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Shooting Down "Divers": A Fighter Pilot vs. the V-1 Buzz Bomb
By Jon Seal, Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator researcher & writer
While most of the 20,000 V-1 "buzz bombs" the Germans launched against Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands were launched off a steel rail on the ground, some were launched from beneath bomber aircraft, just as cruise missiles are launched today. This new Combat Flight Simulator mission recreates the air-launched V-1 scenario. Only a fraction of those 20,000 flying bombs reached their targets. The rest either failed on launch, or were destroyed by Allied antiaircraft guns or fighter aircraft.
The most successful fighter in the RAF's anti-V-1 campaign was the Hawker Tempest. Former Flight Lieutenant Jack Stafford, who flew a Tempest V in 486 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, accounted for nine of the 638 V-1s shot down by Tempest pilots during the summer of 1944.
The Tempest-Big, Tough, and Fast
The Tempest was the grandson of the venerable Hawker Hurricane that served so well during the Battle of Britain, and successor to the Typhoon fighter-bomber. The Tempest became operational in April, 1944, just in time to take on the growing threat from the V-1 buzz bombs raining down on London. Its massive 24-cylinder "flat-H" engine gave the Tempest more than 2,000 horsepower and a sound like no other fighter. Its thin laminar flow wing gave it high speed without the handling problems that dogged the thick-winged Typhoon. Its four 20 mm cannon gave it massive punch, and its ability to carry rockets or a ton of bombs made it a formidable fighter-bomber. The result was the biggest, fastest, most powerful piston-powered fighter flown by the RAF in World War II.
The Anti- V-1 Campaign
Destroying V-1s was not a leisurely process. The flying bomb's 400 mph speed meant that by the time radar operators or ground observers saw one, they could give only a few minutes' warning to air and ground units. Fighters provided the first line of defense, from the English Channel inland some 30 miles to the massed antiaircraft batteries waiting to shoot down intruders. After these batteries pilots had one more brief opportunity to shoot down incoming V-1s before they reached London's final defense, a ring of barrage balloons with dangling steel cables that could destroy buzz bombs or fighters, friend or foe.
The 30 miles between the coast and the antiaircraft defenses left little time for the fast-flying Tempests to catch and destroy the buzz bombs. Pilots would fly above the altitude of an incoming V-1, dive to pick up enough speed to overtake it, close to within cannon range, and fire from above and behind. This could be tricky, since it was very dangerous to be less than 200 yards behind an exploding 1,870-pound warhead, but keeping much greater distance made it difficult to score hits. Another, more difficult, approach was to fly parallel to the V-1, then use deflection shooting as it flew by.
One of the biggest dangers was to become fixated on the fast-moving target and follow it into the antiaircraft zone, where anxious gunners tended to fire at anything flying overhead, especially when as many as one hundred V-1s flew over every day. More danger awaited pilots who pursued buzz bombs into the balloon barrage.
Jack Stafford, now retired but hardly retiring in New Zealand, was there. Below he provides a first-hand account of the campaign against the flying bombs, which the RAF called "divers" (among themselves, Jack and his mates called them "doodlebugs").
A Tempest Pilot Remembers
My first diver (flying bomb) interception took place June 16, 1944. I caught up to the bomb [but when I opened fire] my cannon jammed. I was almost shot down by our own flak, which was totally unorganized and fired continually, badly endangering our own fighters. [On] June 19 I shot down my first flying bomb. [By] July 31 I shot down eight and recorded 56 patrols. From July 31 until August 26 I shot down one further flying bomb and recorded 30 patrols.
... British flak concentrated on the South Coast, and between the flak barrier and the balloon barrage erected to defend London, we were free to intercept and shoot down the divers without interference. We patrolled a thousand or two feet higher than the expected altitude of the divers and were well informed by Ground Control of their imminent arrival. We would be vectored to the position [at which] the diver would cross the coast, [and] given a countdown to its arrival. This was absolutely accurate and our indication came with the intense flak barrage that met its arrival. As it passed through the flak we pursued it in a long, gentle diving turn at max revs and boost. They varied in speed and to a lesser extent altitude. We would be doing maybe 450 mph at this stage and we had maybe 2½ minutes to catch it before it entered the balloon barrage.
My technique was to attempt to get as close as possible from the rear and, with no deflection, pour the 20 mm cannon shells at it. If it blew up in front of me, hard luck. This did happen on occasions and I survived. A Tempest was tough. At times the [V-1's] gyro would be damaged by our cannon fire and the diver would perform the most incredible aerobatics, finally hitting the ground, hopefully in a rural area. Speed was the requirement for success and only the Tempest had that low-altitude performance. Regardless, it was absolutely imperative for the pilot to chase and close to obtain success. Any hesitation in the attack rendered the operation impotent. Only the intrepid deserved victory. Victory itself was largely a lottery. If you were flying when they came over you would get them, provided you could shoot and were determined. If unlucky you could fly numerous patrols and see nothing. Also we flew in pairs and the leading aircraft got the greater opportunity. No. 2 had to wait, unless several came over together. Or No. 1 missed! While not difficult to catch, they were hard to destroy and dangerous. Those pilots considerate of their own safety were not successful. Fortune favors the brave.
When Control called, we turned and at top speed flew to the informed interception point. When a visual was obtained we concentrated totally on the target, expending every effort obtainable from the aircraft and the pilot to obtain total destruction, preferably in the air to defend the defenders on the ground.
Technology So Different, Men So Similar
We lived under extremely primitive conditions. We slept in tents on cots, maybe three, sometimes four to a tent. ...On one occasion I woke early in the tent. I needed to go to the latrine. I walked out into a dim predawn with a ground fog lying mysteriously all around. I walked through the mist and completed my ablutions. I returned towards the tents and gradually they came indistinctly into view. All was silent. This was possibly an area occupied by the retreating English, or maybe the pursuing Normans, in 1066. Little difference from us. Horses tethered in nearby paddocks, or fields, now occupied by our aircraft. Technology so different, men so similar. Driven by the same desires, the same fears. Facing what future no one knew. Noises of clattering pots and pans from the cookhouse, light coming from the East, the ghostly ground mist swirled and disappeared as I stood and watched. A short trip across the Channel men were groaning and dying in the sands of Normandy. German soldiers were readying flying bombs to start their offensive for the day. Soon I'd be in the air, strapped into my steel charger awaiting the arrival of the targets.
Hail Caesar! We who are about to die salute you. (-Suetonius)
—Flt. Lt. Jack Stafford, RNZAF
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Want to strap into a Tempest and go after the divers? Try out the new Combat Flight Simulator anti-V-1 mission now!
Comments or suggestions? Send them to CFSMail@microsoft.com.
© 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.
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The most successful fighter in the RAF's anti-V-1 campaign was the Hawker Tempest. Former Flight Lieutenant Jack Stafford, who flew a Tempest V in 486 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, accounted for nine of the 638 V-1s shot down by Tempest pilots during the summer of 1944.
Destroying V-1s was not a leisurely process. The flying bomb's 400 mph speed meant that by the time radar operators or ground observers saw one, they could give only a few minutes' warning to air and ground units. Fighters provided the first line of defense, from the English Channel inland some 30 miles to the massed antiaircraft batteries waiting to shoot down intruders. After these batteries pilots had one more brief opportunity to shoot down incoming V-1s before they reached London's final defense, a ring of barrage balloons with dangling steel cables that could destroy buzz bombs or fighters, friend or foe.
