The Valour and the Horror

V1:

Vergeltungwaffe:

  The Luftwaffe started development of rocket weapons. Officially designated the F2G-76, Goebbels, the German propaganda minister named the rocket the V1, (V for vergeltungwaffe- reprisal weapon). It was 8 meters long and was a streamlined pilotless flying bomb with a pulse or ramjet engine fueled by gasoline and compressed air. It was launched from skijump style ramps and carried a one ton warhead at 550 kmph (350mph) with a maximum range of 400 kilometers (250 miles) using an automatic guidance system before crashing.

Its first efforts were dismal. Of the ten that were fired from Watten, near the channel coast, five crashed just after launch and one went missing. Four reached England. Only one caused casualties: six people killed in London at Bethnal Green.