![]() ![]() The problem was, nobody knew when they would explode, as each rocket travelled a set distance pre-programmed into an air log in its nose. The fighters either had to close in to use their cannons at point blank range, or risk their lives by flying alongside and attempting to flip it over, thereby upsetting the guidance gyroscope and causing it to crash. If that wasn’t enough the 8.3 x 5.3 metre V1 was significantly smaller than the combat aircraft and bombers pilots had been trained to intercept. It was difficult to combat, as it flew at 3,000 feet at speeds up to 400mph, which meant ground defences stood little chance of targeting it effectively, and even fighter planes had a job to first launch in time to square up to the rocket, then keep pace with it. ‘British Home Defences 1940-45’ by Bernard Lowry describes the V1 as a mechanically guided, pilotless rocket, launched from a metal ramp using a catapult slingshot and then powered by an Argus pulse jet engine. The ‘V’ came from the German word Vergeltungswaffen, meaning weapons of reprisal.įinally on 6 July 1944, having been warned by Home Secretary Herbert Morrison that public morale had been severely lowered by the secrecy surrounding the new bomb more than by its actual effects, Churchill stood up in Parliament to explain what the V1 flying bomb was and what damage had already been done. The citizens of Britain literally had no idea what had hit them. Several more similar attacks took place in the next month, sending people streaming out of the city to safer destinations, yet still nobody in government said anything. ![]() Then, at 4.08am on 13 th June 1944, a strange object was observed by part-time lookouts moving through London’s skies, before a railway bridge in Bow suddenly blew up, killing 6 people, seriously injuring 30 and leaving 200 more homeless. Next, Winston Churchill sent tongues wagging with a speech on 9 th November 1943, warning that “We cannot exclude the possibility of new forms of attack on this island”. ![]() None of the pilots knew why they were there, but judging from the fact that so many resources were being thrown at the mission and the ground defences were fierce enough to claim 40 lives that night, whatever the Germans were working on must be big. On 17/18 August 1943 a massive bombing raid, codenamed ‘Operation Crossbow’ and making use of 600 aircraft, took place over a research facility at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast. First, a rumour started that strange ski-jump like cement launch ramps had been spotted in France (nobody knew if the French resistance had telegraphed the information first or if they had been seen by aerial air reconnaissance, but their intended use was a mystery). Even before they arrived on British shores, Hitler’s ‘Vengeance Weapons’ had built up quite a reputation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |