Missile, Surface-to-Surface, V-2 (A-4), Lifting Eyes

The V-2 rocket, developed and used by the Germans during World War II, was the world's first large-scale liquid-propellant rocket vehicle, the first modern long-range ballistic missile, and the ancestor of today's large-scale liquid-fuel rockets and launch vehicles. Called the A-4 (Aggregat 4) by German Army Ordnance, the rocket was dubbed V-2, or Vergeltungswaffe Zwei ("Vengeance Weapon Two"), by Dr. Josef Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry.

The U.S. Air Force officially transferred a V-2 (A19600342000) to the Smithsonian on 1 May 1949. It was moved to the National Air Museum's storage facility in Suitland, Maryland in 1954, and was restored in 1975-76 for exhibition in the new National Air and Space Museum building. These lifting eyes can be screwed into the mid-body of the missile so that it can be lifted by a crane.