V-1 flying bomb

The V-1 flying bomb (German: Vergeltungswaffe 1,^[3] Fieseler Fi 103) — also known as the Buzz Bomb orDoodlebug — was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

The V-1 was developed at Peenemünde Airfield by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. During initial development it was known by the codename "Cherry Stone". The first of the so-called Vergeltungswaffen series designed for terror bombing of London, Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

the V-1 was fired from "ski" launch sites along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts. The first V-1 was launched at London on 13 June 1944, one week after (and prompted by) the successful Allied landing in Europe. At its peak, more than one hundred V-1s a day were fired at southeast England, 9,521 in total, Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

decreasing in number as sites were overrun until October 1944, when the last V-1 site in range of Britain was overrun by Allied forces. This caused the remaining V-1s to be directed at the port ofAntwerp and other targets in Belgium, with 2,448 V-1s being launched. The attacks stopped when the last site was overrun on 29 March 1945. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

In total, the V-1 attacks caused 22,892 casualties (almost entirely civilians).

The British operated an arrangement of defences (including guns and fighter aircraft) to intercept the bombs before they reached their targets and as part of Operation Crossbow and the launch sites and underground V-1 storage depots were targets of strategic bombing. Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

Design and development

In late 1936, while employed by the Argus Motoren company, Fritz Gosslau began work on the further development of remote controlled aircraft; Argus had already developed a remote-controlled surveillance aircraft, the AS 292 (military designation FZG 43). Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

On 9 November 1939, a proposal for a remote-controlled aircraft carrying a payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) over a distance of 500 km (310 mi) was forwarded to the RLM (German Air Ministry). Argus joined with Lorentz AG and Arado Flugzeugwerke to develop the project as a private venture, and in April 1940, Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

Gosslau presented an improved study of Project "Fernfeuer" to the RLM, as Project P 35 "Erfurt".

On 31 May, Rudolf Bree of the RLM commented that he saw no chance that the projectile could be deployed in combat conditions,Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

as the proposed remote control system was seen as a design weakness. Heinrich Koppenbrug, the director of Argus, met with Ernst Udet on 6 January 1941 to try to convince him that the development should be continued, but Udet opted to cancel it.Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

Despite this, Gosslau was convinced that the basic idea was sound and proceeded to simplify the design. As an engine manufacturer, Argus lacked the capability to produce a fuselage for the project and Koppenburg sought the assistance of Robert Lusser, chief designer and technical director at Heinkel. Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

On 22 January 1942, Lusser took up a position with the Fieseler aircraft company. He met with Koppenburg on 27 February and was informed of Gosslau's project. Gosslau's design used two pulse jet engines; Lusser improved the design to use a single engine.Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

A final proposal for the project was submitted to the Technical Office of the RLM on 5 June and the project was renamed Fi 103, as Fieseler was to be the chief contractor. On 19 June, Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch gave Fi 103 production high priority, and development was undertaken at the Luftwaffe test centre atKarlshagen. Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

By 30 August, Fieseler had completed the first fuselage, and the first flight of the Fi 103 V7 took place on 10 December, when it was airdropped by a Fw 200.^[5] Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

Description

The V-1 was designed under the codename Kirschkern (cherry stone)^[6] by Lusser and Gosslau, with a fuselage constructed mainly of welded sheet steel and wings built of plywood. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

The simple pulse jet engine pulsed 50 times per second,^[2] and the characteristic buzzing sound gave rise to the colloquial names "buzz bomb" or "doodlebug" (a common name for a wide variety of insects). It was known briefly in Germany (on Hitler's orders) as Maikäfer (May bug) and Krähe (crow).^[7] Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

Power plant

Ignition of the Argus pulse jet was accomplished using an automotive type spark plug located about 2.5 ft (0.76 m) behind the intake shutters, with current supplied from a portable starting unit. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

Three air nozzles in the front of the pulse jet were at the same time connected to an external high pressure air source which was used to start the engine. Acetylene gas was typically used for starting, and very often a panel of wood or similar was held across the end of the tailpipe to prevent the fuel from diffusing and escaping before ignition. Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

Once the engine had been started and the temperature had risen to the minimum operating level, the external air hose and connectors were removed and the engine's resonant design kept it firing without any further need for the electrical ignition system, which was used only to ignite the engine when starting. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

It is a common myth that the V-1's Argus As 014 pulse jet engine needed a minimum airspeed of 150 mph (240 km/h) to operate. The Argus As 014 (also known as a resonant jet) could in fact operate at zero airspeed due to the nature of its intake shutters and its acoustically tuned resonant combustion chamber. Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

Contemporary film footage of the V-1 always shows the distinctive pulsating exhaust of a fully running engine before the catapult system is triggered and the missile launched. The origin of the myth that the V-1's Argus As 014 pulse jet engine needed a minimum airspeed of 150 mph (240 km/h) to operate may lie in the fact that due to Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

the low static thrust of the pulse jet engine and the very high stall speed of the small wings, the V-1 could not take off under its own power in a practically short distance, and thus required to either be launched by aircraft catapult or be airlaunched from a modified bomber aircraft such as theHeinkel He-111. Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

Ground-launched V-1s were typically propelled up an inclined launch ramp by an apparatus known as aDampferzeuger ("steam generator") which used stabilized hydrogen peroxide and potassium permanganate (T-Stoff and Z-Stoff). Takeoff speed was 360 mph (580 km/h). Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

Beginning in January 1941, the V-1's pulse jet engine was also tested on a variety of craft, including automobiles^[9] and an experimental attack boat known as the "Tornado". The unsuccessful prototype was a version of a Sprengboot, Sony VAIO VPCS111FM/S Battery

in which a boat loaded with explosives was steered towards a target ship and the pilot would leap out of the back at the last moment. The Tornado was assembled from surplusseaplane hulls connected in catamaran fashion with a small pilot cabin on the cross beams. Sony VAIO VPCS115EC Battery

The Tornado prototype was a noisy underperformer and was abandoned in favour of more conventional piston engined craft.

The engine made its first flight aboard a Gotha Go 145 on 30 April 1941.^[9]

Guidance system

The V-1 guidance system used a simple autopilot to regulate altitude and airspeed, developed by Askania in Berlin.^[6] Sony VAIO VPCS115FG Battery

A weighted pendulum system provided fore-and-aft attitude measurement to control pitch (damped by a gyrocompass, which it also stabilized). Operating power for the gyroscope platform and the flight control actuators was provided by two large spherical compressed air tanks which also pressurized the fuel tank. Sony VAIO VPCS117GG Battery

These air tanks were charged to 150 atm (15,000 kPa) before launch.

