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For months, German V-1s terrorized the city. To take them down, US physicists had to develop a “smart fuse”—a task they were told was practically impossible by Jamie Holmes, writer living in Washington D.C.
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| Photo: Elena Lacey; Getty Images |
The early hours of June 13, 1944, were unseasonably cold.
In east London, on a high plateau south of the Thames, British firemen awoke in darkness to the sounds of air-raid sirens. They trudged from their watchmen’s hut and crossed the tarred parade ground and roadway toward the small, brick, concrete-roofed fire station of their army base. They were used to the sirens and knew the routine. But something that morning felt different.
Gunfire was echoing in the gloom, but it sounded distinct from the usual volleys. Normally Londoners could hear the deep booms of the 3.7-inch cannons that the anti-aircraft crews used to bring down the Luftwaffe bombers. But today the clatter was lighter, from 40-millimeter Bofors guns, suggesting a lower-flying target.
Searchlight beams crossed the low-hanging clouds...
To help strengthen the tubes, Tuve hired a thirty-four-year-old assistant professor at Columbia University named Ray Mindlin. He had a taste for Chopin, dry humor, and sports cars. Mindlin was a specialist in materials science. Confident, stylish, with dark bushy eyebrows, he looked like the type of professor who engaged in profound discussions, in hallways, with his hands in his pockets. Asked how things were going, he would reply: “Fair to Mindlin.”
At first, the professor didn’t have security clearance. So Section T told him the tubes were meant for meteorological balloons, and had to withstand a long fall to earth.
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Source: WIRED
