Missiles over Mexico: A Cold War Story

In the decades following the Second World War, missiles of all kinds would come to dominate military technology, and that would produce an unexpected threat… to Mexico. The US missiles that blundered across the southern border during the cold war are history that deserves to be remembered.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
You can purchase the bow tie worn in this episode at The Tie Bar:
www.thetiebar....
All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
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The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #ColdWar

[@51WCDodge]

The last V2 launched at London landed at Court Road, Orpington on the 27th March 1945. There was one casualty, a housewife in her kitchen, Ivy Millichamp. She was also the last civillian killed by enemy action in England during WW2.

[@robfinch3277]

The first V2 landed in Hartington Road, Chiswick, W4. The authorities initially claimed it to be a gas explosion to allay panic. I lived in Hartington Road in the 70s and if you knew where to look you could still find evidence of the massive blast.

[@judd0112]

How about that one that hit the movie theater Cinema REX. in Antwerp fired from the Netherlands killed 567 people. There were a thousand people in the theater at the time so it could have been worse I’m supposing. But yeah now I see the similarities between the nazis and trump. Would like to thank Hillary Clinton for pointing out that Trump supporters are just like nazis.

[@utubejdaniel8888]

As an Alamogordo native, I lived on a street that had two "paperclip" scientists as residents. Because of my aviation enthusiasm, I was introduced to Dr. Ernst Steinhoff to ground-crew his sailplane (a beautiful SHK). Dr. Steinhoff was the range safety officer on the Juarez Hermes launch. He realized that the V-2 would fall into El Paso if he fired the destruct charge, so he coolly held off doing so and the vehicle impacted into that Juarez graveyard. I also witnessed several of the Athena reentries from my back yard - spectacular!

[@datasailor8132]

The original range safety setup was this: There were two square concrete pads placed at a 90 degree angle from each other facing the launch complex. On the side closer to the launch there were two tall poles at the corners of the pad. At the center in back there was a metal tractor seat on a metal post embedded in the concrete. During a launch a range safety sat in each seat holding a destruct button on a wire. If he observed the missile stray outside of the area subtended by his vision and the two posts, he was to destruct. You could still see ruins out in the desert when I was there in 1970 and 1971.

[@PlanetEarth3141]

@@datasailor8132 sounds like NFL referees judging a field goal.

[@jamessimms415]

@@datasailor8132 Sounds like Southeastern Conference referees

[@judd0112]

I hope you realize how lucky you are. I’m in New England and I know all about your area. It’s almost like a mystical place. It’s the 1st thing i ask if someone says they are from New Mexico and of course I ask the location of the lost dutchman mine., soooooo if u have coordinates I swear it’s between me and u. I’d like to visit that area but there not much that I can dangle as a destination for the wife. I tried with my buddy’s in college to have our annual ski trip be to Taos NM but that got shot down. Banff won and I’m glad I suggested Banff also. Which is not really on any young mid 20’s group of guys party destination. It’s more of later in life bucket list when they actually find out Banff exists. So I get a lot of conversations when old timers say they just want to get to see Banff it’s on the top of their bucket list. And I’m like no way. I’ve been there. Has happened more times that I can remember surprisingly

[@larryblackwell700]

I'm from Las Cruces, NM. My grandparents used to talk about bombing Juarez all the time. Thanks for connecting their anecdotes to history.

[@squillz8310]

That's incredible. Hearing those experiences from those who witnessed them first hand, in person, sounds like a wonderful conversation.

[@badlaamaurukehu]

Cesar Chavez hated Mexican migrants and even had them beaten and even killed. Do your research. Ethnicity means squat where money and power is King.

[@lahma69]

@@badlaamaurukehu Who are you replying to and to what end? I'm just trying to figure out how Chavez and the inconsequence of ethnicity relates to someone telling a story about their grandparents in New Mexico.. Perhaps you responded to the wrong comment?

[@charlielauffer7644]

@@lahma69 and he got 2 thumbs up!🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@828enigma6]

Should have told them to move the border further back. Seriously, sounds like some one miss programmed the guidance system.

[@dbmail545]

I knew about Werner Von Braun but did not know about the 300 train cars of V2 parts.

[@Zebred2001]

That's alright, Werner von Braun seems to have had no idea who built those parts!

[@dbmail545]

@@Zebred2001 If I get your point, I must disagree. There is no way any highly placed German did not know about war production by slave labor.

[@Zebred2001]

@@dbmail545 Look up the word "sarcasm."

[@delusionnnnn]

So what you're saying is that you did ... nazi that one coming?

[@Zebred2001]

@JZ's Best Friend Yes. There is a great book on it called Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen.