There was a more sophisticated interaction between yaw, roll, and other sensors: a gyrocompass (set by swinging in a hangar before launch) gave feedback to control each of pitch and roll, but it was angled away from the horizontal so that controlling these degrees of freedom interacted: Sony VAIO VPCS117GGB Battery

the gyroscope remained true on the basis of feedback received from a magnetic compass, and from the fore and aft pendulum. This interaction meant that rudder control was sufficient for steering and no banking mechanism was needed. Sony VAIO VPCS118EC Battery

In a V-1 which landed in March 1945 without detonating betweenTilburg and Goirle, The Netherlands, about 6 rolled issues of the German wartime propaganda magazine 'Signal' were found inserted into the left wing's tubular steel spar, used for weight to preset the missile's static equilibrium before launching. Sony VAIO VPCS119FJ/B Battery

It is also known that several of the first buzz bombs to be launched were provided with a small radio transmitter (using a triode valve marked 'S3' but being equivalent to a then-current power valve, type RL 2,4T1), to check the general direction of flight related to the launching place's and the target's grid coordinates by radio bearing. Sony VAIO VPCS119GC Battery

An odometer driven by a vane anemometer on the nose determined when target area had been reached, accurately enough for area bombing. Before launch, the counter was set to a value that would reach zero upon arrival at the target in the prevailing wind conditions. Sony VAIO VPCS11AFJ Battery

As the missile flew, the airflow turned the propeller, and every 30 rotations of the propeller counted down one number on the counter. This counter triggered the arming of the warhead after about 60 km (37 mi).^[10] When the count reached zero, two detonating bolts were fired. Sony VAIO VPCS11AGJ Battery

Two spoilers on the elevator were released, the linkage between the elevator and servo was jammed and a guillotine device cut off the control hoses to the rudder servo, setting the rudder in neutral. These actions put the V-1 into a steep dive.Sony VAIO VPCS11AHJ Battery

While this was originally intended to be a power dive, in practice the dive caused the fuel flow to cease, which stopped the engine. The sudden silence after the buzzing alerted listeners of the impending impact. The fuel problem was quickly fixed, and when the last V-1s fell, the majority hit under power. Sony VAIO VPCS11AVJ Battery

With the counter determining how far the missile would fly, it was only necessary to launch the V-1 with the ramp pointing in the approximate direction, and the autopilot controlled the flight. Sony VAIO VPCS11J7E/B Battery

Operation and effectiveness

The first complete V-1 airframe was delivered 30 August 1942,^[6] and after the first complete As.109-014 was delivered in September,^[6] the first glide test flight was 28 October 1942 at Peenemünde, from under a Focke-Wulf Fw 200.^[9] Sony VAIO VPCS11M1E/W Battery

The first powered trial was 10 December, launched from beneath an He-111.^[6]

A myth arose that early guidance and stabilisation problems were resolved by a daring test flight by Hanna Reitsch in a V-1 modified for manned operation. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E Battery

The myth entered popular consciousness from Reitsch's fictional exploits in the film Operation Crossbow.

The conventional launch sites could theoretically launch about 15 V-1s per day, but this rate was difficult to achieve on a consistent basis; the maximum rate achieved was 18. Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B Battery

Overall, only about 25% of the V-1s hit their targets, the majority being lost because of a combination of defensive measures, mechanical unreliability, or guidance errors. With the capture or destruction of the launch facilities used to attack England, Sony VAIO VPCS11X9E/B Battery

the V-1s were employed in attacks against strategic points inBelgium, primarily the port of Antwerp.The intended operational altitude was originally set at 2,750 m (9,000 ft). However, repeated failures of a barometric fuel-pressure regulator led to it being changed in May 1944, Sony VAIO VPCS123FGB Battery

halving the operational height, thereby bringing V-1s into range of the Bofors guns commonly used by Allied AA units.

The trial versions of the V-1 were air-launched. Most operational V-1s were launched from static sites on land, but from July 1944 to January 1945, Sony VAIO VPCS125EC Battery

the Luftwaffe launched approximately 1,176 from modified Heinkel He 111 H-22s of the Luftwaffe's Kampfgeschwader 3 (3rd Bomber Wing, the so-called "Blitz Wing") flying over the North Sea. Apart from the obvious motive of permitting the Sony VAIO VPCS128EC Battery

bombardment campaign to continue after static ground sites on the French coast were lost, air-launching gave the Luftwaffe the opportunity to outflank the increasingly effective ground and air defences put up by the British against the missile. Sony VAIO VPCS129GC Battery

To minimise the associated risks (primarily radar detection), the aircrews developed a tactic called "lo-hi-lo": the He 111s would, upon leaving their airbases and crossing the coast, descend to an exceptionally low altitude. When the launch point was neared,Sony VAIO VPCS12C7E/B Battery

the bombers would swiftly ascend, fire their V-1s, and then rapidly descend again to the previous 'wave-top' level for the return flight. Research after the war estimated a 40% failure rate of air-launched V-1s, and the He-111s used in this role were extremely vulnerable to night fighter attack, Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B Battery

as the launch lit up the area around the aircraft for several seconds.

Experimental and long-range variants

Late in the war, several air-launched piloted V-1s, known as Reichenbergs, were built, but never used in combat. Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B Battery

 Hanna Reitsch made some flights in the modified V-1 Fieseler Reichenberg when she was asked to find out why test pilots were unable to land it and had died as a result. She discovered, after simulated landing attempts at high altitude where there was air space to recover, Sony VAIO VPCY115FGS Battery

that the craft had an extremely high stall speed and the previous pilots with little high speed experience had attempted their approaches much too slowly. Her recommendation of much higher landing speeds was then introduced in training new Reichenberg volunteer pilots. Sony VAIO VPCY115FX/BI Battery

The Reichenbergs were air-launched rather than fired from a catapult ramp as erroneously portrayed in Operation Crossbow.

There were plans, not put into practice, to use the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber to launch V-1s either by towing them aloft or by launching them  Sony VAIO VPCY115FXBI Battery

from a "piggy back" position (in the manner of the Mistel, but in reverse) atop the aircraft. In the latter configuration, a pilot-controlled, hydraulically operated dorsal trapeze mechanism would elevate the missile on the trapeze's launch cradle some eight feet clear of the 234's upper fuselage. Sony VAIO VPCY118EC Battery

This was necessary to avoid damaging the mother craft's fuselage and tail surfaces when the pulse jet ignited, as well as to ensure a 'clean' airflow for the Argus motor's intake. A somewhat less ambitious project undertaken was the adaptation of the missile as a 'flying fuel tank' (Deichselschlepp) Sony VAIO VPCY118GX/BI Battery

for theMesserschmitt Me 262 jet fighter, which was initially test-towed behind an He 177A Greif bomber. The pulse-jet, internal systems and warhead of the missile were removed, leaving only the wings and basic fuselage, now containing a single large fuel tank. Sony VAIO VPCY119FJ/S Battery

A small cylindrical module, similar in shape to a finless dart, was placed atop the vertical stabilizer at the rear of the tank, acting as a centre of gravity balance and attachment point for a variety of equipment sets. A rigid tow-bar with a pitch pivot at the forward end connected the flying tank to the Me 262. Sony VAIO VPCY11AFJ Battery

The operational procedure for this unusual configuration saw the tank resting on a wheeled trolley for take-off. The trolley was dropped once the combination was airborne, and explosive bolts separated the towbar from the fighter upon exhaustion of the tank's fuel supply. Sony VAIO VPCY11AGJ Battery

A number of test flights were conducted in 1944 with this set-up, but inflight "porpoising" of the tank, with the instability transferred to the fighter, meant the system was too unreliable to be used. An identical utilisation of the V-1 flying tank for the Ar 234 bomber was also investigated, with the same conclusions reached. Sony VAIO VPCY11AHJ Battery

Some of the "flying fuel tanks" used in trials utilised a cumbersome fixed and spatted undercarriage arrangement, which (along with being pointless) merely increased the drag and stability problems already inherent in the design.

