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108 Interesting Facts Pertaining to the German V1 and V2 Flying Bombs of World War II

by Ross Dix Peek in Military, March 1, 2009

Interesting facts relating to the Vengeance Weapons, the V1 Flying bomb and the V2 rocket, which were unleashed by the Germans upon Britain during World War II.

  1. Allied intelligence was apparently first informed about the existence of a new German long range weapon in April 1943.
  2. It was revealed in 1947, however,  that it was already known in 1939, through a secret report from Oslo, that the Germans were developing both flying and rocket bombs.
  3. This was the Veltungswaffe Eins (“Vengeance Weapon One”), the reprisal weapon one, or the V1 as it is better known (Its official designation, to complicate matters, was the Fieseler FI 103).
  4. The V1 was a formidable weapon and heralded a new development in warfare.
  5. It was in effect the fore-runner of modern Cruise Missiles.
  6. It was also known by the British as the “Doodlebug” or the “Buzz Bomb”..
  7. Peenmunde, on the Baltic coast, was revealed in July 1943 as the location of a vast experimental station for both flying bombs and rockets.
  8. The Pas de Calais launching ramps were also found by the by Royal Air Force air reconnaissance.
  9.  Despite heavy bombing by the RAF the Germans began to launch their new attack on London on the 15 June 1944.
  10. Thereafter, between 100-150 flying bombs, each one ton in weight, were launched each day from the French coast. 
  11. The Flying Bomb consisted of a jet-propelled monoplane 25 ft. 4½ (8 metres) in. long  with a wingspan of 18 ft.(5.5 metres) , and carried a warhead of 2,200 lb of high-blast effect explosive.
  12. The V1 flying bomb carried an explosive warhead of almost 1, 900 lbs (850 kg), and had an average range of 150 miles (240 km).
  13. The propulsion unit was housed in a cylinder mounted above the fuselage.
  14. An automatic pilot with gyroscopes controlled the bomb, operating the rudders and elevators.
  15. The bomb was launched from an inclined rail and the take-off was assisted by rockets.
  16. It attained a top speed of 400 miles per hour and its range was pre-set.
  17. The cruising altitude of the V1 was between 2, 000 and 3, 000 feet (600-900 metres).
  18. Its engine could be heard from 10 miles (16 km) away!
  19. Apparently, British Intelligence had been sceptical of initial reports pertaining to the existence of the V1, as they had only considered solid fuel rockets which could not attain the 130 miles (209) km needed to reach England.
  20. The first flying-bomb crossed the South coast of England at Dymchurch on the 13 June 1944, and fell in Stepney.
  21. For security reasons all flying-bombs were reported  as falling in “Southern England” but it was soon obvious that London was the target.
  22. The Germans, however, were unable to use the new weapon in the numbers projected, as the Allied bombing of factories and sites delayed the use thereof.
  23. The German V1 concrete launching sites along the French coast from Calais to Cherbourg were continuously bombed throughout the winter of 1943-1944.
  24. The Germans eventually abandoned those sites and thereafter used light camouflaged ramps that could only be detected at the moment of firing.
  25. The Allied invasion of France on the 6 June 1944 precipitated the Flying Bomb attack before sufficient numbers could be accumulated for a decisive action.
  26. Britain’s defences had in the interim been reorganized and scientists worked on the problem of counter-measures, under General Pile, Commander-in-Chief of Anti-Aircraft Command and Air Marshal Hill.
  27. There were three main lines of defence: fighter-aircraft; A.A. Guns and barrage balloons.
  28. The high speed and small size of the flying bomb made it a difficult target.
  29. Fighter Command therefore devised new attack techniques.
  30. The Spitfire Mark IV, the Hawker Tempest and the Gloster Meteor, were instrumental in the fight against the flying bomb.
  31. These aircraft had the high speed needed and patrolled the English Channel and the French Coast in order to dive on the flying bombs as they passed.
  32. One of the techniques used was to fly alongside the flying bomb until the wing was just beneath that of the robot and tilt it sideways.
  33. This in effect put the mechanism (gyro compass) out of alignment, causing it to crash.
  34. The Tempests from 150 Wing, RAF, were credited with shooting down no-less than 638 flying bombs.
