Chapter 416 V-1 Attacks

The "gift" that Yannick prepared for London was the V-1 missile.

The V-1 missile was a cruise missile developed by Germany during World War II, and it is the ancestor of modern cruise missiles. This is the first missile in human history to be used in actual combat. The reason for its birth was that German pilots and aircraft suffered huge losses in the Battle of Britain. In order to reduce these losses, the German army had to seek a cheaper way. At that time, the development of the V-2 missile was in trouble. In order to change the situation more quickly, they began to develop a new type of missile, and thus the V-1 missile was born.

However, compared with the advanced cruise missiles of later generations, the technology of the V-1 at this time was relatively simple, and the core components were the guidance system and jet engine. The guidance system consists of a gyro azimuth, an airspeed meter, an altimeter mechanical timer, and an oil circuit cut-off.

Before launching the missile, the launcher first calculates the flight direction and flight time of the missile based on the map coordinates of the launch site and the map coordinates of the bombing target. After the missile takes off, the gyro azimuth begins to play a role, ensuring that the missile flies in the predetermined direction. The airspeed meter and altimeter ensure the speed and altitude of the missile during flight to prevent it from being intercepted or crashed by the enemy due to too low speed or too high altitude. The mechanical timer calculates the flight time of the missile. When the scheduled flight time is reached, the mechanical timer activates the oil circuit cut-off device. The instrument cuts off the oil supply, causing the missile to lose power, and opens the spoiler to greatly slow down the missile. At this time, the missile dives down and hits the ground and explodes.

In general, the V-1 at this time does not have GPS navigation or target recognition function; not to mention advanced technologies such as autonomous route planning. From the outside, it looks like a bomb with wings, or a small plane, which is essentially an unmanned suicide plane.

In recent years, Yannick has not asked much about the production of V-1. Until the day before yesterday, when Dr. Obert reported on the progress of rocket research, he asked for instructions that the inventory of V1 missiles reached 30,000. Whether to continue production really scared him, so he decided to clear the inventory. Ordered all these V-1 missiles to be fired at London.

That night, in a newly built launch base next to the V3 artillery base, the soldiers of the Guards X Corps were busy preparing for the launch. They refueled the missiles, placed batteries, and filled them with compressed air. Then they transported them to the demagnetization area and adjusted the missile's flight compass to ensure that it was consistent with the predetermined target position in the installed navigation system.

Finally, the missiles were moved onto the catapult launch rail.

The V-1 used a pulse jet, which was simple, practical and low-cost.

The basic principle of its power generation is that the air sucked into the engine is burned in the combustion chamber and then ejected backward. The air sucked into the engine is mixed with the fuel and ignited by the spark plug. Before the mixture burns, the valve of the air intake is quickly closed, and the combustion produces a large pulse thrust that rushes out of the exhaust port. After that, the valve of the air intake opens again to suck in air. The engine can complete 42 such cycles per second.

In fact, this is a relatively simple engine, which was almost strangled during the weapons bureau. It can only work at a lower altitude, and it is difficult to repair and maintain. At the same time, the valve of its air intake will be worn out quickly. But for a disposable weapon like a missile, this engine has great advantages: it has a simple structure, low cost, and high thrust. In addition, it can use low-grade gasoline as fuel instead of precious high-octane aviation fuel.

However, such thrust is not enough to launch a missile weighing more than 2 tons, so an accelerator is used during launch.

The catapult launch rail is a 48-meter-long slope-shaped launcher that uses a steam catapult system. There is a piston groove on the launcher, and a dumbbell-shaped piston is inserted into the groove during launch. The missile is placed on a trolley and placed in the piston groove. The piston groove is equipped with a safety pin to prevent the missile from slipping out. During launch, the dumbbell-shaped piston pushes the trolley forward quickly to launch the missile.

In addition, the V-1 can also be launched from a vehicle and a bomber. In the original time and space, the Germans used the He-111 bomber as a launch mother aircraft to launch missiles to Britain. This improved mother aircraft removed the bomb rack and the associated fuel tanks on the He-111 bomber. A V-1 missile launch transmission mechanism and missile rack were installed under the left wing of the bomber. The bomber was named He-111H-22 after the change.

However, the risk factor of bomber launch is quite high. V-1 missiles are heavy and can easily cause aircraft destruction and casualties when launched. A total of 1,200 V-1 missiles were launched in this way. It also caused 77 bombers to crash. In one mission, only two V-1s exploded prematurely after the aircraft left the runway, resulting in the loss of 12 bombers.

The Germans also considered using the German Ar-234 bomber to launch V-1 missiles. The plan was to launch them through a launcher temporarily installed on the back swivel of the bomber. But this plan only remained in the drawing stage.

However, the use of bomber launch was forced by the Allied bombing pressure, and now the German army is so openly using ground launch.

"Report, ready!"

"Launch!"

As the launch button was pressed, compressed air sent octane gasoline from the missile's fuel tank to the pulse jet engine located above the tail of the missile. Then the spark plug began to ignite, the fuel was ignited, the engine made a huge roar, and a dazzling flame sprayed from the tail.

When the engine reached full speed, the catapult suddenly started, pushing the two-ton missile into the sky. When the missile left the launcher, the speed reached 400 kilometers per hour.

Several Mosquito bombers that had been circling in the sky immediately followed up, recording the movements of these missiles in detail.

"Altitude 900 meters... 1000 meters... 1500 meters... 2000 meters, reaching the designated flight altitude."

"Engine normal."

"Flight normal, flight speed 640 kilometers."

Soon, the V-1 missile formation flew over the strait.

"A V1 engine has stalled and is falling." Because some technologies are not mature enough, missiles will have mechanical failures from time to time.

When the remaining nine V-1s flew to the center of the Channel, the British radar also detected these uninvited guests. Dowding, who had been depressed all day, received the report. "What? Nine enemy planes were spotted?"

In fact, there were six Mosquito bombers following them, but as mentioned earlier, this not-so-advanced radar could hardly detect the Mosquito bombers with a wooden main frame structure, and only detected nine V-1 missiles.