One variant of the basic Fi 103 design did see operational use. 
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The progressive loss of French launch sites as 1944 proceeded and the area of territory under German control shrank meant that soon the V-1 would lack the range to hit targets in England. Air-launching was one alternative utilised, but the most obvious solution was to extend the missile's range. Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E/S Battery

Thus the F-1 version developed. The weapon's fuel tank was increased in size, with a corresponding reduction in the capacity of the warhead. Additionally, the nose-cones of the F-1 models were made of wood, affording a considerable weight saving. With these modifications, Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E Battery

the V-1 could be fired at London and nearby urban centres from prospective ground sites in the Netherlands. Frantic efforts were made to construct sufficient F-1s so that a large-scale bombardment campaign could coincide with the Ardennes Offensive, but numerous factors Sony VAIO VPCY11V9E/S Battery

 (bombing of the factories producing the missiles, shortages of steel and rail transport, the chaotic tactical situation Germany was facing at this point in the war etc.) delayed the delivery of these long-range V-1s until February/March 1945. Before the V-1 campaign ended for good at the end of the latter month, several hundred F-1s were launched at Britain from Dutch sites. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/BI Battery

Almost 30,000 V-1s were made; by March 1944, they were produced in 350 hours (including 120 for the autopilot), at a cost of just 4% of a V-2,^[1] which delivered a comparable payload. Approximately 10,000 were fired at England; 2,419 reached London, killing about 6,184 people and injuring 17,981.^[13] Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/G Battery

The greatest density of hits were received by Croydon, on the southeast fringe of London. Antwerp, Belgium was hit by 2,448 V-1s from October 1944 to March 1945.

The codename "Flakzielgerät 76" – "Flak aiming apparatus" helped to hide the nature of the device, Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/L Battery

and it was some time before references to FZG 76 were linked to the V-83 pilotless aircraft (an experimental V-1) that had crashed on Bornholm in the Baltic and to reports from agents of a flying bomb capable of being used against London. Sony VAIO VPCY218EC/P Battery

Importantly, the Polish Home Army intelligence contributed information on V-1 construction and a place of development (Peenemünde). Initially, British experts were skeptical of the V-1 because they had considered only solid fuel rockets, which could not attain the stated range of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb): Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery

130 miles (209 km). However they later considered other types of engine, and by the time German scientists had achieved the needed accuracy to deploy the V-1 as a weapon, British intelligence had a very accurate assessment of it. Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/SI Battery

Anti-aircraft guns

The British defence against the German long-range weapons was Operation Crossbow. Anti-aircraft guns were redeployed in several movements: first in mid-June 1944 from positions on the North Downs to the south coast of England, then a cordon closing the Thames Estuary to attacks from the east. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

In September 1944, a new linear defence line was formed on the coast of East Anglia, and finally in December there was a further layout along the Lincolnshire-Yorkshire coast. The deployments were prompted by changes to the approach tracks of the V-1 as launch sites were overrun by the Allies' advance. Sony VAIO VPCEA20 Battery

On the first night of sustained bombardment, the anti-aircraft crews around Croydon were jubilant – suddenly they were downing unprecedented numbers of German bombers; most of their targets burst into flames and fell when their engines cut out. There was great disappointment when the truth was announced. Sony VAIO VPCEB10 Battery

Anti-aircraft gunners soon found that such small fast-moving targets were, in fact, very difficult to hit. The cruising altitude of the V-1, between 600 to 900 m (2,000 to 3,000 ft), was just above the effective range of light anti-aircraft guns, and just below the optimum engagement height of heavier guns. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM Battery

The altitude and speed were more than the rate of traverse of the standard British QF 3.7-inch mobile gun could cope with, and faster-traversing static gun emplacements had to be built at great cost.

The development of the proximity fuze and of centimetric, Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/BI Battery

3 gigahertz frequency gun-laying radars based on the cavity magnetron helped to counter the V-1's high speed and small size. In 1944, Bell Labs started delivery of an anti-aircraft predictor fire-control system based on an analog computer, just in time for theAllied invasion of Europe. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/T Battery

These electronic aids arrived in quantity from June 1944, just as the guns reached their firing positions on the coast. Seventeen percent of all flying bombs entering the coastal 'gun belt' were destroyed by guns in their first week on the coast. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FM/WI Battery

This rose to 60% by 23 August and 74% in the last week of the month, when on one day 82% were shot down. The rate improved from one V-1 destroyed for every 2,500 shells fired initially, to one for every 100. This still did not end the threat. V-1 attacks continued until all launch sites were captured by ground forces. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX Battery

Barrage balloons

Eventually some 2,000 barrage balloons were deployed, in the hope that V-1s would be destroyed when they struck the balloons' tethering cables. The leading edges of the V-1's wings were fitted with cable cutters, and fewer than 300 V-1s are known to have been brought down by barrage balloons.^[16] Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/BI Battery

Interceptors

The Defence Committee expressed some doubt as to the ability of the Royal Observer Corps to adequately deal with this new threat, but the ROC's Commandant Air Commodore Finlay Crerar assured the committee that the ROC could again rise to the occasion and prove its alertness and flexibility. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/T Battery

He oversaw plans for handling the new threat, codenamed by the RAF and ROC as "Operation Totter".

Observers at the coast post of Dymchurch identified the very first of these weapons and within seconds of their report the anti-aircraft defences were in action. Sony VAIO VPCEB11FX/WI Battery

This new weapon gave the ROC much additional work both at posts and operations rooms. Eventually RAF controllers actually took their radio equipment to the two closest ROC operations rooms at Horsham and Maidstone, and vectored fighters direct from the ROC's plotting tables. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX Battery

The critics who had said that the Corps would be unable to handle the fast-flying jet aircraft were answered when these aircraft on their first operation were actually controlled entirely by using ROC information both on the coast and at inland.

