The V-1 Flying Bomb: The Nazi Cruise Missile

The newest video in our ongoing investigation series into why Adolf was so obsessed with putting the letter V in front of the names of his scariest murder toys.
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[@paulhaynes8045]

I'm only here because of the randomness of the V1's 'targetting'. My mother, then 8, had just returned to her south London home after being evacuated to Yorkshire for several years, when a V1 hit the house opposite. Had it landed just a second earlier, I woudn't be sitting here, 77 years later, posting this. For most of my life I never knew if this story was true, as in the post-war world I grew up in, almost everyone had their V1/V2 story. But when preparing my speech for my mum's funeral a year or so ago, I happened across the address of her childhood home (I had visited this as a child, but never known exactly where it was). I looked it up on Google maps and when I switched to Street View, sure enough, in a road of entirely Edwardian semis, there was one 50s bungalow - immediately opposite my mum's old house.

[@MegaAndroyd]

For me, my grandfather's few stories were about fighting afar. He was in the desert. Both of my grandmother's stories were about being bombed in London and the sound of the V1s coming. As her house was bombed, my grandmother was hiding under the kitchen table clutching my uncle, who was a baby at the time. Both of them survived. I remember my other grandmother hated being around balloons, she was done hearing loud bangs.

[@johnbockelie3899]

The Vengeance one, and the rocket was the Vengeance two. "V" weapons.

[@josso1]

That's interesting my grandfather was in the desert rats, iirc I recall my grandmother saying the noise was't so scary of the V-1s it was when they stopped and you didn't know where they were going to land.

[@joeeeehh2943]

@josso my great grandfather was a desert rat also

[@StYxXx]

My gandmother couldn't stand new year's fireworks since it reminded here of the war

[@grapeshot]

My grandfather was in an anti-aircraft Battalion in the US Army during World War II and he told me about shooting down V1s. But of course the V2 broke the sound barrier so there were no way to intercept them.

[@WatcherMovie008]

It wasn't that the V-2 broke the sound barrier, but rather the V-2 flew way high up into the stratosphere that by the time you could see the V-2, gravity is already doing it job and the V-2 is coming down to Earth like an asteroid hell bent on crash landing wherever the hell it decides to land.

[@FIRE_STORMFOX-3692]

@@WatcherMovie008 also you can't fly certain craft at such altitude. The air is too thin and the rocket therefore accelerates the higher it goes because there's less air in front of it, It's exponential acceleration. The only way to destroy it is to do it so at launch or while taking off since it's when it's more vulnerable and slow

[@nemosis9449]

As a 62 year old Londoner whose mum aged 21 lived worked and survived thru the Blitz less than 1 mile from St Paul's Cathedral and also when the buzz bombs started coming over i would like to thank your grandfather for his service to protect my mum. Respect. From London.

[@springbok4015]

Fortunately the V2’s were often poorly built by forced labor.

[@grapeshot]

@@WatcherMovie008 yeah my grandfather told me about a V2 rocket they hit a movie theater in Antwerp. Killed over 500 people.

[@thomasdarby6084]

I remember, as a young boy living in Northern California in the early 60's, talking to a neighbor who had been an RAF fighter pilot in the war. He referred to the V1 as a "buzz bomb" because of it's peculiar sound. He gave me a plastic model kit of the thing, which I kept until I was married several years later. I still remember his voice, describing the terror that people felt as Germany was still trying to destroy them.

[@staggertobed]

The terror of these things was amplified by the sound they made.. and then the lack of sound. You would hear it coming in overhead like a loud buzzing from the engine.. but then.. the engine would stop.. and there would be silence... until the explosion. Imagine hearing it.. and then suddenly NOT hearing it. Were you seconds from dying? Terrifying.

[@rogerlucy8817]

My Mother who lived in London through the War said she found the V-1s much more frightenting thn the V-2s. As the V-2 flew faster than sound, it had already hit before you even heard them coming. With the V-1 you heard the pulse jet as it approached, and then when it cut out, you knew it was probably going to land somewhere nearby. Also because the V-1s glided i,n they tended to do a lot more surface damage then V-2s which made a large hole in the ground before detronating.

