Almost 30,000 V1s were manufactured of which about 10,000 were fired at England up to March 29, 1945. Of these, about 7000 were "hits" in the sense that they landed somewhere in England, and a little more than half of those (3876) landed in the Greater London area. An almost equal number were shot down or intercepted by barrage balloons. When the V1 raids began, the only effective defence was interception by a handful of very high performance fighter aircraft, in particular the Hawker Tempest. In daylight, V1 chases were chaotic and often unsuccessful until a special defence zone between London and the coast was declared in which only the fastest fighters were permitted. Between June and mid-August 1944, the handful of Tempests shot down 638 flying bombs. (One Tempest pilot, Joseph Berry, downed fifty-nine V1s, another 44, and Wing Commander Beaumont himself destroyed 31.) Next most successful was the Mosquito (428), Spitfire XIV (303), and Mustang, (232). All other types combined added 158. The still-experimental jet-powered Gloster Meteor, which was rushed half-ready into service to fight the V1s, had ample speed but suffered from jamming cannon and accounted for only 13. In mid-August 1944, the threat was all but overcome - not by aircraft, but by the sudden arrival of two enormously effective electronic aids for anti-aircraft guns, both developed in the USA by the Rad Lab: radar-based automatic gunlaying, and above all, the proximity fuse. Within weeks, the vast majority of V1s launched were shot down by anti-aircraft guns as they crossed the coast. The V2 rocket was the world's first ballistic missile. It was originally designated A4, as it was the fourth in a line of rocket developments, however, Joseph Goebbel's propaganda ministry renamed it Vergeltungswaffe 2 (Retaliation Weapon 2). It was naturally shortened to V2. Unlike the V1 developed by the Luftwaffe, which flew low, and slow enough to be intercepted by fast aircraft, the V2 was a true, guided, ballistic missile, rising into the stratosphere before plunging down to the target. The only warning of an approaching V2 was the double boom as it broke the sound barrier shortly before impact. There was no defence against the V2, so the English went after the launching sites. They did this very effectively in the Pas de Calais so that only mobile V2s could be launched. None of these systems were ever successfully attacked. About 1000 of these missiles were fired at the cities of London and Norwich, while about 2000 more were fired at targets on the European continent, primarily Antwerp. Another 500 or so were used in test and training launches. A total of about 10,000 were built and shipped from a central German assembly facility located in the Hartz Mountains, in the area known as the Mittelwerke. Technical Details The V2 was an unmanned, guided, ballistic missile. It was guided by an advanced gyroscopic system that sent signals to aerodynamic steering tabs on the fins. It was generally inaccurate due to errors in aligning the rocket with it's target, premature shut-off of the motor and inconsistencies in electric current in the guidance system. It was propelled by an alcohol (a mixture of 75% ethyl alcohol and water), and liquid oxygen fuel. The two liquids were delivered to the thrust chamber by two rotary pumps, driven by a steam turbine. The steam turbine operated at 5,000 rpm on two auxiliary fuels, namely hydroperoxide (100 %) and calcium permanganate. This system generated about 55,000 lbs (27,000 to 30,000 Newton) of thrust. The motor typically burned for 60 seconds, pushing the rocket to around 4,400 ft/second. It rose to an altitude of 52 miles and had a range of 200 - 225 miles. The V2 carried a high explosive warhead weighing 2,000 lbs (1 ton) that was capable of flattening a large building. It was first fired operationally on Sept 7, 1944 against London, primarily as a propaganda exercise.
Hi, Spidge -- the following is extracted from one of my posts relating to V1s -- check out the link, I think you will enjoy the article. James: Evidently a large number of V1s were loaded with propaganda leaflets. This subject is covered in meticulous detail by Herbert A. Friedman in his Web page article The German V1 Rocket Leaflet Campaign. This fascinating article explains how the leaflets were stored and dispersed and includes an impressive number of V1 related photographic images and numerous actual propaganda leaflet reproductions. It is also a treasure trove of V1 Flying Bomb information.