The average speed of V-1s was 350 mph (560 km/h) and their average altitude was 3,000 ft (910 m) to 4,000 ft (1,200 m). Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/BI Battery

Fighter aircraft required excellent low altitude performance to intercept them and enough firepower to ensure that they were destroyed in the air rather than crashing to earth and detonating. Most aircraft were too slow to catch a V-1 unless they had a height advantage, allowing them to gain speed by diving on their target. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/T Battery

When V-1 attacks began in mid-June 1944, the only aircraft with the low-altitude speed to be effective against it was the Hawker Tempest. Fewer than 30 Tempests were available. They were assigned to No. 150 Wing RAF. Early attempts to intercept and destroy V-1s often failed, but improved techniques soon emerged. Sony VAIO VPCEB11GX/WI Battery

These included using the airflow over an interceptor's wing to raise one wing of the V-1, by sliding the wingtip to within 6 in (15 cm) of the lower surface of the V-1's wing. If properly executed, this manoeuvre would tip the V-1's wing up, overriding the gyros and sending the V-1 into an out-of-control dive. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX Battery

At least three V-1s were destroyed this way.^[17] That the method was from time to time actually effective could be seen over southern parts of the Netherlands when V-1s headed due eastwards at low altitude, the engine quenched. In early 1945 such a missile soared below clouds over Tilburg to gently alight eastwards of the city in open fields. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BI Battery

The Tempest fleet was built up to over 100 aircraft by September. Also, P-51 Mustangs and Griffon-engined Supermarine Spitfire Mk XIVs were tuned to make them almost fast enough, and during the short summer nights the Tempests shared defensive duty with de Havilland Mosquitoes. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/BIC Battery

There was no need for airborne radar; at night the V-1's engine could be heard from 16 km (9.9 mi) away or more, and the exhaust plume was visible from a long distance. Wing Commander Roland Beamonthad the 20 mm cannon on his Tempest adjusted to converge at 300 yd (270 m) ahead. Sony VAIO VPCEB12FX/T Battery

This was so successful that all other aircraft in 150 Wing were thus modified.

The anti-V-1 sorties by fighters were known as "Diver patrols" (after "Diver", the codename used by the Royal Observer Corps for V-1 sightings). Attacking a V-1 was dangerous: Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX Battery

machine guns had little effect on the V-1's sheet steel structure, and if a cannon shell detonated the warhead, the explosion could destroy the attacker.

In daylight, V-1 chases were chaotic and often unsuccessful until a special defence zone was declared between London and the coast, Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/BI Battery

in which only the fastest fighters were permitted. The first interception of a V-1 was by F/L JG Musgrave with a No. 605 Squadron RAF Mosquito night fighter on the night of 14/15 June 1944. Between June and 5 September 1944, a handful of 150 Wing Tempests shot down 638 flying bombs,^[18] Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/T Battery

with No. 3 Squadron RAF alone claiming 305. One Tempest pilot, Squadron Leader Joseph Berry of No. 501 (Tempest) Squadron, shot down 59 V-1s, and Wing Commander Beamont destroyed 31.

The next most successful interceptors were the Mosquito (623 victories),^[19] Sony VAIO VPCEB14FX/WI Battery

Spitfire XIV (303),^[20] and Mustang (232). All other types combined added 158. Even though it was not fully operational, the jet-powered Gloster Meteor was rushed into service with No. 616 Squadron RAF to fight the V-1s. It had ample speed but its cannons were prone to jamming, and it shot down only 13 V-1s.^[21] Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM Battery

In late 1944 a radar-equipped Vickers Wellington bomber was modified for use by the RAF's Fighter Interception Unit as an Airborne Early Warning and Controlaircraft. Flying at an altitude of 4,000 feet (1,200 m) over the North Sea, it directed Mosquito fighters charged with intercepting He 111s from Dutch airbases that sought to launch V-1s from the air. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/BI Battery

The first bomb disposal officer to defuse an unexploded V1 flying bomb was John Pilkington Hudson in 1944.^[23]

Deception

To adjust and correct settings in the V-1 guidance system, the Germans needed to know where the V-1s were landing. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/T Battery

Therefore, German intelligence was requested to obtain this impact data from their agents in Britain. However, all German agents in Britain had been turned, and were double agents under British control (the Double Cross System). Sony VAIO VPCEB15FM/WI Battery

On 16 June 1944, British double agent Garbo (Juan Pujol) was requested by his German controllers to give information on the sites and times of V-1 impacts, with similar requests made to the other German agents in Britain, Brutus (Roman Czerniawski) and Tate (Wulf Schmidt). Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX Battery

If given this data, the Germans would be able to adjust their aim and correct any shortfall. However, there was no plausible reason why the double agents could not supply accurate data; the impacts would be common knowledge amongst Londoners and very likely reported in the press, Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/BI Battery

which the Germans had ready access to through the neutral nations. In addition, asJohn Cecil Masterman, chairman of the Twenty Committee, commented, "If, for example, St Paul's Cathedral were hit, it was useless and harmful to report that the bomb had descended upon a cinema in Islington, since the truth would inevitably get through to Germany..."^[24] Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/T Battery

While the British decided how to react, Pujol played for time. On 18 June it was decided that the double agents would report the damage caused by V-1s fairly accurately and minimise the effect they had on civilian morale. Sony VAIO VPCEB15FX/WI Battery

It was also decided that Pujol should avoid giving the times of impacts, and should mostly report on those which occurred in the north west of London, to give the impression to the Germans that they were overshooting the target area.^[25]

While Pujol downplayed the extent of V-1 damage, trouble came from Ostro, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX Battery

an Abwehr agent in Lisbon who pretended to have agents reporting from London. He told the Germans that London had been devastated and had been mostly evacuated due to enormous casualties. The Germans could not perform aerial reconnaissance of London, and believed his damage reports in preference to Pujol's. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/B Battery

They thought that the Allies would make every effort to destroy the V-1 launch sites in France. They also accepted Ostro's impact reports. Due to Ultra however, the Allies read his messages and adjusted for them.

A certain number of the V-1s fired had been fitted with radio transmitters, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/G Battery

which had clearly demonstrated a tendency for the V-1 to fall short. Oberst Max Wachtel, commander of Flak Regiment 155(W), which was responsible for the V-1 offensive, compared the data gathered by the transmitters with the reports obtained through the double agents. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/L Battery

He concluded, when faced with the discrepancy between the two sets of data, that there must be a fault with the radio transmitters, as he had been assured that the agents were completely reliable. It was later calculated that if Wachtel had disregarded the agents' reports and relied on the radio data, Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/P Battery

he would have made the correct adjustments to the V-1's guidance, and casualties might have increased by 50% or more.^[27][28]

The policy of diverting V-1 impacts away from central London was initially controversial. Sony VAIO VPCEB16FX/W Battery

The War Cabinet refused to authorise a measure which would increase casualties in any area, even if it reduced casualties elsewhere by greater amounts. It was thought that Churchill would reverse this decision later (he was then away at a conference); but the delay in starting the reports to Germans might be fatal to the deception. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX Battery

So Sir Findlater Stewart of Home Defence Executive took responsibility for starting the deception programme immediately. His action was approved by Churchill when he returned.^[29]

End of the V-1 attacks

By September 1944, the V-1 threat to England was temporarily halted when the launch sites on the French coast were overrun by the advancing Allied armies. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/B Battery

4,261 V-1s had been destroyed by fighters, anti-aircraft fire and barrage balloons. The last enemy action of any kind on British soil occurred on 29 March 1945, when a V-1 struck Datchworth in Hertfordshire.

Assessment

In early December 1944, American General Clayton Bissell wrote a paper which argued strongly in favour of the V-1 compared to conventional bombers.^[30] Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/G Battery

Japanese versions

In 1943, an Argus pulse jet engine was shipped to Japan by German submarine. The Aeronautical Institute of Tokyo Imperial University and the Kawanishi Aircraft Company conducted a joint study of the feasibility of mounting a similar engine on a piloted plane. Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/L Battery

The resulting design was based on the Fieseler Fi-103 Reichenberg (Fi 103R, a piloted V-1), and was named Baika ("plum blossom").