[@tylerkinley268]

The first acts of terrorism by a modern country?

[@coreymcconnell1908]

It's a shame you didn't include the sound of one of the bombs. Its truly an eerie sound. I believe they were also called buzz bombs because of the sound of the pulse jet running.

[@laurencemcguigan2225]

Doodle bug

[@hanzup4117]

I was thinking about the V-1 and V-2 earlier today. Fun fact: The V-2 was the first man-made object into space.

[@johnkonieczny728]

the space race began with the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik - the first man-made object to orbit the Earth.

[@hanzup4117]

@@johnkonieczny728 Check out Mark Felton Productions on the subject :)

[@robertkerr4199]

Everything thing man-made has always been in space... Everything is in space.. the V2 is the first man-made object to leave the atmosphere. The idea that Earth is somehow separate from space needs to be removed from the human psyche.

[@Crashed131963]

Fun Facts . The V1 had almost the same payload as the V2, 1,800lbs vs 2000lbs. The V1 had almost the range of the V2 , 250 km vs 300 km .

[@randomveezerr2582]

Wait. Was it not the first man-made object went to space is some Nazi Super gun. Idk which one tho

[@mr606neil]

I lived in Sutton Surrey during WW2 and was 13yo in 1944. As a paper boy I saw and heard many V1s during my early morning paper rounds. Fortunately I was evacuated with my school when a flying bomb struck a house 3 doors down from my home causing extensive damage and because it was a Saturday, my parents were at our shack in Sussex so were spared. Since 1952 I have lived in Queensland, Australia but the memories are as clear as is yesterday.

[@euangallagher7545]

Couldn’t imagine what that would’ve been like to experience for the first time as a kid.

[@Etj1013]

Would you mind if I ask questions about your experiences?

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:00 - Chapter 1 - Revenge is in the air 2:10 - Chapter 2 - Development 4:50 - Chapter 3 - The V1 8:25 - Chapter 4 - Warhead 9:30 - Chapter 5 - Launch 10:40 - Chapter 6 - In operation 11:40 - Chapter 7 - Countermeasures 13:50 - Chapter 8 - V1

[@stefanmilosevic8899]

Thanks!

[@jetsons101]

Between the V-1, V-2 and the A-bomb it's amazing that such projects could be done with such minimal technology in electronics and metallurgy . Another fine video.

[@jshicke]

Simon, today I learned about the Spanish submarine "Peral". This would make a great future video. The Submarine , or Submerged Torpedo boat, was built in 1888 and was a first in many areas of submarine design, influencing submarine evolution.

[@jacobzimmermann59]

Here's an interesting megaproject: the Chamonix-Ailguille Du Midi-Helbronner-Courmayer cableway.

[@jessicaevans7847]

You just want to hear Simon say that over and over again

[@tknispel]

We need a Biographics on Wernher Von Braun!

[@AHGrayLensman]

I studied aerospace engineering at Ohio State in the early '90s, and my thermodynamics and propulsion professor was a guy named Rudolph Edse. He got his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Hamburg in 1937 and specialized in novel rocket and jet engine fuel formulations. ...yeah, one of my college professors was a German rocket scientist. By all accounts, Edse was instrumental in the design of the V1's pulsejet engine. He got scooped up by Operation Paperclip after the war -- I found an old FBI report that mentioned him in the same sentence as Von Braun -- and started working for Ohio State in 1947. His exams were the stuff of nightmares. He finally had to stop teaching in 1995 after he had a heart attack *in class*, through which he kept teaching and then walked the ~1.5 miles from the lecture hall to the OSU hospital complex. He passed away a couple years later, in 1998.

[@JohnMassey-q5l]

My mother had 3 aunts and uncles with their children living in London. They decided to move to a house in the countryside in the south east of England as they thought it would be safer there. Unfortunately a V1 veered off course and blew the country house and its occupants to bits. They were all killed. Very interesting video Simon and crew. Keep up the good work!!!!

[@EdMcF1]

1:30 'The V-1 is often referred to as a revenge weapon'.. Yes, because it was, a 'Vergeltungswaffe' a 'revenge weapon' , that was its blasted name!

