This circa color film served as an interim report on Project Hermes, a guided missile projected started in 1944 in response to Germany’s rocket attacks in Europe during World War II. The project engineer holds a model of the A1 missile (mark 00:45) as he explains how six of the weapons had already been built and tested in New Mexico and provides information as to its size and weight, as well as at the fact that its warhead was replaced with various test instruments. (The Army Hermes A-1 single stage test rocket was an American version of the German Wasserfall anti-aircraft rocket. Development began in 1946. Problems with the rocket engine delayed the first (failed) launch to May. Another failure in September 1950 was followed by a success on 2 February 1951. After two more tests in March and April the program was terminated in 1951, having been rendered irrelevant by more successful development of the Nike Ajax surface-to-air missile.)
Following a discussion of the propellant systems the film continues (starting at mark 02:00 with a detailed explanation of the Hermes A1 propulsion system with scenes of engineers mixed with diagrams. The narrator notes at mark 02:50 how the missile has been designed so that its transmission is coded, preventing it from being jammed by enemy forces. A pattern of tactical performance is illustrated starting at mark 03:50 with a running narration before moving on to the White Sands Proving Ground (today known at the White Sands Missile Range) in New Mexico at mark 07:09 and a look at pre-flight and step-by-step launching procedures of an A1 missiles. At last the missile streaks skyward at mark 13:15 and it is shown being tracked by a series of observation stations on the ground before scientists determine its point of impact (mark 14:15) and collected so that its data could be analyzed.
The Hermes project (November 15, 1944 – December 31, 1954), was started in response to Germany’s rocket attacks in Europe. Project Hermes was to determine the missile needs of army field forces. “Accordingly the Ordnance Department entered into a research and development contract with the General Electric Company on 20 November 1944.”This contract authorized the General Electric Company to seek the development of long-range missiles that could be used against both ground targets and high-altitude aircraft.” General Electric was also to investigate ramjets, solid rocket motors, liquid propellant rocket engines, and hybrid propellents.
In December 1944, Project Hermes was tasked with studying the V-2. Project Hermes’s mandate created a need for an extensive area where missiles could be safely tested. The Army moved to create the White Sands Proving Grounds in south central New Mexico as a place to test the new missiles.
When the U.S. Army captured the Peenemünde engineers, including Werner Von Braun, Dr. Richard W. Porter of Project Hermes was close behind. Following the capture by American forces of the Mittelwerk V-2 factory, Special Mission V-2 swept in and scooped up enough components to assemble 100 V-2s. The components were quickly removed to New Mexico.Three hundred rail cars of V-2 parts and documentation arrived at the White Sands Proving Grounds and General Electric personnel started the task of inventorying the components. For the next five years overhauling and manufacture of parts, assembly, modification and launching V-2 rockets would be the major part of Project Hermes. Many of the V-2 components were in poor condition or unusable. After the German V-2 parts and technology were imported into the United States, the U. S. Army formed the Upper Atmosphere Research Panel in early 1946 to oversee experiments both about their technology and their use for upper atmosphere research.
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