Baika never left the design stage but technical drawings and notes suggest that two versions were under consideration: Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/P Battery

an air-launch version with the engine mounted under the fuselage, and a ground-launch version that could take off without a ramp.

Intelligence reports of the new Baika weapon are rumored to be the source of the name given to the Yokosuka MXY-7, Sony VAIO VPCEB17FX/W Battery

a rocket-propelled suicide aircraft better known as the "Baka Bomb". However, as baka means "fool" or "idiot" in Japanese, and the MXY-7 was officially designated the "Ohka", the true origin is unknown. The MXY-7 was usually carried by the G4M2e version of the Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" naval bomber, Sony VAIO VPCEB190X Battery

then the pilot lit the solid-fuel rockets and guided his flying bomb into a ship.

Another Japanese Fi 103 version was the Mizuno Shinryu, a proposed rocket-powered kamikaze aircraft design which was not built.

After the war, the armed forces of France, the Soviet Union and the United States experimented with the V-1. Sony VAIO VPCEB19FX Battery

France

The French produced copies of the V-1 for use as target drones. These were called the CT-10 and were smaller than the V-1 with twin tail surfaces. The CT 10 could be ground launched using a rocket booster or from an aircraft. Some CT-10s were sold to the UK and USA. Sony VAIO VPCEB19GX Battery

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union captured V-1s when they overran the Blizna test range in Poland. The 10Kh was their copy of the V-1, later called Izdeliye 10. Initial tests began in March 1945 at a test range in Tashkent with further launches from ground sites and from aircraft of improved versions continuing into the late 1940s. 
Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX Battery

The inaccuracy of the guidance system compared to new methods such as beam-riding and TV guidance saw development end in the early 1950s.

The Soviets also worked on a piloted attack aircraft based on the Argus pulse jet engine of the V-1 which began as a German project, the Junkers EF 126Lilli,^[31] Sony VAIO VPCEB1AFX/B Battery

 in the latter stages of the war. The Soviet development of the Lilli ended in 1946 after a crash that killed the test pilot.

United States

The United States reverse-engineered the V-1 in 1944 from salvaged parts recovered in England during June. Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX Battery

By 8 September, the first of thirteen complete prototype Republic-Ford JB-2 Loons, were assembled at Republic Aviation. The United States JB-2 was different from the German V-1 in only the smallest of dimensions. The wing span was only 2.5 in (6.4 cm) wider and the length was extended less than 2 ft (0.61 m). Sony VAIO VPCEB1AGX/BI Battery

The difference gave the JB-2 60.7 square feet (5.64 m²) of wing area versus 55 square feet (5.1 m²) for the V-1.

A navalized version, designated KGW-1, was developed to be launched from LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) as well as escort carriers (CVEs) and long-range 4-engine reconnaissance aircraft. Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX Battery

Waterproof carriers for the KGW-1 were developed for launches of the missile from surfaced submarines. Both the USAAF JB-2 and Navy KGW-1 were put into production and were planned to be used in the Allied invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall), however the atomic bombings of Japan negated its use. Sony VAIO VPCEB1BGX/BI Battery

After World War II, the JB-2/KGW-1 played a significant role in the development of more advanced surface-to-surface tactical missile systems such as the MGM-1 Matador and later MGM-13 Mace.

The V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, i.e. retaliation weapon 2), Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX Battery

technical name Aggregat-4 (A4), was aballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted atLondon and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range^[3] combat-ballistic missile^[4] and first known human artifact to enter outer space.^[5] Sony VAIO VPCEB1CGX/BI Battery

It was the progenitor of all modern rockets,^[6]including those used by the United States and Soviet Union's space programs. During the aftermath of World War IIthe American, Soviet and British governments all gained access to the V-2's technical designs and the actual German scientists responsible for creating the rockets, Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX Battery

via Operation Paperclip, Operation Osoaviakhim andOperation Backfire.^[7]

The weapon was presented by Nazi propaganda as a retaliation for the bombers that attacked ever more German cities from 1942 until Germany surrendered.^[8] Sony VAIO VPCEB1DGX/BI Battery

Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets by the German Wehrmacht againstAllied targets during the war, mostly London and later Antwerp. The attacks resulted in the death of an estimated 7,250 military personnel and civilians,while 12,000 forced labourers were killed producing the weapons. Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX Battery

In the late 1920s, a young Wernher von Braun acquired a copy of Hermann Oberth's book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space).^[10] Starting in 1930, he attended the Technical University of Berlin, where he assisted Oberth in liquid-fueled rocket motor tests.^[10] Sony VAIO VPCEB1EGX/BI Battery

 Von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the Nazi Party gained power in Germany.^[11] An artillery captain, Walter Dornberger, arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, who from then on worked next to Dornberger's existing solid-fuel rocket test site at Kummersdorf.^[11] Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX Battery

Von Braun's thesis, Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket (dated 16 April 1934), was kept classified by the German army and was not published until 1960.^[12] By the end of 1934, his group had successfully launched two rockets that reached heights of 2.2 and 3.5 km (1.4 and 2.2 mi).^[11] Sony VAIO VPCEB1FGX/BI Battery

At the time, Germany was highly interested in American physicist Robert H. Goddard's research. Before 1939, German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions.^[11] Von Braun used Goddard's plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat (A) series of rockets.^[11] Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX Battery

Following successes at Kummersdorf with the first two Aggregate series rockets, Wernher von Braun and Walter Riedel began thinking of a much larger rocket in the summer of 1936,^[13] based on a projected 25-metric-ton-thrust engine. Sony VAIO VPCEB1GGX/BI Battery

After the A-4 project was postponed due to unfavourable aerodynamic stability testing of the A-3 in July 1936,^[14][15] von Braun specified the A-4 performance in 1937,^[16] and A-4 design and construction was ordered c1938/1939.^[17] During 28–30 September 1939, Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX Battery

Der Tag der Weisheit (English: the day of wisdom) conference met at Peenemünde to initiate the funding of university research to solve rocket problems.^[13]:40 By late 1941, the Army Research Center at Peenemünde possessed the technologies essential to the success of the A-4. Sony VAIO VPCEB1HGX/BI Battery

The three key technologies for the A-4 were large liquid-fuel rocket engines, supersonic aerodynamics, gyroscopic guidance and rudders in jet control.^[2] At the time, Adolf Hitler was not particularly impressed by the V-2; he pointed out that it was merely an artillery shell with a longer range and much higher cost.^[18] Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX Battery

In early September 1943, von Braun promised the Long-Range Bombardment Commission^[2]:224 that the A-4 development was 'practically complete/concluded',^[15]:135 but even by the middle of 1944, a complete A-4 parts list was still unavailable. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/B Battery

Hitler was sufficiently impressed by the enthusiasm of its developers, and needed a "wonder weapon" to maintain German morale,^[18] so authorized its deployment in large numbers.^[19]

