating, in a matter of minutes,
of arming the explosives. And the two men would
bail out together. NARRATOR: But suddenly,
disaster strikes. The radio control officer
sees a glitch on his TV scope. The signal cuts out. Less than one second
later, the explosion hits. ALAN CAREY: There was an initial
detonation immediately followed by a massive
secondary detonation, and all 20,000 pounds
of explosives went off. On the ground, trees
were knocked down. Buildings up to 16
miles away were damaged. The concussion
from the explosion knocked the entire
formation all over the sky. NARRATOR: The cause
of the explosion remains unknown to this day. But most likely,
a faulty circuit in the arming panel sparked
one of the detonators onboard. The first explosion
triggered a chain reaction that made solving the
mystery all but impossible. The crash area
covered 5 square miles, and the largest piece
of Kennedy's plane measured less than
a foot in diameter. NARRATOR: As a result of the
dismal failure of the mission and the loss of
Kennedy and Willy, Project Anvil is scrapped. Within weeks, the Allied
army's advance into Europe brought the existence of
the program into question. BARRETT TILLMAN: The
breakout from Normandy has already occurred. That was in July. And eventually, all of
the potential launch sites within range of Southern
England, especially London, were overrun by
Anglo-American armies within a matter of weeks. NARRATOR: As Allied ground
troops overtook the V3 supergun site at Mimoyecques,
it proved the futility of the tragic Anvil mission. The bombed-out site had been
abandoned weeks earlier. There is a bittersweet
aspect to Kennedy and Willy's sacrifice, because
the entire program essentially was too ambitious. It combined too many advanced
technological concepts such as TV guidance
and remote control to be successful in
the limited time frame. NARRATOR: But Project Anvil
and its Army counterpart would have a continuing legacy. Militarily, it
was not a success. Experimentally,
it was a success. This was the start of
remote control guided weapons, the use of
television cameras, the use of control devices. Those were the precursors
to the weapons systems that you have now that are
being used currently in warfare. NARRATOR: Such was the case
with most of the secret weapons of World War II. Their initial impact
has been hugely overshadowed by their legacy of
research, development, trial, and error, all of which paved
the way for technologies of the future.