[@KELTIKGETORIX]

Told me when he came home on leave he could never forget the image of a lady being split apart after she stepped off the bus when a doodlebug landed. He could never get this image out of his mind

[@stevenmartinek815]

Simon Whistler was tasked with jumping up and intercepting the V1 rocket. He was then to throw them back at Germany. Mr. Whistler preformed this task with ease.

[@UntakenNick]

Let the _"my grandfather was.."_ comments begin!

[@WKRP187]

Having a Grandfather that was in WW2 but unfortunately never got to meet I love reading others stories from the front lines etc during WW2!!

[@UntakenNick]

@@WKRP187 Exactly, they were all in the front line, or were close buddies with Hitler or were in the same room while the Normandy landing was being planned.

[@hassanbenzim7681]

My grandfather was a farmer in morocco😂 can i be part of the my grandather was too

[@UntakenNick]

@@Amlaeuxrai So did my grand grandfather, we have an alpine soldier helmet and some nazi office items. But that's my point, every single physically capable man was drafted, so of course anyone of European descent is going to have some story to tell that will most likely be similar to those of everyone else, mixed with all kinds of inexactitudes, exaggerations or plain lies.

[@WKRP187]

@@hassanbenzim7681 .... Nope unless he was fighting the Nazi's with his ho and bombing them with fertilizer bombs your not in the club😁

[@Jason-er1vf]

I actually have a fragment of a V-1 Rocket that hit London near Bushy Park. My grandpa, who was part of the U.S. 234th Military Police, was pretty close by when it hit, and he took the fragment as a souvenir.

[@TDCFire]

There are some giant elevators for ships around the world like the "Schiffshebewerk Scharnebeck" in northern Germany. They probably would make a nice video

[@jillbiggar1787]

Really happy that I found your channel, such useful information, thank you!! We will definitely be talking you up amongst our friends here in BC, Canada. Keep it up, guys!

[@normanhumphrey9695]

That was a good one, thank you. Wondered if you might be able to do a show on the big grain elevators that grew and grew from small wooden units to giant concrete elevators dotting the US and Canadian country sides. These provided the storage and loading of grains into rail cars by the hundreds. Thanks, Norm. Calgary Alberta, Canada

[@youtube2snoopy820]

Excellent info in this video. V2's were a significant improvement over the V1's in everything but their primary purpose: terror. You could hear the 'doodlebugs' coming but since engine shutoff was the targeting system they presented a significant threat only when the engine went silent. Thus while all silence could seem pregnant with threats, real dread was felt by any and all who heard the V1 coming... then silence. If you heard a V1 coming you were in its range, if the engine went silent before it passed you then you were its possible target. V2's came steaming in steeper, faster, bigger... and buried themselves in a blast-limiting crater. With a V2 nobody knew what hit them until it hit them. Much less terrifying.

[@Mrgunsngear]

Thanks

[@Annon0074]

Good to see ya here!

[@cbadcruiser]

You have to do the X-15! Fastest manned aircraft. Was used to test reentry heating effects for space capsules.

[@kristinagraversgaard5328]

I mean, technically the fastest manned aircraft was the Space Shuttle Colombia during reentry (specifically the STS-2 mission)

[@TheRealAaronSmith]

@@kristinagraversgaard5328 technically, sure, but the records are set for powered flights, not reentry.

[@stevedownes5439]

Have you done a video on the Proximity Fuse? Might be too small for a Mega Project video, but might be too big for a Side Project video. Very interesting history behind it, when it was first used and WHERE it wasn't used until later in WW2.

[@robthegardener9631]

Curious Droid did a video about the proximity fuse

[@comments.are.turned.off...]