  35. A Tempest pilot, Squadron-Leader Joseph Berry (from County Durham) , 501 Squadron, accounted for no-less than 59 V1s.
  36. The ground defences (the A.A. batteries) had initially been sited in a belt south-east of London, but the entire belt was moved to the coast in July 1944, where there was an uninterrupted field of vision and the bombs could be shot down into the sea.
  37. About 35 miles of railway line provided “beds” for the guns.
  38. These defensive measures utilised on the part of the British to counter this new and dangerous threat were all part of what was known as “Operation Crossbow”.
  39. The A.A. guns were ably assisted by centimetric 30 Gigahertz frequency gun-laying radar which  transmitted range, bearing and elevation automatically  to the “predictor”.
  40. They were also assisted by a cannon-“shells” equipped with radio proximity fuses that exploded close to the target,in this case the flying bombs.
  41. The Fighter patrols and AA batteries constituted the first and second line of defence, and they were in turn supported by another tier of fighters and approximately 2000 barrage balloons.
  42. The effect of the “gunners” was at first rather mediocre, but this improved as the necessary technology was developed, with a number of flying bombs being destroyed.
  43.  It was stated in contemporary reports that 74 percent of the flying bombs destroyed in the last week of the attack were by the guns alone.
  44. Approximately only 29 percent of all the flying bombs launched fell on London, but the damage done was great and quite a few civilians lost their lives as a result.
  45. The flying bomb onslaught lasted approximately two-months during which time 8000 bombs were launched,2, 300 falling in the London area.
  46. About  23 000 houses were destroyed and 1, 104 000 other houses damaged.
  47. Over 5000 people were killed, 92 percent in the London area.
  48. Fatalities equate to an average of roughly two people killed per flying bomb.
  49. Approximately 15, 500 people were injured.
  50. People who did not, through business or otherwise, have to be London were exhorted to leave by Winston Churchill himself (6 July 1944).
  51. The “First Blitz” of 1940, better known as the Battle of Britain, had seen mothers and children separated, only to find upon re-unification that child and mother virtual strangers.
  52. For this reason, during the later Flying Bomb attacks, Mothers with small children were urged to leave the city together and many did so.
  53. By 30 July 1944 over a million women and children had left London for the rural areas, and safety.
  54. Thousands of these civilians took shelters in the new deep shelters built and the London underground sheltered thousands more.
  55. The occupation of the launching  sites by the 1st Canadian Army  on the 8 August 1944 resulted in the cessation of the flying bombs, except for a few “pick-a-back” attacks launched from aircraft in the North Sea
  56. The last flying bomb was launched from a German aircraft on the 5 September 1944.
  57. 33 percent of the flying bombs were brought down within the first week, 70 percent during the last week of the onslaught.
  58. 101 flying bombs were launched on the 28 August 1944,of which 97 were brought down and only four got through to London.
  59. Contemporary reports stated that the flying bombs shot down were attributed to the Hawker Tempest (578), the Spitfires (60) and the artillery (1,560),while barrage balloons accounted for 279.
  60. Later reports were to assert, however, that 4, 261 V1s were in fact shot down. 
  61. It was stated in Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory’s  dispatch, dated January 1947, that if the launching sites of the flying bombs had not been continuously attacked before the invasion of Europe the enemy could have launched 6, 000 each 24 hours!
  62. Though hundreds of flying bombs never reached London, it was often at the expense of rural communities on the Kent-East Sussex border (fortunately less-densely populated),and of course, the thickest concentration of V1 flying bombs occurred behind the coastal belt opposite the Pas-de-Calais. 
  63. Folkestone, a well-known coastal resort in Kent was also heavily bombed by flying bombs, and was known as “Hell-fire Corner”.
  64. Folkestone was in the first AA zone of the flying bomb defences and during the attacks (July-September 1944) 26 flying bombs were destroyed on or over Folkestone  and 602 were brought down just sea-wards.