The V-2s were constructed at the Mittelwerk site by prisoners from Mittelbau-Dora, Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/G Battery

the concentration camp where an estimated 20,000 prisoners died during the war. Of these, 9,000 died from exhaustion and collapse, 350 were hanged (including 200 executed for acts of sabotage) and the remainder were either shot or died from disease or starvation. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/L Battery

Technical details

The A-4 used a 75% ethanol/water mixture for fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) for oxidizer.^[22]

At launch the A-4 propelled itself for up to 65 seconds on its own power, and a program motor controlled the pitch to the specified angle at engine shutdown, Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/P Battery

from which the rocket continued on a ballistic free-fall trajectory. The rocket reached a height of 80 km (50 mi) after shutting off the engine.^[23]

The fuel and oxidizer pumps were steam turbines, and the steam was produced by concentrated hydrogen peroxide with sodium permanganate catalyst. Sony VAIO VPCEB1JFX/W Battery

Both the alcohol and oxygen tanks were an aluminium-magnesium alloy.^[1]

The combustion burner reached a temperature of 2500–2700 °C (4500 – 4900 °F). The alcohol-water fuel was pumped along the double wall of the main combustion burner. This regenerative cooling heated the fuel and cooled the chamber. Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX Battery

The fuel was then pumped into the main burner chamber through 1,224 nozzles, which assured the correct mixture of alcohol and oxygen at all times. Small holes also permitted some alcohol to escape directly into the combustion chamber, forming a cooled boundary layer that further protected the wall of the chamber, Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/B Battery

especially at the throat where the chamber was narrowest. The boundary layer alcohol ignited in contact with the atmosphere, accounting for the long, diffuse exhaust plume. By contrast, later, post-V2 engine designs not employing this alcohol boundary layer cooling show a translucent plume with shock diamonds. Sony VAIO VPCEB1KGX/W Battery

The V-2 was guided by four external rudders on the tail fins, and four internalgraphite vanes at the exit of the motor. The LEV-3 guidance system consisted of two free gyroscopes (a horizon and a vertical) for lateral stabilization, and aPIGA accelerometer to control engine cutoff at a specified velocity. Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX Battery

The V-2 was launched from a pre-surveyed location, so the distance and azimuth to the target were known. Fin 1 of the missile was aligned to the target azimuth.^[24] Some later V-2s used "guide beams", radio signals transmitted from the ground, to keep the missile on course, Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/BI Battery

but the first models used a simple analog computer that adjusted the azimuth for the rocket, and the flying distance was controlled by the timing of the engine cut-off, "Brennschluss", ground controlled by a Doppler system or by different types of on-board integrating accelerometers. Sony VAIO VPCEB1LFX/WI Battery

The rocket stopped accelerating and soon reached the top of the approximately parabolic flight curve.

Dr. Friedrich Kirchstein of Siemens of Berlin developed the V-2 radio-control for motor-cut-off (German:Brennschluss). Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX Battery

For velocity measurement, Professor Wolman of Dresden created an alternative of his Doppler^[25]:18tracking system in 1940–41, which used a ground signal transponded by the A-4 to measure the velocity of the missile.Sony VAIO VPCEB1MFX/BI Battery

By 9 February 1942, Peenemünde engineer de Beek had documented the radio interference area of a V-2 as 10,000 meters around the “Firing Point”,^[26] and the first successful A-4 flight on 3 October 1943, used radio control for Brennschluss. Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX Battery

Although Hitler commented on 22 September 1943, that "It is a great load off our minds that we have dispensed with the radio guiding-beam; now no opening remains for the British to interfere technically with the missile in flight",^[15]:138 about 20% of the operational V-2 launches were beam-guided. 
Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/B Battery

The Operation Pinguin V-2 offensive began on 8 September 1944, when Lehr- und Versuchsbatterie No. 444^[25]:51–2 (English: Training and Testing Battery 444) launched a single rocket guided by a radio beam directed at Paris.^[26]:47 Wreckage of combat V-2s occasionally contained the transponder for velocity and fuel cutoff. Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/L Battery

The painting of the operational V-2s was mostly a camouflage ragged pattern with several variations, but at the end of the war a plain olive green rocket also appeared. During tests, the rocket was painted in a characteristic black-and-white chessboard pattern, Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/P Battery

which aided in determining if the rocket was spinning around its longitudinal axis.

The original German designation of the rocket was "V2", not "V-2". The first English translation of the book V2 – Der Schuss Ins Weltall (English: "V2– The Shot into Space"),Sony VAIO VPCEB1NFX/W Battery

by Walter Dornberger,^[27] was published in England by Hurst and Blackett in 1954 and titled V2. In that book, the rocket is called the "V2".^[28] In the U.S. edition, published by Viking in 1954 and titled V-2, the rocket is called the "V-2".^[14] The text appears to be otherwise identical. Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX Battery

Common usage now sees the rocket called the V-2.

Two test launches were recovered by the Allies: the Bäckebo rocket which landed in Sweden on 13 June 1944 and one recovered by Polish resistance on 30 May 1944^[29] from Blizna and transported to the UK during Operation Most III. Sony VAIO VPCEB1PFX/B Battery

Test launches of V-2 rockets (Aggregate-4) were made at Peenemünde, Blizna and Tuchola Forest, and after the war, at Cuxhaven by the British, White Sands Proving Grounds, Cape Canaveral and Kapustin Yar.

Various design issues were identified and solved during V-2 development and testing: Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX Battery

• To reduce tank pressure and weight, high flow turbopumps were used to boost pressure.^[2]:35

A short and lighter combustion chamber without burn-through was developed by using centrifugal injection nozzles, a mixing compartment, Sony VAIO VPCEB1QGX/BI Battery

• and a converging nozzle to the throat for homogeneous combustion.^[14]:51
• Film cooling was used to prevent burn through at the nozzle throat.^[14]:52

Relay contacts were made more durable to withstand vibration and prevent thrust cutoff just after lift-off.^[14]:52Sony VAIO VPCEB1RGX Battery

• Ensuring that the fuel pipes had tension-free curves reduced the likelihood of explosions at 4,000–6,000 ft (1,219–1,829 m).^[14]:215,217

Fins were shaped with clearance to prevent damage as the exhaust jet expanded with altitude.^[14]:56,118Sony VAIO VPCEB1RGX/BI Battery

• To control trajectory at lift off and supersonic speeds, heat-resistant graphite vanes were used as rudders in the exhaust jet.^[14]:35,58

Airburst problem

Through mid-March 1944, only 4 of the 26 successful Blizna launches had satisfactorily reached the Sarnaki target areadue to in-flight breakup (Luftzerleger) Sony VAIO VPCEB20 Battery

on entry into the atmosphere. Initially, excessive alcohol tank pressure was suspected, and by April 1944 after 5 months of test firings, the cause was still not determined. Major-General Rossmann, the Army Weapons Office department chief, recommended stationing observers in the target area – c. May/June, Sony VAIO VPCEC20 Battery

Walter Dornberger and Wernher von Braun set up a camp at the centre of the Poland target zone.^[2]: After moving to theHeidekraut,^[13]:172,173 SS Mortar Battery 500 of the 836th Artillery Battalion (Motorized) was ordered^[26]:47 on 30 August^[25] to begin test launches of eighty 'sleeved' rockets. Sony VAIO VPCEE20 Battery

Testing confirmed that the so-called 'tin trousers' – a tube designed to strengthen the forward end of the rocket cladding—reduced the likelihood of airbursts.