My grandmother was in London during The Blitz. She used to tell me stories of when she and her girlfriend were working late nights cleaning an old theatre. She said you would hear the sirens and all the city lights would go out, then would come the sound of the V-1. She said hearing it was always OK. In fact you prefererred it because you knew where it was an could hear it fly over. She said the most terrifying moment if you were caught out on the street was when the V-1 engines cut off. Complete silence. She said that was when you would just crouch there not knowing where it would drop. The silence was absolutely gutwretchingly terrifying. Then BOOM!! Apparently, when the engines cut, the V-1 would start a steep incline to the ground, so if you heard it cut off above you, you were safe, But if you heard it cut off a bit aways from you, you were an immediate possible target, They used to pray to hear it stop above them. She said this would happen while on the buses too, where all the lights on the buses were off so it wouldn't attract attention and then you'd hear the whistling of the V-1 through the air for just a few seconds before it impacted nearby. Just going to work each night was a terrifying cat and mouse with death. She was just 17 years old. Just remember that when you are complaining about your life. Those who came before us living through hell on earth to give us what we have today. LEST WE FORGET.

[@JSp4wN]

Thanks for sharing this story with us random people on the internet. I wish I could talk to the ones whom lived through it. I hope we never forget our history (again), it'd be absolutely devastating to our species. Even though this is very tragic and evil time we've still learned extremely valuable lessons from it. Cheers friend. 🤝

[@sarahcook8725]

Amen, I would love to have know. Anyone back then to hear all the stories about how they survived

[@dodoubleg2356]

How about a sequel...a Mega Projects vid on the V2?? Enjoyed the vid as always. 😉👍👍✌️

[@garryfrater7536]

Great (as always) history of the V1 could I expect a history of the V2 anytime soon. Keep up the fantastic work as usual I enjoy this and all the other programs you produce keep them coming.

[@wilberator9608]

20 seconds before the explosion: "The nazis have got flying motorbikes!"

[@jshicke]

It was Hagrid, from Hogwarts, flying in to collect Harry Potter.

[@steveh1792]

Long before the V1 there was the Kettering Bug, intended to be an "aerial torpedo", first flight October 1918. It sometimes worked, if 'way too late for WW1.

[@dopaminedreams1122]

Why is it that every channel featuring simon becomes one of my favourites, either his scripts are fantastic or his delivery. Probs both

[@johnthrelfall5]

Excellent presentation of the technical aspects of the V1 and of the British computerised radar guided anti-aircraft guns and proximity fused shells. Thanks for the quality research.

[@m.jsniper8935]

That picture the people all huddled together in the underground tube station really struck a cord with me. There's something so "real/tangible" about it.

[@Dutch1961]

I didn't know the Ilyushin Il2 Shturmovik was used in the fight against V-1's? (12:57)

[@stephenle-surf9893]

You got that to? God knows it's the only thing they didn't throw at the Russians.

[@schimmelnewkirk]

I spotted that too

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

It's not as though they're short of library images of Spitfires etc. . . . !

[@marckyle5895]

@@EllieMaes-Grandad or Tempests, Typhoons, Spits, Thunderbolts and Mustangs.

[@ericstromberg9608]

@@marckyle5895 Gloster Meteors...

[@Treasureson78RPM]

Sometimes pilots would dive after the V1 and use the airflow from their aircraft wing to tip the flying bomb. It would mess up the bomb's gyro and cause it to crash. They needed to get as near as 6 inches from the bomb's wing to execute the maneuver. The Hawker Tempest was the only interceptor with a good enough low altitude performance to catch up with the V1, but there was only 30 of those planes available. They were assigned to the No. 150 Wing RAF. At least 16 V1s were destroyed that way. Later on more aircrafts like the P-51, Republic Thunderbolt, twin engined Mosquitoes and the Griffon engined Spitfire were used as interceptors.

[@xAdam2gx]

Anyone who has Played Battlefield 1 and heard the V1s being called in knows the sound... i couldnt imagine the fear in hearing that at night

[@DerekHarding]

The sound was fine. It was the silence when the engine cut out because that meant it was falling.

[@yomama629]

Battlefield V you mean

[@KingSparta]

Very Good.

[@orange70383]

Just think, you're sitting in your home and here the tell-tale sound of a V-1, then the sound suddenly stops which tells you the thing is on it's way down in your area.

[@Splattle101]

At 12.56 you say aircraft also shot down V1s, and you show a nice shot of a formation of IL-2 Sturmovik ground attack aircraft of the VVS. Long way from home weren't they?

[@MatthewMcGeeEI4HZB]

Nicely explained on the distance mechanism. Thx.

