Same book -

"Some rockets have fins while others don't. It depends upon how important it is, in any particular case, to improve the rocket's aerodynamic stability.

"Today, autopilot systems are available with fast enough response to steer rockets through the atmosphere no matter how unstable they are aerodynamically. Fins cost weight and drag, and can easily get misaligned by rough handling.

"Therefore, all our modern long-range military missiles are finless - Minutemen and Polaris, and their predecessors Atlas, Titan, Jupiter and Thor.

"To steer aerodynamically unstable rocket missiles through the atmosphere is no mean trick. In the early days of missilery it just couldn't be done. That's why the V-2 Corporal, Viking, Sergeant, and Redstone sported fins.

"The problem was not only the lack of adequate autopilots to cope with aerodynamic instability. Even more critical was the difficulty of pinning down the exact operating criteria to which the autopilot had top be tuned."

(Discusses changes in mass, speed, atmospheric pressures and other variables operating on a rocket during ascent.)

"Thus it is quite a trick to devise a rocket autopilot that can adequately cope with all these rapidly varying conditions. In fact, it is possible only by changing the "gain settings", the autopilot's tuning, several times in flight. Unterstandably, the rather sophisticated technique was not available for the early "birds". But today (1969) it is old hat.

"Some rockets are still built with fins, for they offer great advantages in two particular applications -
One is for anti-aircraft or anti-missile rockets. - - - - This rocket doesn't know, at the instant of takeoff, exactly where it's warhead will go off.

"Since the target may perform evasive maneuvers, the intercepting rocket must continuously adapt it's onw flight path - - - anti-aircraft missile designers still prefer fins to simplify their complex control problems.

"For manned rockets" - - That's the part I've already posted.

Don't know if that answers your question, but that's what he says. Happened to read this section of the book last night, read the "fins" comments on the posts today.

Arf