V-1 flying bomb
in the world was the V-1 developed by Nazi Germany (see inset 1 and inset 11 in this issue), and people called it
a "flying bomb" at that time. Naturally, this secret weapon can't save the doomed fate of fascism, but its appearance marks the birth of a new type of weapon, and its large-scale use and the defensive operations carried out by the allied forces against it have created the earliest missile and anti-missile wars in the world.
v-1 flying bomb-the earliest cruise missile
German research on rocket technology originated in the 192s. Since 1935, in order to speed up the development of this technology under the < P > order of rearmament, Hitler built the Penemende proving ground on the island of Utzerton in the Baltic Sea. The test
proving ground is not only the birthplace of modern rockets and their weapons, but also the birthplace of "flying bomb"-V-1, the earliest practical cruise missile (also known as flying missile) in the world.
As early as 1928, German Paul Schmitt began to study ramjet engines. Of course, at that time, the technical level of the ramjet < P > engine was very low, which not only had a short life, but also had a large vibration, so it could not be used on the plane. In 1934
, Schmidt and G. madelin put forward a plan to use this engine as a "flying bomb", and made a prototype in 1939, but it was put aside because it could not meet the requirements of the Air Force at that time (for example, the range reached more than 8 kilometers) and the original reasons such as accuracy and cost were ignored.
After the outbreak of World War II, the Germans occupied France, but they met with stubborn resistance from the British in the Battle of Britain. In order to reply to < P >, the German Air Force remembered Schmidt and madelin's "flying bomb" again.
In June, 1942, led by German Air Force engineer Breier, the development of V-1 missile was started in Penemende. It was first called Foxerre Fi13 or FZG76 missile, and later called "Buzzing" missile (because of the buzzing sound in flight), and finally named V-1 missile.
On December 24th, 1942, the prototype of the V-1 missile was successfully tested for the first time, and it was planned to be put into use
one year later, but this plan was discovered by the French who worked hard in the German ordnance factory, and they managed to report this information to the Allies
. After aerial reconnaissance of Penemende proving ground and taking photos, the Allies confirmed that the Germans were developing long-range secret weapons. Then bombers were sent to bomb the proving ground. Allied bombing, mainly in the east of Penemende, damaged the V-2 missile base, and also affected the V-1 development plan in the west, delaying its first launch test and use time. It was not until February 15th, 1944 that V-1 made its first launch test. In March, it was hastily decided to put it into mass production. From then on, the earliest practical cruise missile came out, and as the killer weapon of German fascism, it was used in a large number of battles in Western Europe. As a fledgling new weapon, although its technology is not mature, its hit accuracy is not high, and it was effectively intercepted by allied planes and ground fire, it still caused great damage and casualties to Britain.
the v-1 missile is spindle-shaped, and the front main wing and tail wing are rectangular flat wings. The maximum diameter of the missile body is .82
m, the wing span is 5.3 m, and the length of the missile is 7.9 m.. Externally, the V-1 missile is similar to an ordinary aircraft, except that a cylindrical engine nacelle is installed at the upper part of the vertical tail, and the front end is connected with the fuselage. A ramjet engine is installed in the nacelle, which can produce < P > 3 kg thrust. The launching weight of the missile is 218 kg, the launching speed is 24 km/h, the cruising speed is 644 km
/ h, and the range is 24 km, and the maximum range can reach 28 km.
The front end of the missile is equipped with an air-driven propeller (range counter) for recording the range. The warhead is equipped with a fuse and 85kg
of high-energy explosives. In the missile, there are devices such as a compass, a fuel tank, a compressed air bottle, a storage battery and a gyroscope. The rear
edges of the main wing and the tail wing have controllable surfaces, namely aileron, elevator and rudder, and there is a spoiler under the elevator.
after the V-1 missile is launched, it is controlled by the autopilot to fly according to the predetermined course. According to the calculation of the range counting device,
when the missile will reach the target, the spoiler will be opened, and the missile will decelerate and dive towards the target until the warhead is detonated to destroy the target. This is the general process of V-1 missile launch.
the production base of v-1 is in nordhausen in the east of Germany, which is mainly in the charge of Volkswagen. it is estimated that 2, to 3, missiles were built in the whole world war ii, including the last part of the missiles that have not left the factory.