[@steveshoemaker6347]

Very well said and researched as well.....Thanks u'all's....!

[@davidholmgren659]

Very well done story. Wonderful graffics and an understandable commentary on the mechanics of the weapon and system. There has been a lot of comparisons of Putin and Hitler lately...and there has always been a question of what Hitler would have done had he possessed Nuclear weapons. Maybe this would be a timely subject for your next excellent video. Well done Simon.

[@kumaflamewar6524]

This thumbnail bring me tons of nostalgia, i went to school in the small town in Indiana where that WW2 victory statue is. Imagine my utter shock when i saw a V-1 buzz bomb looking over the town square of a one horse town in Indiana

[@elliottprice6084]

Love this channel. An idea for a future video? The North American P47 Thunderbolt. The heaviest single engined aircraft of WW2. 10 tonnes of attitude 😁

[@jezrix]

Another amazing video. Thanks

[@thegunslinger1363]

And years later. Wernher Von Braun would play a pivotal role. In the NASA space programme.

[@kevinhoffman6592]

Von Braun was more affiliated with V 2

[@kevinhoffman6592]

@@Amlaeuxrai i know i watched him on the tv when i was a kid seeing man landing on the moon . so glad he came to the US instead of Russia.

[@Therealromario1]

Using the metric system. In your face USA 🔥

[@zulucain]

And years later sheperd selling oil at wrong price to wrong folk would get the same ;-)

[@zsoltsandor3814]

The Americans took von Braun, the Soviets took the blueprints.

[@stephenlane9168]

Another brilliantly researched and entertainingly presented and informative video Simon & Oliver 👌

[@bmcg5296]

Outstanding production and extremely informative.

[@2000Meilen]

An idea for a future video would be canals in general and the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal in Germany in particular. Almost 100km (around 62mi) long and build with pre WW1 tecnhnology in not even 10 years. Not only digging a large trench is woth noting, but also redirecting and incorporating the rivers it crossed. And also building the bridges and other infrastructure around it.

[@Bacopa68]

Let's put all canals here. I'm partial to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, a canal with a complex system of locks that connects the Ohio valley with the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama. It has proven very useful to divert a large part of small barge traffic away from the crowded lower Mississippi. Basically this 377km system of canals connects Tennessee river which drains northward into the Ohio River with Tombigbee tributaries in Mississippi and Alabama that drain southward into the Gulf of Mexico. And yeah, the Ohio gets there too, but the Tenn-Tom gets there faster and keeps the Mississippi less crowded.

[@hrvojegrgic5111]

Excellent video on V-1. Thank you.

[@roughhewnuk]

Great stuff as usual mr Whistler, 👍👍👍

[@peterthurman9384]

Always good to here your candid, unbiased presentations on politically sensitive subjects. Stay safe, and thank you sir.

[@daishi5571]

My granddad was a postmant during WW2. He told me that one day he had just turned the corner after delivering mail down a street, when all of a sudden he was picked up shoved halfway across the road and dumped back down. When he cleared his head he took a look around the corner he had just come from and he said it just wasn't there anymore. I had heard of the noise that the V1 makes and that when you don't hear it is when you worried. I asked why he didn't run for cover and he said that he had a job to do, and that it could have landed anywhere, so just went on.

[@calvinengsci]

Another great video. Please consider doing a video on the V2.

[@ewaldikemann4142]

Hello! I always enjoy your well done videos. My suggestion: one about the world's first subway.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Even though I worked in aviation for years and understand how a pulse jet engine works, it STILL amazes me that one of these engines _'explodes'_ at 40+ times PER SECOND.

[@AlexMarciniszyn-y1k]

Think of it as a very large automobile carburetor, which accepts air and fuel, closes, combusts, and repeats.

[@JuanONo-cl2jt]

You should do a video on La Línea in Colombia. It is the longest tunnel in Latin America at 8.65 km long through the Andes mountains in Colombia. It took around 14 years to build. It would definitely count as a mega project and I would love to see some videos on projects in South America.

[@GultchWolf]

Simon buddy. I love your videos. I have seen you do all of the other WW2 ships, weapons and such but I haven’t seen you do a video yet on the Bismarck and her sister ship Turpiz. I would love to see your take on them.

