V-1 flying bomb

1944 cruise missile by Fieseler

The V-1 flying bomb (also called the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug) was a World War II weapon.[3][4]

V-1 flying bomb
Fieseler Fi 103
Flakzielgerät 76 (FZG-76)
TypeGuided missile
Place of originNazi Germany
Service history
In service1944–1945
Used byLuftwaffe
WarsWorld War II
Production history
DesignerRobert Lusser
ManufacturerFieseler
Unit cost5,090 RM[1]
Specifications
Mass2,150 kg (4,740 lb)
Length8.32 m (27.3 ft)
Width5.37 m (17.6 ft)
Height1.42 m (4 ft 8 in)

WarheadAmatol-39
Warhead weight850 kg (1,870 lb)

EngineArgus As 109-014 Pulse jet engine
Operational
range
250 km (160 mi) [2]
Maximum speed 640 km/h (400 mph) flying between 600 to 900 m (2,000 to 3,000 ft)
Guidance
system
Gyrocompass based autopilot

It was a flying bomb, an early cruise missile. Its jet engine made it travel at 350 mph (600 kmph). The Luftwaffe aimed it at London, and also Antwerp in Belgium. V-1s destroyed nearly as many houses as the Blitz did but killed fewer: 22,892 people were killed by the weapon.

The Allies tried to stop these attacks by bombing their launching places, by shooting at them in the air, and by flying fast planes close to them and nudging them off course using their wings.

They had a fairly crude guidance system. Overall, only about 25 per cent of V-1s hit their targets. Most were lost lost by defensive measures, mechanical unreliability or guidance errors.

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References

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  1. Zaloga, Steven 2005, p11. V-1 Flying Bomb 1942–52. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-791-8
  2. Werrell, Kenneth P. 1985, p53. The Evolution of the Cruise Missile. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press
  3. Cooksley, Peter 1979. Flying Bomb, the story of Hitler's V-Weapons in World War II. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  4. Haining, Peter 2002. The Flying Bomb War: contemporary eyewitness accounts of the German V1 and V2 raids on Britain 1942–1945. London: Robson Books. ISBN 978-1-86105-581-1