V2 rocket on launch pad, Operation Backfire, Cuxhaven, Germany, 1945.

GERMANY - JANUARY 31: Operation Backfire was a British post-WW2 operation designed to evaluate the V2 rocket system. The tests were undertaken in the months after the fall of Nazi Germany at a gun testing range at Cuxhaven, in the British zone of occupation, using 8 complete rockets, all of which were painted black and white. Captured firing troops and rocket scientists were employed to demonstrate the V2�s characterisitics to the British. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)