[@cookingwithchefluc7173]

When I see the notification of Simon posting a video on Megaprojects , I know that its gonna be a good video 😂

[@anthonymcdonnell6615]

the v1 was also launched from bombers over the north sea targeting the north west uk as well

[@tedsmith6137]

The catapult was not to get the V1 up ''to a speed where the Pulse Jet could operate" as the pulse jet was running before the catapult was activated. Pulse jets will run at zero forward speed. A Ram Jet, on the other hand, must be moving at around 300 MPH to operate.

[@noahwail2444]

Yes, the catapult was for the wings to get enough speed to make lift.

[@raykewin3608]

There is a plan to link some of the Shetland islands with undersea tunnels. The Faeroe islands already have 3. A plan to link north Atlantic islands with undersea tunnels has to be a Megaproject, right ?

[@ravindushehan7192]

Gravity's Rainbow lead me here. These videos helped my understanding of this book.

[@charlesgillanders4430]

Hi - as a suggestion for a mega project have you ever heard about Ireland’s rural electrification? In 1946 two thirds of the homes in Ireland had no electricity and there was a massive project to connect everyone to the grid and to provide generating capacity to power all those homes.

[@snakedad]

Would love to see a video on the "Öresundsbron" which is a bridge/tunnel connecting Sweden and Denmark.

[@stickfigure31]

I wish they had taught us about the V-1 and V-2 in American highschool. These kinds of videos helped me finally appreciate history. In American public school history is taught in separate disjointed sections and in the context of a lot of dry out of context politics (for example of how poor our schools do history Vsauce mentioned how most people here don't think of Anne Frank and Martin Luther King jr as being alive at the same time and it's weird to them at first when you point it out until they do the mental math) glossing over all the cool technology advancements. Even though I had grandparents who grew up in occupied Netherlands. Because they never really talked about that time (other then they still hated the Germans) focusing more on the great depression and post war reconstruction era (or as they put it "When we got married we didn't want to have to share a house with other families as required by the government, so that's when/why we moved to America"), I didn't really give WW2 much thought (focusing more on the Apollo era and the then present of Spirit and Opportunity rovers) until 6th grade when someone gave me a copy of Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One (which focuses on the American western campaign) in which thinking in the lens of tech was fascinated by the era and how most of it was driven by pen and paper math in the field. However it wasn't until after I graduated that I learned about the V-2 rocket (I had a BBC program on the Space race running in the background while play Kerbal Space Program I was expecting it to start in 1957 with sputnik like my highschool teacher did and was surprised when it started in WW2 with the V-2, pausing the game glued to that first episode) and even later the V-1 rocket. Ironically that BBC program actually explained "why a cold war when America and Russia were friends in WW2?" better then highschool did and it wasn't even it's main focus. Had they actually covered the V-1 and V-2 and how that feed into the cold war with ICBMs and space travel in my history class I feel it would of helped me understand the relevance of history at a younger age. As it happened I did pass my history classes with As, but even now I'm still trying to find the glue for these different pieces for a lot of the "separate sections". It would of been more useful to of had less separate facts that needed memorizing for a test and more of how everything connected and flowed from one "separate era" to the next. Because it was only once I realized that history wasn't just a collection of "separate facts" that could be checked on wikipedia at any moment I realized it's value.

[@earlyriser8998]

good summary of a complex topic

[@Dakkss]

My Nan saw one of these destroy a house in her street. She was just a kid at the time.

[@YouTube_user3333]

America: we landed on the moon Nazi’s: yeah because you stole our scientists and technology.

[@buckhorncortez]

You mean Robert H. Goddard knew nothing about rockets? Really...?

[@YouTube_user3333]

@@buckhorncortez I didn’t say that. Don’t confuse my words.

[@craigwall9536]

@@KZbin_user3333 You're _already_ confused. We stole NOTHING. Von Braun decided to surrender to us because he and his crew needed jobs and they had a skill. So STFU.

[@YouTube_user3333]

@@craigwall9536 Thanks for your kind words.

[@basichistory]

Really enjoyed the video. Could you do one on the V2 sometime?

