From Foreword: This volume of the history of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, describes the work of three of the nineteen divisions of the National Defense Research Committee. Two of these three divisions (1 and 3) were concerned with one of the oldest and most fundamental of all the problems of military technology, that of the propulsion of missiles against the enemy, a process accomplished in modern warfare either by gunfire or by rocket power. The other (2) was concerned with the equally fundamental problem of terminal ballistics, that branch of military science which studies the behavior and effect of missiles when they arrive at the enemy target.

"An Atlantic Monthly Press book."

Foreword -- Preface -- Part One. Rocket Ordnance -- Introductory -- Rocket Fundamentals -- Rocket History 1918-1939 -- Formation of Section H -- Initial Work and Tests 1940-1941 -- The Lauristen Report -- Organization and Administrative History -- Section H after the Reorganization -- Bazooka -- The 4.5-Inch Aircraft Armament Rocket -- Rocoilless Guns -- Flame Throwers and Robot Bombs -- Pusher Rockets -- Jet-Assisted Take-Off for Aircraft -- The Early Work of the California Institute Group -- The Mousetrap and Minnie Mouse -- Fuze Problems -- The Mousetrap Grows Wings -- Old Faithful -- Interlude -- Forward-Firing Aircraft Rockets -- Summer 1944 -- The Spinner Family -- The Windup -- Termination -- Part Two. Terminal Ballistics -- Knowledge is a Weapon, Too! -- The Team -- From Defense to Attack -- Sand in the Gears -- The Little Bullet that didn't Hurt -- Part Three. Hypervelocity Guns and Control of Gun Erosion -- The Quest for a Super-Gun -- Organizing the Adventure -- Operating the Division I Machine -- Means to Reduce Erosion -- The Quest for Hypervelocity -- The Gun of the Future -- Appendices -- Index.