[@michaelpoley6399]

I did my student teaching in 1992 under a teacher who was an Army engineer and he was involved in the 1947 V-2 launch, and he told me the story first-hand (and I had even read the story in a book beforehand). He told me that the gyroscopes were mounted in the nose cone of the V-2 just prior to fueling and launch, and unfortunately they were bilaterally symmetric, and they concluded that this one must have been installed backwards. He told me that about a dozen Army engineers piled into Jeeps and high-tailed it across the nighttime desert landscape praying they hadn't hit anyone. By the time they got to the crash site, some local entrepreneurs had already begun dissecting the rocket for souvenirs.

[@Squossifrage]

> The rocket exploded on top of a rocky knoll Slight miscalculation, they were aiming for the grassy one

[@michaeldougfir9807]

Funny! Sort of...

[@thomastarger8962]

Tom Targer ex-Air Force I was assigned to ABRES (Pronounced A ( rhymes with hay ) Beeze. I remembered this well. We designed and conducted tests of scaled reentry vehicles on the Athena that were the basis for full-scale entry testing at Vandenberg AFB, CA. The target area was the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The lagoon lined with sensors and surrounded by Radars and Telemetry to track and obtain CEP (circular error of probability) results. Tracking was also optical from the Hawaiin Islands and via special aircraft with ballistic cameras near the target. Many schemes were evaluated to make the Rentry Vehicle hard (if not impossible) for the Soviets to track and destroy.

[@aaaa1111808]

They renamed the Pershing missile the "Corrigan" missle.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

LOL

[@WildWestGal]

Finally, an appropriate name! LOL!

[@JasonWoodConsulting]

HAHA! Well played!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Maybe it had the CORRECT DESTINATION, it just tried to go THE LONG WAY 'ROUND...😊

[@extrahistory8956]

Wasn't General Pershing sent to Mexico in 1916?

[@Ivanalager]

So is that like throwing a ball into the neighbor's yard, "Opps, can I have that back please?" lol

[@ScootrRichards]

No, it's more like when your dog oops in your neighbor's yard. Oops, come take it back.

[@shawnr771]

Only if you replace the window pane.

[@jxxx94]

It feels more like shooting a (partially radioactive) crossbow bolt to the neighbor's yard, you know, because of the risk of killing someone, contamination, and all that.

[@charlesdog9795]

The 'Black Mesa' test range? >I'm afraid we'll be deviating a bit from standard analysis procedures today, Gordon. >Uh...it's probably not a problem...probably...but I'm showing a small discrepancy in...well, no, it's well within acceptable bounds again. Sustaining sequence. >Shutting down. Attempting shut down. It's not...it's-it's not...it's not shutting down...it's not... Pick up the can citizen.

[@Peasmouldia]

The area of East London I was born and raised in was regularly visited by the Luftwaffe. The largest area of devestation was from a V2. Apart from the immediate destruction, many other buildings had to be demolished as a consequence. My Mother always said as we went out to play as kids "Stay off those bombsites!" We went straight onto the bombsites.... Thanks THG.

[@goodun2974]

Ian, Keith Richards said he played in a muddy bomb crater as a kid.

[@red_d849]

how old are you two

[@judd0112]

@@goodun2974 that explains a lot about Keith anyway. It musta been one of those krypton capsules that Superman came in. Mud was prob full of heavy metals and now Keith will be turning 350 years old after this tour ends.

[@ncc74656m]

Black Mesa is always a problem, isn't it?

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Half-Life player I assume...

[@cmdraftbrn]

ask cave johnson.

[@DonDueed]

I'm making a note here: Huge Success!

[@lanswyfte]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel I like that you got that

[@xenofoxx]

It's all fun and games until the resonance cascade.

[@johndeeter4030]

Warning signs in the area read "Falling missile" zone...lol

[@jhorne18]

When working at WSMR in the 2000s, we were told that the expression about somethin going south came from these early V-2 failures. I didn't realize there were so many of them. What in sanity!

[@WildWestGal]

"The news noted that the United States was quick to apologize for bombing our southern neighbor with a Nazi terror weapon." LOL!!!

[@johnschuh8616]

Maybe we should point a few at the cartels today,

[@RickJaeger]

Don't be weird, John.

[@jamiemurray4129]

The apology description at the 5 minute mark is wonderful. Scores of years later government explanations still include an element of not-entirely-our-fault. Kudos to your copywriter.

[@badlaamaurukehu]

No offence to Mexican patriots but Mexico would have been rolled into convient tortillas by Germany or the Soviet Union had it not been for the United States and it's usual Monroe Doctrine.