[@sonicgoo1121]

How about some art as a megaproject? Like Christo wrapping up whole islands, or other examples of landscape art?

[@_NoDrinkTheBleach]

I found out recently that one of few surviving V-1 bombs in the US is sitting outside of a rural courthouse in Indiana. Seems like a very random resting place for such a historic weapon.

[@hanzup4117]

I'll be right back - I need to finish watching a Mega Projects video on the MiG 29.

[@charlottelevarec5654]

Excellent presentation style

[@itsnotalwaysblackandwhite8624]

24th December 1944, a week after I was born, a V-1 launched out over the North Sea landed in the Tudhoe Cricket Field, Spennymoor, County Durham. It was the furthest North that a V-1 came down. We lived at 4 Saint Charles Road, Spennymoor which is right across the road from where the blooming thing landed. A near miss at such an early age.

[@AlexMarciniszyn-y1k]

V-1s were also launched from under the wing of He 111 bombers much like how the Americans would launch the X-15 years later.

[@Vendredi_Sur_Mer]

(From the channels I’m subscribed to) 3 videos have been posted! Going to have a great morning...

[@Kabup2]

He always do that, launch a bunch of videos together...

[@megaprojects9649]

@@Kabup2 There's generally a best time for posting videos, US morning.

[@megaprojects9649]

(Also is early enough over here that if something on a video is terribly wrong I'll still be able to do something about it :) )

[@Kabup2]

@@megaprojects9649 lol, that seems reasonable. Anyway, I'm subscribed to all of your channels, so I'm always getting a lot of notifications :D

[@williamzk9083]

A couple of notes: 1 Vergeltungs translates as reprisal rather than revenge. The idea was to damage British cities so much that the British would be forced to negotiate a stop bombing German cities. 2 The V1 did not fly to it ran out of fuel. There was a 25:1 ratio gearbox that drove a threaded rod. To set the range a switch was moved so that when a nut was driven along the threaded rod it would activate the switch and dive the rocket down by pitching the elevator. The negative g caused the fuel starvation and wasn't supposed to happen. Latter V1 had a second switch so they could change course and fly a dog leg so they couldn't be tracked. 3 The V1 had a becon called Ewald I that allowed the missile to be tracked so that subsequent missiles could be reaimed to compensate for wind. About 5% of missiles had Ewald Becons but toward the end of the war it became 50% 4 The V1 was to receive a precision guidance system called Ewald-II. The system used a transmitter on the V1 that emitted a coded pulse about midway to target. Three ground stations received this pulse and worked out the position from time differences. A sequence of pulses were sent to correct the course of the missile. the commands were recorded on endless loop magentic tape. Accuracy could be very high depending on where the command was given. (mid way or near target) It was unnameable. 5 A turbojet version with twice the range was being developed.Its lower vibration was expected to double accuracy. 6 Willy Messerschmitt wanted to build 100,000/month.

[@dools23]

Simon could you do something on the reunification of Germany? It must've been such an undertaking rejoining two sides of a country which had been split for so long

[@deelkar]

The V1 had a design cruise altitude from 1000 to 6000 ft (pre-set at launch)

[@1986krazy]

Hey Simon, could you do a video on the hydraulic liftlock in my hometown of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada? It is the largest of it's kind in the world, and is a heritage site in Canada. It has been around for a long time, and is quite the marvel of engineering

[@hagerty1952]

I'm glad you're impressed by the 42 Hz pulse speed of the V1's engine. But remember that your car's engine turns over between 70 and 100 times per second when you do a high-speed motorway run.

[@sandhilltucker]

Could we have one about munition guidance like the Fritz-x all the way to modern day munitions.

[@Bacopa68]

This has to include BF Skinner's pigeon missile. The Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg TX has a non-pigeon version of this experimental WWII weapon. It looks like a little version of a V-1 and was intended to be dropped from a medium bomber on an external mount to be a one shot kill against a ship.

[@hernerweisenberg7052]

@@Bacopa68 Haha i was thinking the same! American animal weapon are so quirky, like the bat-bomb ;D

[@gavinjoth5347]

An old V-1 launch site is featured prominently in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where the eccentric professor tries to use it to make himself a human flying rocket at the start of the movie.

