JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
A few days ago in the pages of a 1951 issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society I found a most unusual phrase: “Civilian V2”. At the time it was probably necessary to distinguish between the wartime V2 and the astronautic research done with it over the next six years, but I’m pretty sure that I had never seen the term’s use before. I’m not an expert in space flight, or early rocket-powered flight, though I have seen a lot of this sort of material and read around it over the last four decades–still, it looked very unusual to me. I did a simple search under “Civilian V2” and found only 9 hits in Google and 50-odd on “Civilian V-2”, none of which actually apply to the missile itself , but to a “civilian expert” on the V2 (“…civilian V2 expert…” In any event, this light look at the “Civilian V2” term indicates that it probably really is unusual and little-used. If someone out there has any info on this, please let me know.
Source: Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, volume 10 no. 5, September 1951, page 212.