  65. As far as London is concerned, major incidents involving the V1  Flying Bomb include the bombing of Tottenham Court Road (20 killed); St Pancras (surface shelter, 24 killed); Camberwell (lordship Lane,23 Killed, 59 Injured); Clapham Junction (24 Killed, 23 Injured); Willesden (College Road, 20 Killed); Strand (Melbourne House, 25 Killed); Leyton (34 Killed, 24 Injured); Lewisham (High Street, 51 Killed, 216 Injured); Barking (15 Killed, 13 Injured); Penge (11 Killed, 48 Injured); Piccadilly (Regent Street Palace Hotel, 38 Injured).
  66. Public Buildings in London destroyed or damaged during the flying bomb attacks were St. Bartholomew’s Church, Smithfield (damaged); Archbishop Tennyson’s Grammar School, Leicester Square (damaged); Guard’s Chapel, Wellington Barracks (180 casualties); St James’s Palace (blast damage); St James’s Street (art treasures in the vicinity of £250, 000 destroyed or damaged, while the property of Queen Mary and Lord Louis Mountbatten was also destroyed); London Library (blast damage); Chatham House (blast damage); Royal Free Hospital (damaged); and  Staple Inn Hall (demolished).
  67. Some of the other communities  hit by V1 flying bombs include Woking, Frimley and Camberley, Guildford, Reigate, Dorking and Horley, Hambledon, Farnham, Haslemere, Midhurst, Petworth, Walton and Weybridge, Chichester, Worthing, Bognor Regis, Horsham,Chailey, Lewes,Nehaven, Seaford, Hailsham, Uckfield, Eastbourne, Southborough, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Bexhill, Hastings, Battle (appropriately named), Cranbrook, West Ashford, East Ashford, Ashford, Swale, Hollingbourne, Romney Marsh, Hythe, Dover, Elham, Canterbury, Broadstairs and St Peters, Whitstable,Sittingbourne and Milton, Isle of Sheppey, and Chatham.
  68. The attacks of the more advanced V2 rockets began in September 1944.
  69. The V2 was ostensibly a ballistic missile, and was the fore-runner of space rockets and long-range missiles.
  70. Its development started in 1936 under the famous German scientist, Wernher Von Braun.
  71. The first V2 rocket fell in the evening of the 8 September 1944 at Chiswick.
  72. That particular V2 rocket destroyed 8 houses, killing two people and injuring ten.
  73. The V2 attacks mounted steadily and reached its climax during one week in February 1945 when no-less than 71 V2s detonated in the Greater London area.
  74. Throughout that month and March, between 60 and 70 rockets per week were launched by the Germans upon England.
  75. On one occasion no fewer than 17 incidents were reported in 25 hours.
  76. The last rocket fell at 4:54 p.m. on the 27 March 1945, at Orpington, killing one person and injuring 23. 
  77. 1,070 V2 rockets were launched and 1,050 exploded in London (585) and South England (465).
  78. The V2 rockets accounted for 2, 754 people killed and 6, 523 injured (a total of 9,277).
  79. This equates to roughly 2.7 people killed for every V2 rocket launched.
  80. The V2 had an effective  range of 200 miles, but when the rocket sites were overrun by the Allies, missiles adapted to fire as far as 3,000 miles were discovered! 
  81. The casing of the V2 consisted of aluminium in the form of a tube 50 Feet long tapering into a point at the top from a maximum diameter of 7 feet.
  82. Behind the warhead, which had an impact fuse and contained a ton of  High Explosive (HE), was the “control” compartment with its master radio receiver.
  83. Next followed two fuel tanks, one holding 7, 500 lb of alcohol and the other 11,000 lb of liquid oxygen.
  84. Behind the fuel tanks was pump to force the fuels into the combustion chamber, where they were ignited electrically and the gases ejected from the tail to create a reactive force which drove the missile at about 3,000 m.p.h..
  85. Discharged vertically from its launching base, the V2 rose to a height of 70 metres, after which a gyroscopic control operated the four external vanes and caused the missile to curve towards its target.
  86. When the V2 rocket was pointed to an angle 45 degrees of elevation, the fuel supply was reduced  by remote radio-control, and the missile came down in an arc just as an artillery shell would. 
  87. The Germans had fully developed the use of an oxidising agent and a fuel, carried  in separate tanks and forced into the combustion chamber either by a turbine driving pump (V2) or by compressed gas in smaller rockets.
  88. Most rockets used by the Germans were propelled either by a combination of liquid oxygen and alcohol (V2) or 98-100 percent nitric acid  containing to 5 to 10 parts strong sulphuric acid and oxidized substance.  