[@panchohalo2158]

@@badlaamaurukehu Mexico can hold against the whole world if it needed to

[@goodun2974]

@@panchohalo2158 , please ignore the troll. Sheesh, is there any history subject that doesn't draw trolls and conspiracy theorists?

[@panchohalo2158]

@@goodun2974 MEXICO 💪 💪 NUMBER ONE

[@raulv0417]

I did laugh at both. I mean, whoa! And I'm Mexican, BTW. At the end, what THG says about the Mapimí zone is true. It's a desertic region in the state of Durango,. I passed through it once going to Chihuahua, and the compass on my car started spinning like crazy, for just a minute or two, but curiously, the radio receiver didn't go dead.. Anyways, those apologies were great. Cheers.

[@TycoonTitian01]

This is a much better listen than actual class! And just in time for my first class

[@ClubBergevin]

Well, I hope the rest of you enjoyed that. That brought me memories of childhood. My dad served 20 years in the Army,, including 3 years in Germany. He was stationed at Hart Kaserne. They would hold an open house and put out safe weapons. my 2 brothers and I had a blast holding the bazookas, 45s, machine guns.at the end of open house they would hold the drill with the firing team on a Persing missile. Dad and mom still have pictures of the event. Thank you, History Guy.

[@tonyk1584]

"Hello Air Force bomb damage assessment service, how may I help you?" "I would like to report some bomb damage please" Thank you but we are already aware of the nuclear bomb we dropped in South Carolina" "Uh... no, this is about the ballistic missile you just shot into Mexico" "Okay this is the plane dropped department, please hold the line while I transfer your call"

[@pillager6190]

That's right. They were Missiles not Bombs....

[@xenofoxx]

Meanwhile, the guy who dropped a nuclear bomb on Goldsboro, North Carolina is still on hold.

[@-.Steven]

Thank you History Guy! I never knew my state fired a missile that hit mexico, I'll be! You never fail to entertain and inform! Bravo!

[@blacksmith67]

Always a great way to start the day... coffee and THG

[@taun856]

As a former Pershing Missile soldier and having been stationed at White Sands in the late 1970's I really enjoyed this episode. There was a film made there of a compilation of missile misfires and other spectacular project failures that was hilarious to watch, though probably not quite so funny at the time they happened. We had no misfires (of the Pershing) while I was there but the "Mexican bombardment" was frequently discussed. WSMR is a unique place in the military, more DOD civilians there than actual troops.

[@wrighteous1695]

My grandpa has early stage dementia, but he is always repeating this story about how when he first joined the Army he helped move a loaded convey of Pershing missiles through Germany in the 50’s. He said when the truck broke down everything went on lockdown as they repaired the truck and it was a sight to see with this massive protection detail. So happy I got to hear you talk about the army moving perishings through Germany!

[@brianatwell5716]

I've learned more from the history guy, than I ever learned in actual history class

[@red_d849]

i have learned more from the internet than school so far, and im in my first year of high school currently, and i have a perfect meme somewhere, what i learned in school: *small finger book* what i learned from the internet: *book that has at least 1,000 pages, very tall book*

[@drats1279]

You attended the wrong government schools.

[@mollybell5779]

I used to hate the subject of history in high school. Hated it. It was just words in a book to me. Thank you so much for the amazing body of work you've accomplished. Been watching several of your videos every day for many months. I love the way you cover events in history with such intimate detail. It's work like this that makes me LOVE history now. Thank you! ❤️

[@juanch6936]

Back in the 90’s, I worked with an old timer at Universal Studios. He lived in London when the V rockets were hitting them. He later moved to LA and became a press master with the LA Times. After the presses were fully automated, he was bought out and he retired. He was also a soccer team mate with Rod Stewart. I wish I would’ve stayed in contact with him. He must be long gone by now.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

USA: "Err, Mexico. I lost one of my missiles again. Can I go check?" Mexico: "Ugh, fine."

[@mkendallpk4321]

Mexico: "What again! Can't you Americanos play with your missiles in your own country?

[@georgemaragos2378]

Reminds me of Get smart with the cranky / frustrated lady next to the spy school who is sick or experimental weapons going over the back fence Also reminds me as a child at a small inner city park where the pall would go over the fence and the people there refuse to give it back - i lost 1 x soccer ball and about 3 tennis balls. Regards George

[@e.b.1728]

@Victor Yau LOL! 😂😂😂

[@jamessimms415]

Coyame, Mexico 1974, US military helicopters entered Mexico to pick up a UFO. The supposed UFO hit an airplane. Mexican officials went to investigated & collect wreckage but all were mysteriously killed. US military entered Mexican territory to gather up the wreckage.

