[AnimalMuppet]

I have personally seen a video of a Saturn (unmanned), launching, that rose maybe half its height off the ground, stopped, descended back down, hit the launchpad, and blew up. That's pretty much "on launch".

But that doesn't seem to have been a Saturn V. What was it? I'm pretty sure it was on Youtube, but a quck search failed to turn it up.

So, maybe "not one Saturn V blew up on launch", but one of the Saturns did.

[mlyle]

Are you thinking of Juno II AM-16? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIJF26ukQgw

[AnimalMuppet]

No. Nice fireball, though.

The one I'm thinking of came straight down, still vertical, nose up.

[mlyle]

Maybe Vanguard TV-3? https://youtu.be/ZvnKfgDANKY?si=VeI-FUkLUBirM5ss&t=20

The third Redstone launch was also a lot like what you describe, but I can't find video.

There was another of the Vanguard ones where it rose a couple of inches and then shut down and fell... and survived and was launched awhile later.

[rkagerer]

Also known as 'Flopnik'