  89. Major incidents concerning the V2 onslaught on London include the bombing of Woolworth’s store in New Cross (November 1944, 160 Killed and 108 Injured); houses in Blackheath (November, 40 Killed and 60 Injured); Islington (MacKenzie Road, December, 68 Killed and 99 Injured); East Stepney (Hughes Mansions, March 1945,134 Killed and 49 Injured); Smithfield Market (March, 110 Killed and 123 Injured); Deptford (flats and houses, March 1945, 52 Killed and 32 Injured); Brentford (houses, March 1945, 30 Killed and 100 Injured).
  90. 45 Churches were destroyed by V2 rockets.
  91. 35 Hospitals were also destroyed by the V2 rocket attacks.
  92. Churches damaged or destroyed by V2 attacks include: Christ Church,Battersea; St Paul’s,Barking; Whitfield’s Tabernacle,Tottenham Court Road; Synagogue, Southgate; and St Nicholas at Woolwich.
  93.  Hospitals damaged or destroyed by V2 rockets include: Erith Sanatorium; Banstead Mental Hospital; St Margaret’s Hospital, Epping; Central London Eye Hospital; Royal Alfred Hospital and the Chelsea Royal Hospital. 
  94. An interesting microcosm pertaining to the V1 and V2 attacks on the Greater London area is the destruction wrought on the boroughs of Stepney and Poplar, which received 81 V1s and 17 V2s, about 460 acres of buildings being destroyed out of a total of 2, 200 acres!
  95. The annual totals of the number of civilians who slept within the labyrinth of the London underground during the v1 and V2 attacks are as follows: 1943, 2, 378, 064; 1944, 8, 456, 908; 1945, 1, 266, 291.
  96. It is little known that when the Germans ceased launching  their flying bombs on England, they then employed them on Belgium and Paris (France).
  97. The Germans subjected Antwerp to a terrific bombardment which lasted for 154 days!
  98. It would be remiss not to elaborate on Peenemunde (situated 60 miles south west of Stettin on the Baltic coast), the German experimental station constructed in 1935 and used to develop the V1 flying bomb, the V2 long range rocket projectile and various other “secret weapons”.
  99. Dispersed in a wood, the station occupied a site 4 ½ miles in length and 1 mile in diameter.
  100. An RAF reconnaissance aircraft, piloted by Sergeant E.P.H. Peek, discovered the station in 1942.
  101. Peenemunde was bombed for the first time in 1943.
  102.  The bombers reached their target after covering 700 miles.
  103. They met intense opposition and were attacked by many Luftwaffe  fighter aircraft, and 41 British bombers were lost, but 1, 500 tons of bombs were unleashed on Peenemunde during the raid.
  104. Photographs taken in August 1944 showed V2 launching sites which had been constructed at the station for the purpose of experimenting with the afore-mentioned super-weapon.
  105. The resultant Allied bombing of Peenmunde left the station devastated, the scientific staff employed at the site having suffered severe casualties,including the death of General Von Chamier-Glisezenski, who, it was said, had invented many “secret weapons”.
  106. After the capitulation of Germany (8 May 1945), Allied investigations at Peenemunde proved that at least  400 experiments with rockets had been completed in the period 1937-1942.
  107. More importantly, however, it was also discovered that the Germans  had also carried out research work at Peenemunde in connection with the design of atomic bombs.
  108. Many were captured by the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union (USSR), the research thereof fostering their respective missile and space-exploration programs.
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User Comments

  1. summer

    On March 15, 2009 at 1:20 pm


    i liked it because it gave me the information i needed to know.
    and it was very straight forward

  2. Charles Ronald Winchester

    On March 25, 2009 at 4:58 am


    I must disagree with many of your statements. These bombs were often not tested in the field, and remained on the drawing board. These ’stories’ were produced by the germans as propoganda merely to stir up relations with the alied powers.

  3. L. Graham

    On July 17, 2009 at 5:24 am


    A good read, very informative. Does anyone have any information about a V1 that came down in the grounds of Fortescue House School, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham? Don’t know the precise date.
    If yes, can you e-mail me on: win94uk@yahoo.co.uk

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