[@Antonio_868]

​@@jamessimms415Another similar case is the Xitle Case in Mexico City (the name is due to the extinct volcano located near the crash zone).

[@Sol-Invictus]

Fascinating as always and I'm hard pressed to find more compressed data on my screen. Like Nova amounts in less time.

[@Terribleguitarist89]

Your channel has restoked my love for history. I'm actually contemplating finally using my GI Bill and applying for a History program again.

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

"it is not dangerous to humans or animals if not ingested or handled..." so in other words....it is safe if you aren't near it. SMH

[@LadyAnuB]

I suspect it gives off either alpha or beta radiation. Alpha can be stopped by a sheet of paper. Beta takes a sheet of metal or a block of wood so fairly easily stopped.

[@SleeTheSloth]

This translates to " Do not get friendly with this material ".

[@grapeshot]

Hitting Mexico with a V2 rocket the only thing that could be said is D'OH!!!!!!

[@erictroxell715]

That's great n funny. Simpsons need to do an episode with grandpa being involved and then he creates the iconic D'OH comment#!!!

[@grapeshot]

@@erictroxell715 👍🏿

[@jamessimms415]

O la

[@JoeRoscoe_DFW]

My Dad was at Ft Bliss from the late 40's till he retired in 65. Then, he worked for contractors in and around white sands for several more years. One night, while living in Alamogordo NM, he took me and my sister out to the backyard to await a flyover of an Athena missile launched from Green River. It was around 1967 or 68.

[@kotori87gaming89]

@The History Guy can you please do an episode about the loss of the USS Scorpion? It was one of the biggest mysteries of the Cold War, and the mechanism of its loss was positively identified several years ago as a catastrophic event in the battery well. It is also a human story, though, with the families of the crew literally left waiting at a pier for the ship that would never arrive. It truly is a tale of history that deserves your special touch.

[@GraemePayne1967Marine]

From your brief mention of the V-1 (the first cruise missile?)... My mother was born & raised in London, and worked there throughout the war. She told me many times that the "doodlebugs" (as the Londoners called them) actually were not too bad, considering. You could see and hear them coming, and as long as you could hear them they were no threat. Just find shelter when the noise stops. And there were far fewer of them than there were German bombers earlier in the war. The V-2 (the first ballistic missile) were anther story. The first anyone knew of them was when a whole city block suddenly went BOOM and vanished.

[@tomharriman5051]

Dear History Guy. Hello, I enjoy your videos and wanted to offer a suggestion for an episode. In April 1906 San Francisco had it's great earthquake, followed by a much worse series of fires. The US Navy sent the torpedo boat Perry from the Marie Inland base to asses the situation. What the crew found was a city in flames, and they realized that if the docks, and the rail station, burned down there would be no way for supplies to be brought in, and no way for refuges to leave the city. They then converted the ships engines to pump water, and spent the next three days battling the fires and saved the water front. This is a lesser know history of the city, but the Perry's crew resourcefulness and hard work prevented a bad situation from becoming much worse, and for this they deserve recognition. A good book about this is "San Francisco is Burning: The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires" by Dennis Smith. This should give you all the information you need. Thank You.. Tom Harriman. The City.

[@richardrewey2462]

I remember reading that one of the German engineers had joked that "We have infiltered the US and are now firing missiles at Mexico." :)

[@Fieldwalker264]

I saw the episode of "Spaceflight" in which the German scientist, Kraft Ericke (sp?) told the story.

[@persistentwind]

@@Fieldwalker264 thanks for that! Gotta go watch it now!

[@getreal2977]

@@Fieldwalker264 I presume you refer to Christopher Kraft. Thanks for pointing out that very interesting PBS series.

[@Fieldwalker264]

@@getreal2977 No, I just checked, there is a Wikipedia article on Kraft Arnold Ehricke. I don't know if the "Spaceflight" episode is still available but it is still pretty clear in my memory, he seemed a pretty likable and jovial man.

[@larrys3341]

I knew a gentleman who worked at Convair corp. during the early air to air missile development days. They had a very large one get loose and impact in Mexico. Fortunately no one was hurt, but lots of embarrassment and diplomacy required.

[@richardstephens3327]

As someone that spent time on WSMR and living in Las Cruces as a kid it's always fun to have people talk about the odd bits of stuff we would find out in the desert.

[@christianblankenship7683]

History Guy, I’d like you to do a video for your viewers on the March 1st, 1910 Wellington, Washington avalanche that swept down the mountain in the high Cascades and removed the town Wellington and two Great Northern Railway trains killing 96 people. And as you say “It is history that needs to be remembered...”

