Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

SURFACE-TO-SURFACE MISSILES
FIESELER Fi 103 (V1) STANDARD
MODEL
Type: Cruise missile
Length: 8.32m (27.3ft)
Span: 5.30m (17.39ft)
Launch weight: 2180kg (4806lb)
Above: The Fieseler Fi 103, to give the V1 its official name,
was unleashed in earnest against England in Operation
Boxroom, which began in June 1944.
436kg (9621b) of amatol, and its fuel tanks were
enlarged from 568 litres (125 gallons) to 756 litres
(166 gallons), increasing range to 370km (230 miles).
THE V1 CAMPAIGN BEGINS
The first operational Vis were launched in the early
hours of 13 June 1944. Just 10 missiles were
deployed: four crashed immediately; two fell into the
sea; and four hit the Home Counties (one in Sussex,
one near Sevenoaks in Kent, one in the south-eastern
suburbs of London, and one in Bethnal Green, north
of the Thames). Two days later, Unternehmen
Rumpelkammer (Operation Boxroom) commenced in
earnest, and between 2200 hours on 15 June and 12
noon the following day, 244 Vis were launched, most
of them against London and some against Southampton
which was the re-supply base for the invasion
force, even then trying to fight its way out of the
beachhead in Normandy. More than half of the flying
bombs launched (144 in all) crossed the English
coast, and 34 were shot down by anti-aircraft guns
and fighter aircraft.
This campaign from launch sites in the Pas de
Calais continued until the end of August, by which
time Allied troops were closing in. The Luftwaffe's
Flakregiment 155 (W), its name a cover like the FZG
76 designation, had been set up in August 1943 under
the command of Colonel Max Wachtel, and it packed
up and moved to Holland with the intention of concentrating
activities on Antwerp. By that time, it had
launched 9017 missiles, 6725 of which had reached
England. As many as 2340 landed in the Greater Lon-
68
Max speed (later models): 800km/h (497mph)
Range: 240km (150 miles)
Warhead: 830kg (1832lb) of amatol
don area, the vast majority of them exploding as
planned. Other reports suggest that 8892 missiles
were launched with the UK as their target during the
entire war, and still others put the total at fractionally
over 10,000. As early as 7 July, the ground launches
had been supplemented by air launches from Heinkel
He 111 bombers of HI/KG 3, based at Gilze Rijen in
Holland, which carried one missile each on a pylon
located just outboard of the starboard wing root, and
launched it at an altitude of 450m (1500ft) over the
North Sea. By the end of August, over 400 missiles
had been deployed in this way, mostly against London,
but some against Southampton and Bristol.
Air-launched operations against targets in the
United Kingdom recommenced in mid-September in
a campaign which lasted until mid-January. A total of
around 1200 missiles were launched (some of them at
targets as far north as Manchester, though only one
reached that particular objective), but only around 20
per cent of them got through to populated areas and
just 66 landed on London, still the prime target in the
UK. During the same period, around 1600 missiles
were air-launched against Antwerp and Brussels. In
all, they cost the Luftwaffe 80 aircraft shot down.
On 3 March 1945, a new campaign against London
started from sites in Holland, using F-l missiles with
greater fuel capacity and a smaller warhead, but this
was of only very limited success. The last flying
bomb landed in London on 29 March. In all, a total of
2419 Vis had hit London and 2448 had struck
Antwerp (though these were not the only targets, of
course), representing roughly 25 per cent of those
launched. It is estimated that VI rockets were responsible
for the deaths of perhaps 12,000 people. Official
figures put the death toll in the UK at 6184, with
17,981 injured. Altogether, around 34,000 Vis were