[@ballbag6031]

What Hitler seemed to forget tryimg to break the will of the English people is that misery is the English way

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@Herpsnhotrods]

The raising of the kursk would be a good one

[@buckhorncortez]

In 1944, The United States started the MX-544 program. This was a pulsed jet remotely controlled missile later renamed the JB-2. The war ended before it became fully functional and the remaining JB-2 units were used as flying targets for various military training activities.

[@AlexMarciniszyn-y1k]

It was planned to launch the JB-2 against targets in Japan and a large quantity were ordered. The JB-2 was a direct copy of a captured German V-1 that glided to a landing in England instead of diving to the ground. The JB-2 would later be stored in a watertight structure on the top of a U.S. submarine. It was fired from there.

[@williamwingo8952]

In 1945, as the U.S. prepared for the dreaded invasion of Japan, they considered using an American variant of the V-1 in that effort; but it turned out not to be necessary. The V-1 design was later developed into some of the "cold war" missiles including the Matador and Mace. Hitler also ordered V-2's to be used to destroy the Rhein bridge at Remagen after it was captured intact; but they weren't accurate enough; and the bridge eventually collapsed by itself.

[@AlexMarciniszyn-y1k]

Nonsense. That is an unsubstantiated bit of nonsense. V-2 accuracy had improved by that point. Bridges do not collapse for no reason.

[@peterthurman9384]

Took out the american servicemen trying to keep the bridge useable, when it fell.

[@john7060]

Great video, do you think you could do something about Welding? I have no real idea what it would be about but I think it might make for a neat video. Or if not then that's cool too

[@Crashed131963]

Fun Facts . The V1 had almost the same payload as the V2, 1,800lbs vs 2000lbs. The V1 had almost the range of the V2 , 250 km vs 300 km .

[@SoundShinobiYuki]

I always get a chuckle out of the naming convention. The Nazis of course are all “It’s name will be Vengeance weapon!” …. And the Brits took the wind right out of that and started calling them “Doodlebugs”.

[@michaelmarks5012]

Only the British are polite enough to call a guided missile that kills thousands a "doodlebug".

[@nofaith5994]

In 1944 my dad was stationed at High Wycombe base about 45 miles west of London. He talked about the V-1s coming in so low that they would make his trousers flap in their wind. Nobody even paid them any attention until their engines cut out - then you knew they were coming in and dove for cover.

[@maildabrandstrom866]

I know this really really might not classify as a mega project but could you talk about the engineering behind the technology in the Swedish AJS 37? Would love to hear about it!

[@swunt10]

people make fun of 'silly german wonder weapons' but the V1 is the concept for cruise missiles, the V2 for ballistic missiles, the Fritz X is the concept for guided bombs, the Ruhrstahl X-4 is the concept for guided air to air rockets (also the basis for the first anti tank rocket), the Henschel Hs 293 was the first anti ship missile and then there was an entire zoo of surface to air missiles in development like Wasserfall and Enzian.

[@od1452]

I've read a great deal about WW2 but coincidently I just started reading about the V weapons. I was surprised at how many were made and how many were taken out by Barrage Balloons and flak. I suspect many of the bombs problems were the result of sabotage by the slave labor used in their making. I really think we under appreciate the significance of their sabotage efforts. . Granted it's almost impossible to prove. I think it would be a good subject for a new WW2 movie ( I know Crossbow) because of their impact on the culture of the time. Thanks for another bit of history.

[@AlexMarciniszyn-y1k]

A lot has been written but aside from popular books that are easy to find, not many look further. Yes, some sabotage occurred. The Diver Belt in England was a series of antiaircraft guns, but many V-1s did get through. And even though the V-1 could be shot down, the V-2 could not.

[@888johnmac]

future project .. Dr Evil's hollowed out volcano lair ( not being serious , commenting for the algorithm )

[@imouse3246]

Informative.

[@megatwingo]

German here: Only bei accident I guessed, that he wanted to say "Dampferzeuger" when it came to the powering of the launching ramps of the V1. What he really said: Dampfaasuuuga. Cool thing, that Dampfasuuuuga... 😄