[@eduludi]

“Oops... that went South”

[@jfan4reva]

...in a hurry!

[@kevinbarry71]

"Over succeeded" only an officer in the Air Force could say something so ridiculous

[@badlaamaurukehu]

Correct.

[@joeyjamison5772]

As a former member of the United States Air Force, I'm LMAO at your statement!

[@tonyk1584]

This just in: The Air Force mission to the moon has just landed on Mars! Air Force spokesman say the mission "Over Succeeded"

[@jdinhuntsvilleal4514]

Oh, I don't know. Wasn't it John Glenn (Marine) who said they were ready to give 110% effort?

[@joeyjamison5772]

@@jdinhuntsvilleal4514 Yes, I've always wondered about statements like that. When something exceeds it's ratings, it usually catches fire or explodes.

[@brentboswell1294]

I'm from El Paso and went to college in Las Cruces. I swear I saw antiaircraft fire from behind the Organ Mountains (in the direction of WSMR) one night...and as a private pilot, I know that the airspace over White Sands (restricted area R-5107) is permanently closed to civil aircraft.

[@C_HILL_OUT]

I love this channel. Always interesting and informative. Could you do one on the 1981 Hyatt Regency walkway collapse and it’s effects on engineering since then?

[@johnpatterson4816]

Actually Blair of thel Illuminati did a video about it.

[@PlanetEarth3141]

I'm from El Paso. There are enough great stories from that area to single handedly keep THG busy a couple years. From missiles to outlaws and trains to Indians, the list for such an isolated area is unbelievable, yet factual. Thankfully THG has covered quite a few. Now if he was actually there to show such history in person how rich it would be. I'd suggest he start at the Ft. Bliss Calvary Museum.

[@michaelholliday100]

The Pershing 1a Missile of the 1960's was a point and shoot... I know someone very well that states that they had an oops... They fired the missile and it went much further than it maximum range that landed in Mexico. Once they were fired, they had no control of the missile.

[@shingshongshamalama]

So now you know, at long last, Black Mesa really was an actual US Army missile test base.

[@SaberViper]

Good morning Mr Freeman.

[@sinisterthoughts2896]

Yeah? Oklahoma has a lot of military infrastructure.

[@Lotte_Da]

Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties.

[@ThatGuy-ot9uv]

My dad worked for Lockheed on these programs. They would launch from the Green River launch facility near Moab Utah, and the missiles would land at White Sands. Later they would launch from Vandenburg AFB and land in Kwajalein Atoll in the south pacific.

[@jb6027]

This puts me in mind of an incident my father, a career Air Force Pilot, told me about. After he returned home from WWII, he was assigned to what was then Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas. One of his assignments was to take an official photographer up in an A-26 Invader to get moving pictures of an early US V-2 rocket launch from White Sands, New Mexico. The plan was to get detailed cinema from a nearby but safe proximity to the intended launch path. You can tell where this is going... The V-2 launched and headed their way and evasive action was taken to increase separation. My Dad didn't think it was all that "hairy", but the official photographer definitely though otherwise. No mention was made as to where the V-2 eventually impacted. Just another incident in the 31 year career of an Air Force Pilot. I can't help but wonder what happened to that film, and if there's ground film of an A-26 scooting out of the way of a wayward V-2.

[@bgwinslow]

Love the new glasses, HG. Old ones always looked crooked.

[@e.b.1728]

I noticed that too...

[@jontallman3878]

My dad worked Fort Bliss and White Sands with the Hawk I and II, and Nike Apache and Hercules. I remember in the school playground, seeing missile exhaust trails going up into the sky!!

[@eprofessio]

Gerald Wooley, one of the scientist that work on this project told me they put a punch card in backward and that is what sent in south instead of north. :)

[@michaelfruitticher616]

I don't believe that to be correct as punch cards have a beveled corner on one end to prevent such an occurrence. But it is a funny retort by your friend. :)

[@eprofessio]

Michael Fruitticher you don’t know what you are talking about. You have pretty lips and I wish you the best of luck.

[@benniepetrey]

Really enjoyed this episode being a former Pershing Missile Electronic Repairer. Please do more episodes on the subject of the Cold War, far too many are ignorant of the subject of the Cold War era.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

kzbin.info/aero/PLSnt4mJGJfGg6-RjePgeLdrt7bu4nIG4e

[@bbt305]

Great tidbits of seldom taught history, very interesting always.

[@robertsmith6124]

I live and grew up 30 miles east of Shiprock and the Navajo rez, I have never heard about the missile crash. Definitely some new local history.