Following Operation Crossbow bombing, initial plans for launching from the massive underground Sony VAIO VPCEF20 Battery

Watten and Wizernes bunkers or from fixed pads such as near the Chateau du Molay^[32] were dropped in favour of mobile launching. Eight main storage dumps were planned and four had been completed by July 1944 (the one at Mery-sur-Oise was begun in August 1943 and completed by February 1944). Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

The missile could be launched practically anywhere, roads running through forests being a particular favourite. The system was so mobile and small that not one Meillerwagen was caught in action by Allied aircraft, although Raymond Baxter described flying over a site during a launch and his wingman firing at the missile without hitting it. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

It was estimated that a sustained rate of 350 V-2s could be launched per week, with 100 per day at maximum effort, given sufficient supply of the rockets.^[34]

Operational history

After Hitler's 29 August, 1944 declaration to begin V-2 attacks as soon as possible, Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

the offensive began on 8 September 1944 with a single launch at Paris, which caused modest damage near Porte d'Italie,. Two more launches by the 485th followed, including one from The Hague against London on the same day at 6:43 p.m.^[15]:285 – the first landed at Chiswick, Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

killing 63-year-old Mrs. Ada Harrison, 3-year-old Rosemary Clarke, and Sapper Bernard Browning on leave from the Royal Engineers.^[16]:11 Upon hearing the double-crack of the supersonic rocket (London's first-ever), Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

Duncan Sandys and Reginald Victor Jones looked up from different parts of the city and exclaimed "That was a rocket!", and a short while after the double-crack, the sky was filled with the sound of a heavy body rushing through the air.The Germans themselves finally announced the V-2 on 8 November 1944 and only then, Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

on 10 November 1944, did Winston Churchill inform Parliament, and the world, that England had been under rocket attack "for the last few weeks".

Positions of the German launch units did change a number of times. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery

For example Artillerie unit 444 arrived in the south-west of Holland (zeeland provence) in September 1944. From here six V-2s where launched in all between the 16th and 18th of September. After that the unit moved to Gaasterland in the North-west of Holland, Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery

this way making sure that the technology did not fall into allied hands. From Gaasterland V-2s where launched against Ipswich and Norwich from September 25th (London being out of range). Being not accurate these V-2s did not hit these cities. Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery

Shortly after that only London and Antwerp remained as designated targets as ordered by the Führer himself. Antwerp being targeted in the period of October 12th to 20th. After that the unit moved to The Hague.

An estimated 2,754 civilians were killed in London by V-2 attacks with another 6,523 injured,^[35] which is two people killed per V-2 rocket. Sony VAIO VPCF11AFJ Battery

However, this understates the potential of the V-2, since many rockets were misdirected and exploded harmlessly. Accuracy increased over the course of the war, particularly on batteries where Leitstrahl-Guide Beam apparatuswas installed.^[36] Sony VAIO VPCF11AGJ Battery

 Missile strikes were often devastating, causing large numbers of deaths—160 killed and 108 seriously injured in one explosion on 25 November 1944 in mid-afternoon, striking a Woolworth's department store in New Cross, south-east London. Sony VAIO VPCF11AHJ Battery

After these deadly results, British intelligence leaked falsified information implying that the rockets were over-shooting their London target by 10 to 20 miles. This tactic worked and for the remainder of the war most landed in Kent due to erroneous recalibration.^[37] Sony VAIO VPCF11JFX/B Battery

The final two rockets exploded on 27 March 1945. One of these was the last V-2 to kill a British civilian: Mrs. Ivy Millichamp, aged 34, killed in her home in Kynaston Road, Orpington in Kent,^[38] evidencing the German re-calibration.

Antwerp, Belgium was also the target for a large number of V-weapon attacks from October, Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E Battery

1944 through March, 1945, leaving 1,736 dead and 4,500 injured in greater Antwerp. Thousands of buildings were damaged or destroyed as the city was struck by 590 direct hits. The largest loss of life in a single attack came on December 16, 1944, when the roof of a crowded cinema was struck, leaving 567 dead and 291 injured. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H Battery

A scientific reconstruction carried out in 2010 demonstrated that the V-2 creates a crater 20 m wide and 8 m deep, throwing up around 3,000 tons of material into the air.

Countermeasures

Unlike the V-1, the V-2's speed and trajectory made it practically invulnerable to anti-aircraft guns and fighters, Sony VAIO VPCF11MFX/B Battery

as it dropped from an altitude of 100–110 km (62–68 mi) at up to four times the speed of sound (approximately 3550 km/h). A plan was proposed whereby the missile would be detected by radar, its terminal trajectory calculated, and the area along that trajectory saturated by large-caliber anti-aircraft guns. 
Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E Battery

The plan was dropped after operations researchindicated that the likely number of malfunctioning artillery shells falling to the ground would do more damage than the V-2 itself.^[40]

The defence against the V-2 campaign was to destroy the launch infrastructure—expensive in terms of bomber resources and casualties—Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B Battery

or to cause the Germans to "aim" at the wrong place through disinformation. The British were able to convince the Germans to direct V-1s and V-2s aimed at London to less populated areas east of the city. This was done by sending false impact reports via the German espionage network in Britain, Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E Battery

which was controlled by the British (the Double Cross System).

There is a record of one V-2, fortuitously observed at launch from a passing American B-24 Liberator, being shot down by .50 caliber machine-gun fire.^[41] Sony VAIO VPCF11Z1E/BI Battery

Ultimately the most successful countermeasure was the Allied advance that forced the launchers back beyond range.

On 3 March 1945 the Allies attempted to destroy V-2s and launching equipment near The Hague by a large-scale bombardment, but due to navigational errors theBezuidenhout quarter was destroyed, killing 511 Dutch civilians. Sony VAIO VPCF11ZHJ Battery

Assessment

The German V-weapons (V-1 and V-2) cost $3 billion (wartime dollars) and was more costly than the Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb ($1.9 billion).6,048 V-2s were built, at a cost of approximately 100,000 Reichsmarks (GB£2,370,000 (2011)) each; 3,225 were launched. Sony VAIO VPCF127HGBI Battery

SS General Hans Kammler, who as an engineer had constructed several concentration camps including Auschwitz, had a reputation for brutality and had originated the idea of using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers in the rocket program. Sony VAIO VPCF137HG/BI Battery

The V-2 is perhaps the only weapon system to have caused more deaths by its production than its deployment.

