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Germany

Test Stand VII

Launch pad Ruins

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Test Stand VII, Military launch pad ruins in Peenemünde, Germany

Test Stand VII consists of concrete structures including a wide trench, flame pit, and sand wall stretching over 600 yards along the Baltic coast.

Built in 1938 as part of the German Army Research Center, this facility conducted the first successful V-2 rocket launch on October 3, 1942.

The site represents a turning point in aerospace engineering, leading to technological developments that influenced both military operations and space exploration programs.

Visitors can access the remains through an old concrete road, though sections require careful navigation due to deteriorated structures and marshy terrain.

The facility contains a specialized flame deflector system made of molybdenum-steel pipes, designed to withstand extreme temperatures during rocket motor testing.

Location: Peenemünde

Inception: 1938

Part of: Peenemünde Army Research Center

GPS coordinates: 54.16833,13.80083

Latest update: May 31, 2025 18:16

Photo author: No. 540 Squadron RAF Flight Sergeant E. P. H. Peek in a de Havilland Mosquito PR4[7] returned to Leuchars airfield on June 23, 1943 with Peenemünde photos showing a pair of low-loader vehicles[8] holding a pair of rockets.[2][7] Chronology The first RAF photo on April 22, 1943 of a 1 1/2 mm "object" -- A-4 model 21 within Test Stand VII -- was not initially identified as a rocket.[2] After reviewing Peek's June 23 photo, Flight Lieutenant Andre' J. A. Kenny changed the designation of the 1 1/2 -mm-long-specks from 'objects' to 'torpedoes'.[2] Then more than a year after the initial rocket photos (even after Operation Hydra had bombed Peenemünde on August 17/18, 1943 based on other intelligence), a May 5, 1944 photo of Blizna by the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) at a new base at San Severo Italy showed a rocket on a narrow-gauge railway line,[2] but the Crossbow committee put the photographs aside.[6] Finally, after the report of the Bug river wreckage, Reginald Victor Jones methodically examined the photographs of Blizna through the night of June 2/3, 1944 and found a faint white line image of the rocket on a loop of the narrow-gauge railway.[6] Kenny subsequently called back earlier Peenemünde photographs and identified several finned 'objects': on railway trucks, outside tall upright buildings, and on the traverser carriage serving the ellipse; as well as evidence of a heavy and violent explosion with blast damages to buildings at the 'launching pad'.[2]
Photo license: Public domain

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« Test Stand VII - Military launch pad ruins in Peenemünde, Germany » is provided by Around Us (aroundus.com). Images and texts are derived from Wikimedia project under a Creative Commons license. You are allowed to copy, distribute, and modify copies of this page, under the conditions set by the license, as long as this note is clearly visible.

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Test Stand VII

Test Stand VII, Military launch pad ruins in Peenemünde, Germany

Peenemünde Army Research Center

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