[@GSMSfromFV]

"Our Germans are better than their Germans."

[@living2ndchildhood347]

“Our” Germans remained diehard Nazi’s to their deaths. Among other things that wrren’t exactly right or good.......

[@jamesricker3997]

Are Germans also had the benefit of Robert Goddard's research if the US ballistic missile program had been giving proper funding it would have been the Germans Several features on the United States ballistic missiles were far in advance of the Germans.

[@pillager6190]

Real statement

[@burroaks7]

apparently nobody has seen 'The Right Stuff'

[@GSMSfromFV]

@@burroaks7 - And just for fun: __ kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrGoGOLqLybgsU

[@Xergecuz]

White sands is so close to El Paso that in the late 90's we once saw a missile test in the horizon from my dad's living room in East El Paso.

[@PlanetEarth3141]

I can attest to that as I also lived in far east El Paso. Used to sneak into army firing ranges to watch stuff and search. Also got invited to a few tests and once launched as a guest a Nike-Hercules missle from McGregor Range. It went north. It's all in the thumb.

[@surinfarmwest6645]

"Missiles that have wandered over the border" a bit like sheep in search of fresh grass.

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

Looking for civilians. That's what V2's do! /s (but not really)

[@davidtaylor1384]

My dad had a garage in Huntsville back then. He said the first time he had ever seen a Mercedes was driven by Ms, Von Braun. She wanted her oil changed with castor oil. They laughed her out of the shop. Wherner came back and explained it was Castrol oil. He ordered it by the case and it sat in the back of the shop just for her car.

[@jonathantillian6528]

I love the marketing of the Hermes. *Hermes Rockets: The First multi-stage rockets* - Two Stages! - Trusted V2 Technology - Innovative ramjet engine* - Air foils for controlled flight _*ramjet not included_

[@slateslavens]

_"*NOT A FLYING TOY"_

[@mattcolver1]

There were cross-border mishaps that went un-reported. I worked on missiles at an aerospace company that did testing at White Sands. There were stories from some of the guys who had driven down into Mexico and recovered small re-entry vehicles that were small enough to fit in the trunk of a rental car. This was done by company people and the U.S. military and Mexico were none the wiser. I've poked around the abandoned Green River site. It has always amazed me that we fired missiles over U.S. soil risking the lives of citizens.

[@unitedwestand5100]

I graduated in Alamogordo, N Mexico in 1976. My father worked at White Sands Missile Range for years. (He worked as a computer engineer, for GE on a secret DOD defense team developing and testing missile technology and guidance systems.) If they didnt tell you, and they don't tell you, you'd never know what goes on there. If not for the missile range, Holliman AF Base, and Ft. Bliss the area would be in a pitiful state of poverty. You could drive 100 miles in any direction from Alamogordo and find almost nothing. The area is a desert wasteland.

[@royshobe6642]

Thanks for making this video

[@Ammo08]

I worked in the Minuteman III program in the early 1970s and we heard about all of these incidents in our training...

[@acreymundo]

Excellent, as always, informative and interesting information that’s hard to find. Thank you. 🙏🏼

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

V2 was the first rocket to break the Karman Line. (Reaching outer space)

[@frankgulla2335]

Strange I knew nothing about. Thanks for the quick history lesson.

[@FFEMTB08]

The military has been known to go into museums to get spare helicopter parts. So for them to cobble up random parts for a missile... I’m not even shocked.

[@squirt.mcgirt]

My dad was a technician on a Pershing II unit with the US Army in West Germany. The stories he's told me are absolutely nuts. I don't even know if you could do an episode on them since so much of what they did is still classified and much of the public information is either incomplete or deliberate disinformation even though the program ended decades ago. Many young men gave their lives in service of that highly specialized and sensitive mission and they can't be properly recognized due to the secrecy and the fact that we were never "technically" at war. One day I hope their fascinating story can be told in great detail. Their sacrifice deserves to be remembered

[@MudlangenTango]

There is a group called the Pershing Professionals, several websites also list soldiers that served. I served in Pershing units during that time, D Btry 1/41st, 84-87 C Btry 2/9 89-91. Worked with some really great people.

[@jeffreyhowards68]

I was at Fort Bliss in 1979 when a Hercules Surface to Air missile launched from McGregor Range went south instead of north and was self destructed and impacted along side warehouses on Rail Road Drive. Ooops.

[@Radmonkeyboy]

They have a cool memorial site in Green River, Utah to celebrate their involvement.

[@robertberger8642]

Excellent information, thanks!