The V-2 consumed a third of Germany's fuel alcohol production and major portions of other critical technologies:^[44] Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/B Battery

to distil the fuel alcohol for one V-2 launch required 30 tonnes of potatoes at a time when food was becoming scarce.^[45] Due to a lack of explosives, concrete was used and sometimes the warhead contained photographic propaganda of German citizens who had died in Allied bombing.^[18] Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/D Battery

The V-2 lacked a proximity fuse, so it could not be set for air burst; it buried itself in the target area before or just as the warhead detonated. This reduced its effectiveness. Furthermore, its early guidance systems were too primitive to hit specific targets and its costs were approximately equivalent to four-engined bombers, Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/G Battery

which were more accurate (though only in a relative sense), had longer ranges, carried many more warheads, and were reusable. Moreover, it diverted resources from other, more effective programs. Nevertheless, it had a considerable psychological effect because, Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/P Battery

unlike bombing planes or the V-1 Flying Bomb (which made a characteristic buzzing sound), the V-2 travelled faster than the speed of sound, with no warning before impact, no possibility of defence and there was no risk of attacking pilot and crew casualties. Sony VAIO VPC-P111KX/W Battery

With the war all but lost, regardless of the factory output of conventional weapons, the Nazis resorted to V-weapons as a tenuous last hope to influence the war militarily (hence Antwerp as V-2 target), Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/B Battery

as an extension of their desire to "punish" their foes and most importantly to give hope to their supporters with their miracle weapon.^[18] The V-2 had no effect on the outcome of the war, but its value, despite its overall ineffectiveness, was in its novelty as a weapon which set the stage for the next 50 years of ballistic military rocketry, Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/D Battery

culminating with ICBMs during the Cold War and modern space exploration.

Unfulfilled plans

A submarine-towed launch platform was tested successfully, making it the prototype for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The project codename wasPrüfstand XII ("Test stand XII"), sometimes called the rocket U-boat. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/G Battery

If deployed, it would have allowed a U-boat to launch V-2 missiles against United States cities, though only with considerable effort (and limited effect).^[46] Hitler, in July 1944 and Speer, in January 1945, made speeches alluding to the scheme,^[47]though Germany did not possess any capability to fulfill these threats. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/P Battery

These schemes were met by the Americans with Operation Teardrop.

While interned after the war by the British at CSDIC camp 11, Dornberger was recorded saying that he had begged the Führer to stop the V-weapon propaganda, because nothing more could be expected from one ton of explosive. Sony VAIO VPC-P112KX/W Battery

To this Hitler had replied that Dornberger might not expect more but he certainly did.

According to decrypted messages from the Japanese embassy in Germany, twelve dismantled V-2 rockets were shipped to Japan.^[48] These left Bordeaux in August 1944 on the transport U-boats U-219 and U-195, Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/B Battery

which reached Djakarta in December 1944. A civilian V-2 expert was a passenger on U-234, bound for Japan in May 1945 when the war ended in Europe. The fate of these V-2 rockets is unknown.

Near the end of the war, German scientists were working on chemical and possibly biological weapons to use in the V-2 program.Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/B Battery

By this stage, the Germans had produced munitions containing nerve agents sarin, soman and tabun; they never used them.

Postwar use

At the end of the war, a race began between the United States and the USSR to retrieve as many V-2 rockets and staff as possible.^[49] Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/D Battery

Three hundred rail-car loads of V-2s and parts were captured and shipped to the United States and 126 of the principal designers, including Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornbergerwere in American hands. Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/D Battery

Von Braun, his brother Magnus von Braun and seven others decided to surrender to the United States military (Operation Paperclip) to ensure they were not captured by the advancing Soviets or shot dead by the Nazis to prevent their capture.^[50]Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/G Battery

Britain

In October 1945, British Operation Backfire assembled a small number of V-2 missiles and launched three of them from a site in northern Germany. The engineers involved had already agreed to move to the US when the test firings were complete. Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/G Battery

The Backfire report remains the most extensive technical documentation of the rocket, including all support procedures, tailored vehicles and fuel composition.

Post-war V-2s launched in secret from Peenemünde may have been responsible for a curious phenomenon known as Ghost rockets, Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/P Battery

unexplained objects crossing the skies over Sweden and Finland.

Canada

In his book My Father's Son, Canadian author Farley Mowat, then a member of the Canadian Army, claims to have obtained a V-2 rocket in 1945 and shipped it back to Canada, Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/P Battery

where it is alleged to have ended up in the National Exhibition grounds in Toronto. There was a V-2 stored outside at RCAF Station Picton, Ontario in June 1961.

The Canadian Arrow, a competitor for the Ansari X Prize, was based on the aerodynamic design of the V-2. Sony VAIO VPCP113KX/W Battery

United States

Operation Paperclip recruited German engineers and Special Mission V-2 transported the captured V-2 parts to the United States. At the close of the Second World War, over 300 rail cars filled with V-2 engines, fuselages, Sony VAIO VPC-P113KX/W Battery

 propellant tanks,gyroscopes and associated equipment were brought to the railyards in Las Cruces, New Mexico, so they could be placed on trucks and driven to the White Sands Proving Grounds, also in New Mexico.

In addition to V-2 hardware, the U.S. Government delivered German mechanization equations for the V-2 guidance, Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/B Battery

navigation and control systems, as well as for advanced development concept vehicles, to U.S. defense contractors for analysis. In the 1950s some of these documents were useful to U.S. contractors in developing direction cosine matrix transformations and other inertial navigation architecture concepts that were applied to early U.S. Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/D Battery

programs such as the Atlas and Minuteman guidance systems as well as the Navy's Subs Inertial Navigation System.

A committee^[who?] was formed with military and civilian scientists, to review payload proposals for the reassembled V-2 rockets.Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/G Battery

This led to an eclectic array of experiments that flew on V-2s and paved the way for American mannedspace exploration. Devices were sent aloft to sample the air at all levels to determine atmospheric pressures and to see what gases were present. Other instruments measured the level of cosmic radiation. Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/P Battery

Only 68 percent of the V-2 trials were considered successful.A supposed V-2 launched on 29 May 1947 landed near Juarez, Mexico and was actually a Hermes B-1 vehicle.^[51]

The U.S. Navy attempted to launch a German V-2 rocket at sea—Sony VAIO VPC-P114KX/W Battery

one test launch from the aircraft carrier USS Midway was performed on 6 September 1947 as part of the Navy's Operation Sandy. The test launch was a partial success; the V-2 went off the pad but splashed down in the ocean only some 10 km (6.2 mi) from the carrier. Sony VAIO VPCP115JC Battery

The launch setup on the Midway's deck is notable in that it used foldaway arms to prevent the missile from falling over. The arms pulled away just after the engine ignited, releasing the missile. 
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The setup may look similar to the R-7 launch procedure but in the case of the R-7 the trusses hold the full weight of the rocket, rather than just reacting to side forces.

The PGM-11 Redstone rocket is a direct descendant of the V-2. Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/D Battery

USSR

The USSR also captured a number of V-2s and staff, letting them set up in Germany for a time. The first work contracts were signed in the middle of 1945. In 1946 (as part of Operation Osoaviakhim) they were obliged to move to Kapustin Yar in the USSR, where Gröttrup headed up a group of just under 250 engineers. Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/G Battery

The first Soviet missile was the R-1, a duplicate of the V-2. Most of the German team was sent home after that project but some remained to do research until as late as 1951. Unbeknownst to the Germans, work immediately began on larger missiles, the R-2 and R-5, based on extension of the V-2 technology. Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/P Battery,Sony VAIO VPCP115JC/W Battery,Sony VAIO VPCP115KG Battery