How did gyroscopes control the movement of the Nazi's V-1 rocket?

abechstein

Not that I totally understand the physics involved, but... "[A] gyrocompass (set by swinging in a hangar before launch) gave feedback to control each of pitch and roll, but it was angled away from the horizontal so that controlling these degrees of freedom interacted: the gyroscope stayed trued up by feedback from a magnetic compass, and from the fore and aft pendulum." The gyroscope platform and the flight controls were powered by compressed air tanks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_%28flying_bomb%29#Guidance_system Sep 12 10, 9:38 PM

star_gazer

During the intense development of missile systems and flying bombs before and during World War II, two-frame gyroscopes were paired with three-frame instruments to correct roll and pitch motions and to provide automatic steering, respectively. The Germans used this combination on the V-1 flying bomb, the V-2 rocket, and a pilotless airplane. The V-2 is considered an early ballistic missile. Orbiting spacecraft use a small, gyroscope-stabilized platform for their navigation systems. This characteristic of gyroscopes to remain stable and define direction to a very high degree of accuracy has been applied to gunsights, bombsights, and the shipboard platforms that support guns and radar. Many of these mechanisms were greatly improved during World War II, and the inertial navigation systems that use gyroscopes for spacecraft were invented and perfected in the 1950s as space exploration became increasingly important. Read more: How gyroscope is made - manufacture, history, used, components, structure, steps, product, industry, machine, History, Raw Materials, Design, The Manufacturing Process of gyroscope, Quality Control http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Gyroscope.html#ixzz0zNbrq3wp Sep 12 10, 10:17 PM