[@JamesPhieffer]

I just hope some Mexican official pulled out a map to point out, "This is Mexico, this is NEW Mexico..."...

[@grr986]

My dad was duty officer in the U.S. Army the day the last attack on Mexico mentioned in this video happened. He was rarely duty officer. One of the previous times, Kennedy got assassinated. He told his commanding officer that he shouldn't be made duty officer again, because bad things tended to happen.

[@OpusBuddly]

I was a Pershing missile crewman in Green River Utah in 1975. Those babies really get up and move!

[@franks0dam0adress]

Great video, can we get one on the “ Silent Zone “ or “ zona de silencio “.

[@AxolotlAndy]

The “Zona del Silencio” is really nothing special, sure there have been some anomalies here and there but it really has nothing spectacular. It is just a cheap version of a “Area 51” thingy. Not to mention, due to America's several mishaps with missiles landing in Mexico, they helped aiding the fame of the Zona del Silencio by making numerous excuses of why their missile landed in Mexico.

[@phoneone1371]

the Mexican government actually takes the place seriously , i think its now a study area .

[@Antonio_868]

​@@phoneone1371And a tourist trap in some way. It's on the Mexican state of Coahuila

[@quillmaurer6563]

The international military version of "Hey my ball went in your yard (again), mind if I go get it?"

[@chrisukowich8674]

Good gravy, I love the history guy! Thank you for these awesome, informational & informative videos!

[@datasailor8132]

Anybody remember the old TV show “You Were There”? Well, I was stationed at WSMR at the time of the 1970 incident as a young Lieutenant waiting for my time to go to Vietnam. The base had a SLJ called the “Standby Duty Officer.” When it was your time in the barrel in those pre-cell phone days, you were required to stay on the Post and either be in your quarters, at your workstation, at the commissary, or the officer’s club. The duty ran from noon Friday to noon the following Friday. At noon on the Friday of my turn I reported the the Command Sergeant Major of National Range Operations who handed me a loose leaf folder with instructions, phone numbers, etc. The CSM said these exact words: “ Don’t worry Lieutenant. Nothing ever happens.” At five am the next morning I was awakened from my slumbers in the BOQ by our Lieutenant Colonel “Buzz” K. Who asked me if I were on duty that week. When I replied, Yes, he ordered me to go to the HQ where I played the role of telephone boy and general errand boy for the rest of the weekend. The way I heard it the Athena which was a four stage missile used the first two stages for the boost phase. Then the missile would reorient itself and fire the last two stages with the missile pointing down towards the Range simulating an incoming ICBM from Russia. In this case the third stage fired prematurely and caused all the tracking radars to flip over as the device flew overhead. The radioactive material in this shot was baked into the skin of the reentry stage. Inside the dummy warhead were sensors that by measuring the radioactivity levels during reentry could calculate the rate of erosion of the skin. To emphasize just how far out in the boonies WSMR is; this where they exiled Command Sergeant Major of the Army Woolridge to get him out of the limelight, but that is another story.

[@otpyrcralphpierre1742]

I don't know the story of Sergeant Major Army Woolridge.

[@sithyarael6807]

Wait you were a Lt and you took orders from a Sgt. Major. Oh that is right he technically out ranked you by a lot yet he is Non commissioned.

[@datasailor8132]

@@otpyrcralphpierre1742 unfortunately I misspelled it. It is Wooldridge.

[@datasailor8132]

@@sithyarael6807 I didn’t salute him, if that’s what you meant, but it is good practice for a 2Lt shave tail to take the advice of experienced enlisted personnel. You’ll have to look up “shave tail”.

[@datasailor8132]

@@otpyrcralphpierre1742 I have looked at some of the articles about him after a google search. Let’s just say that they were highly sanitized.

[@johnjyoungjr7400]

How about a story on the B25 that crash landed in the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh that was "never recovered". Around here it is known as The Mystery on the Mon.

[@janhill7383]

That happened during WWII. B-25 went down between locks. The crew was rescued but the plane never found

[@IAlwaysWantedToTryThat]

I really think there's a whole video to be made on just your intro. Project Backfire, Toftoy's incursion into Penemunde & Mittelwerks and extraction of all the materiel there, the stories of British engineers and German rocket scientists getting sloshed the night before a test launch from "spirit testing" the railroad car full of 95% ethanol used for the V2 tests... the immediate period prior to and just after the war's conclusion was an absolute wild time and woefully underreported. Solid video as always. Been to both LC-33 and Green River, and am a huge early-rocketry history buff. Always appreciate it when the lesser-known portions of it get brought to everyone's attention.

