Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

ANTIAIRCRAFT DEFENSE THROUGH WORLD WAR II
after the redeployment. The high point occurred on the night
of 27 August and early morning hours of 28 August when the
defenders destroyed 90 of 97 missiles reported, allowing only
four V-ls to get through to London. 34
The increased power of the defenses resulted largely from
the tremendous improvement in the effectiveness of AAA. The
gunners got 22 percent of the destroyed credits before the redeployment
and 54 percent afterwards. They downed 17 percent
of their targets in the first week after redeployment and
74 percent in the last four days of action (29 August through
1 September 1944). 35
During the summer campaign, the Germans began to launch
V-ls from bombers. The first test air launch known to the
British occurred on 6 April 1944 at Peenemünde, with the first
recognizable use of an air-launched weapon against England
occurring on 9 July 1944. Between then and 5 September, the
GAF air launched about 400 V-1s. With the withdrawal of German
forces from the French launching sites, these air-launched
weapons became the chief air threat to Britain in the closing
months of the war. Between 5 September and the last air
launching on 14 January 1945, the Germans hurled about
1,200 of these V-ls against Britain, but only 66 reached London.
36 Clearly, their accuracy was very poor.
The final act in the V-1 campaign against Britain came in
March 1945 when the Germans introduced a long-range version
of the V-1. Fitting the V-1 with a lighter wing and warhead
(36 percent less) permitted it to carry 50 percent more fuel and
enabled it to fly 220 miles compared to the standard missile’s
range of about 150 to 160 miles. The Germans launched the
first modified V-1 from ramps in Holland on 3 March. From
then through 29 March, the Germans fired 275 V-ls against
Britain, 13 of which reached London. Tipped off by photoreconnaissance
and intelligence reports about this new weapon,
the Allies ordered the northern defenses bolstered on 27 February
with seven squadrons of day fighters and three squadrons
of night fighters. But the AAA gunners performed so well that
the British relieved all but one of the day squadrons. The defenders
downed 73 percent of the 125 missiles observed. 37
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