put into use on a large scale-after the earliest missile war
V-1 was put into production, the German army began to step up the construction of missile launching positions, most of which were concentrated in the area 16
to 56 kilometers away from the French coast.
the launching unit of the v-1 missile started training in the summer of 1943, which was called the 155th antiaircraft artillery regiment and ***64 launching units. Originally planned to attack Britain at the end of that year, it was actually delayed for nearly half a year. The main reason is that although the V < P >-1 missile is put into production and ready for use, there are still problems in technology, quality and equipment, and the bombing and destruction of the allied forces make it difficult for the German army to implement its operational plan. It was not until the night of June 13th, 1944 that the < P > team of the German V-1 missile launching department (the 155th anti-aircraft artillery regiment) launched two small volleys. In the first wave, nine missiles were fired, and none of them hit Britain. Ten missiles were fired in the second wave
, of which five crashed shortly after launch, one disappeared and I don't know where it went
, and the remaining four hit the Pence Carmen area in the south of England, and one hit the house of Bert Si Nuo Green, causing
6 casualties.
After a day of adjustment and re-equipment, V-1 missiles were launched against Britain at 1: 3 pm on June 15th. In 24 hours, 244 missiles were launched into London and 5 missiles were launched into Southampton. Later, the total number of V-1 missiles
was increasing, reaching the 5th on June 18th, the 1,th on June 21st, the 2,th on July 29th, and the 5,th on July 22nd ...
From June 13th to September 4th, 1944, German troops moved to the southeast of England. Moreover, most missiles caused little casualties, and only a few missiles hit densely populated areas, causing serious casualties and losses. Especially at 11: 2 am on June 8, 1944, the Royal Guards Church, which is only 4 meters away from Buckingham Palace, was hit, and 121 worshippers were killed by
. This is the first time that the German army used the V-1 missile to fight, which caused heavy casualties to the other side, caused great fear and panic to the citizens of London, and 8, to 1.5 million people were forced to evacuate. It was also a great shock to the U.S. government. On June 18th, Eisenhower asked the Allied Forces to give priority to the V-1 missile attack after the ground war.
after estimation, some militarists think that if the average impact point of the V-1 missile can be deviated from 9.6 kilometers, 12, casualties can be reduced
every month. According to the expert's suggestion, the British military immediately took action to provide the German army with false information that "the missile flew over the target" through secret agents (including German secret agents captured by < P >) to induce them to adjust their range. This trick
worked, until July 21, 1944, the average impact point of the V-1 missile launched by the German army to London remained basically
south of the Thames and about 7? 2 kilometers away. From then on to October, the average impact point was about 6.4 kilometers southeast of the Tower of London, thus reducing the damage and loss caused by V-1 missiles to London. I'm afraid the reason why the Germans adjusted the range of the whole missile was related to their lack of reconnaissance planes to verify the information they obtained. After September 1st,
the missile launching position of the German 155th antiaircraft artillery regiment was attacked by allied forces and forced to retreat.
From September 4th, 1944, the German army turned its attack focus to other allied targets in the European continent. By March 3th, 1945, * * * had launched nearly 12, V-1 missiles, including about 4,9 to Antwerp p>3 in the Netherlands and about 3, to Liege in Belgium, with tens of thousands of casualties.
The V-1 missile was launched from the ground. Because its position was often bombed and destroyed by allied planes, the German army began to improve the
launching mode and used bombers to carry it from the air. At first, a bomber could only carry one V-1 missile, which flew to Britain at a speed of 257 to 273 kilometers per hour at a height of 9 meters. When the bomber climbed to more than 1, meters at a height of 97 kilometers from the coast, the missile was ignited and launched from the air. When a bomber performs a mission, he-111 fighters are generally required to escort it.
by September 5, 1944, the Germans had launched about 4 V-1 missiles into Britain from the air. After Germany withdrew from France, until the end of the war, Germany's threatening attacks on Britain were mainly air-launched missiles.
limited by the technical level at that time, the hit accuracy of V-1 missile launched from the air was very low even if it was not intercepted.