[@robertwest6350]

Great video as always! May I recommend a topic for a future video, the British attack on Mers-El-Kabir.

[@EricDKaufman]

excellent episode

[@ironman1518.]

Slight correction History Guy: The video at 7:27 shows the West side of the Organ Mountains, East of Las Cruces NM. The Missile Range is on the OTHER side of the Organ Mountains. I live in 'Cruces, worked at WSMR.

[@nmelkhunter1]

My dad worked for Test Command and the places he worked included WSMR, Yuma Proving Ground and US Army Tropic Test Center in Panama. He said that WSMR had some of what he called the most interesting testing mishaps. I know this video illustrates what he meant…

[@biscuitninja]

Used to work put at white sands... great stories. Would study EMRTC in Socorro NM.

[@TraTranc]

Imagine being a west German soldier arriving to the US for training and being told "Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa testing range." *Crowbar intensifies*

[@classicbandgeek]

Guten morgen, doktor Freimann

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

_"I KNEW I should have made that left turn at Albuquerque!"_ -- B. BUNNY 😊😊😊😊

[@shandyschaffner2839]

Lived at WSMR shot missiles and rockets abound. Not to mention lasers and experimental cannons. Mexico dose get some of our experiments but with tts systems much less. Good video

[@diomepa2100]

I don't know about missile gap, but that mine shaft gap was a serious threat.

[@Britcarjunkie]

I've spent many a day in Alamogordo: at the Space Museum, they have a couple of V2's on display (one having been flown), and, if it's not on display yet, there's a warehouse near the tracks in town, that once had a V1 sitting outside on the ground...looked like a real one FWIW, we still lob missiles at White Sands, from the Tonopah Test Range, in Nevada, and, per that scene in one of the old video clips, they still close US54 and US70 during missile tests.

[@Britcarjunkie]

I forgot to add, never mind the missiles, watch out for the damned Oryx's!!! (another story for THG???) I nailed one with my semi-truck on US54 last June, and it tore the he'll out of my truck!!!

[@datasailor8132]

Take a look at the Missile Park at the main entrance to WSMR off US70. It’s right at the gate and you don’t need special permission to go there. My last visit was in 2016. There is a special building for the V2 with a walk-up and touch it example with a lot of its innards exposed.

[@gregorymeyer8863]

my dad always said he saw the last v2 launch when he was at white sands nm

[@lanswyfte]

when another missile exploded in Mexico the us government: ah shit, here we go again

[@Johnny_Tambourine]

Neener neener neener We also still have Gen. Santa Anna's leg. We took it and put it in a museum.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

In fact, we have two of them.

[@persistentwind]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel you gotta be kidding me!

[@Johnny_Tambourine]

@High speed Driver Every year on the anniversary of it's "capture" we tie it to a three legged mule and let it lead the parade through town.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

@@persistentwind there were two- a fancy cork prosthetic is in the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield, but the carriage also included a more humble wooden peg leg that, according to legend, was used as a bat in a baseball game by Abner Doubleday. That prosthetic is on display in the Oglesby Mansion in Decatur.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

@High speed Driver it was captured in the General’s carriage as he was fleeing, I think that “took” is a fair description.

[@idiotidiot5821]

8:44 imagine just having a casual stroll and seeing this thing come out of the trees

[@simoncampbell-smith6745]

Cold War History is important. Keep it up History Guy. Next time you are over here perhaps something on Greenham Common Airbase. Its nuclear accident/Broken Arrow and or the Cruise missiles that were later based there.

[@guardsmanom134]

It's taken me four and a half hours to watch this 16 minute video. I hope you and Mrs. History Guy understand what we mere mortals go through just to get to this great content...

[@mercator79]

Hello Sir. I hope you are ok? I saw your video today and then some from the Summer and there are noticeable differences. Please stay safe and well, and take time off if you need to rest. We care about you!

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Thank you for the concern. My health is just fine.

[@Schtuperfly]

My dad Bob Callinan was part of the captured V2 project. He said it "amused the hell out of those captured German scientists when a V2 went off range". Pop invented a relay that could bring down a missle when that happened by exploding the fuel line, interestingly, not by sending a signal but by interupting a signal (to foil spys from sending any signals). He said that's how he ended the war, "by pulling the teeth of the last activated enemy unit" (those captured scientists). He was an Army Seargent with just a high school education. He was awarded a patent for his invention and it was used up through the Apollo program. He never got a dime for it and later got demoted from being a technician when a college education became a requirement for the job.

[@burroaks7]

EVH Frankenstein tie???? awesome

[@mrfriz4091]

These elements of our history are so interesting. Thank you HG!