From July to September, 1944, the impact point deviation of air-launched V-1 missiles ranged from 13 km to 39 km. On December 24th,
The Germans fired 5 V-1 missiles at Manchester from the air, but only one of them hit the city. On January 14th, 1945,
the Germans fired 1,2 V-1 missiles from the air to Britain for the last time, only 66 of them hit London, the rest were
shot down by British planes and ground fire, and 77 German missile carriers were also destroyed.
in March 1945, the long-range V-1 missile appeared. Compared with the prototype V-1, the main missile of this type < P > adopts the wooden wing whose weight is 22.7 kilograms lighter than that of the metal wing, and lightens the warhead to increase its range to
354 kilometers. From March 3 to 29, the Germans fired 275 such missiles from the Netherlands to Britain, only 13 of them reached London, and most of them did not cause much casualties. Only on March 8, a missile hit the Smithfield market in London, causing 233 casualties. On March 28th, 1945, the last V-1 missile landed on Chereshato Street in London. Since then, the V-1 missile has never appeared over London. In order to die, the German < P > army finally modified 15 "human bombs" (manned suicide bombs) with V-1, which were called Fi13/R3 and V < P >-4 after being handed over to the army, but the war ended before it was used.
establishing three lines of defense-the earliest anti-missile war
After the development of the V-1 missile, German fascists rushed to mass production and immediately put it into use,
as their dying weapon. In fact, this new weapon did not save the inevitable demise of fascism, which was due to the technical performance of early cruise missiles, and more importantly, it was stubbornly resisted by the allies. Since the development of the V-< P > 1 missile, based on the information obtained by French laborers and aerial reconnaissance, the Allies bombed and destroyed its test site (Penemende) < P > and the launch base under construction, which delayed its launch test and use. After the V-1 missile was put into use,
Allied forces organized several defense lines to intercept it, thus deducing an early anti-missile war.
in the battle against v-1 missiles, the first line of defense adopted by the allied forces is fighter planes. At that time, the planes that the allied forces could participate in the war were mainly piston fighters such as Spitfire ⅹ, Hurricane ⅴ, Mustang III and Mosquito. To intercept V-1 missiles with these aircraft, we must first try our best to improve their flying speed. For this reason, we removed all the armor and rearview mirrors on the aircraft, even scraped off the surface paint, further polished the skin, and changed the fuel and used gasoline. By taking these measures, the speed of the plane can be increased by 21 to 48 kilometers per hour. On July 27th, 1944, the first < P > jet fighter "Meteor" of the Allies, which just came out, also went into battle in disguise and participated in the battle against V-1. On August 4th, it opened the record and hit < P > and dropped the first missile.
To intercept a V-1 missile with a speed of 547 to 644 kilometers per hour, fighter planes are allowed to intercept it for only about
six minutes. At the same time, due to the small size of V-1 missile, it is generally difficult to find when it enters from a height of 6 to 9 meters, thanks to the cooperation of ground radar. At the beginning, the allied fighters used the conventional tail-chasing tactics to let the V-1 missile overtake the plane, and then the plane followed to attack the missile. It was soon found that this tactic was not effective, and whether the missile was hit < P > or not, its engine wake or missile explosion would seriously affect the safety of the attacking aircraft. In the first six weeks alone,
37 allied planes were injured and five planes crashed. Later, the pilots found a way to deal with the V-1, that is, in turn, using the fighter's < P > wake to affect the missile, making it out of balance, or simply using their own wings to overturn the missile. On June 23rd, a
Spitfire fighter overturned a V-1 for the first time.
Four days later, a Hurricane plane overturned another missile with its own wake. On July 12, 1944, the number of allied aircraft participating in the < P > operation increased to 22 squadrons, including 13 single-engine fighter squadrons and 9 dual-engine fighter squadrons. Up to July 13th, 1192 missiles were shot down, of which p>13 were attributed to allied fighters. By mid-August,
the best achievement was made by the 3rd Squadron equipped with Hurricane fighters, which shot down 257 V-1 missiles. Secondly, the 91st Squadron equipped with "Jet < P > Fire" fighters shot down 185 pieces; And the 96th squadron equipped with Mosquito fighters, shot down 174 pieces.
the best personal achievement of the pilot is J. Berry (squadron leader).