Hitler's last gasp! Kamikaze Doodlebug with room for a PILOT that was the Nazis' [tr]

UK Daily Mail ^ | June 22, 2017 | NIck Enoch

[C19fan]

An incredibly rare Kamikaze version of Adolf Hitler's deadly V1 terror weapon is about to go on display at a British museum 47 years after it was saved from the scrapheap - and restored in Germany. The piloted Doodlebug was effectively a suicide bomb packed with one ton of explosives in its nose. Towards the end of the Second World War, some 5,000 V1 rockets, the world's first cruise missile, were launched by the Germans to bomb London, causing massive loss of life.

[C19fan]

I did not know the Nazis had suicide Buzz Bombs.

[SkyDancer]

In reading aviation history I believe it was said that the first Doodle Bugs were having flight problems so they made one that a pilot could sit in one to evaluate its performance and why it was acting as it was. I think a wind tunnel could have also figured out what was going on. IMHO

[ichabod1]

I thought the V1 you could hear it coming so you could take cover, but it was the V2 that was uber deadly, because it was silent.

[Steely Tom]

That would be Hanna Reitsch.

[SkyDancer]

Yes, she was a test pilot although there were others as well.

[Joe Brower]

The piloted V1s were featured in the beginning of the movie, Operation Crossbow.

[tm61]

looks like you “bail out” right in front of the jet
intake...umm, thanks but no..

[knighthawk]

It was not a suicide plane, the Japanse Ohka version was. However Hitler did oppose suicide like this and did forbid it so the Luftwaffe had a plan: pilot would steer the plane and then jump out before impact. But this was unworkable so the nazi’s never used them as suicide flying bomb.

[hoosierham]

The Nazis would probably have better used the resources to build more fighters.

[jamaksin]

The V1 used a so-called “pulse jet” where the intake was much like a spring-loaded “louver” resulting in a “pulsed” thrust and hence it sound.

[\/\/ayne]

That would be Hanna Reitsch.

I read one account where in testing they kept crashing the piloted V1 and the pilot would die. Reitsch kept yelling at them to be allowed to try. I think they let her try hoping she would crash, but she flew and landed it.

[henkster]

The Germans lost the war because the Germans were Germans and Hitler was Hitler. Any alternate scenarios that ignore these basic truths are not valid.

[Don@VB]

Here in Virginia Beach, the Pungo Air Museum has a V1 on display. It is a very impressive and formidable weapon. Don’t know how rare they are, but I never expected to see one.

[Flick Lives]

It wasn’t that the V2 was silent, it was supersonic, so it arrived on target before the sound shockwave.

[samtheman]

Here in Virginia Beach, the Pungo Air Museum has a V1 on display.

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Thanks for the info. I’m driving down to the outer banks this summer and if I have a chance I’ll stop at that museum. I’ve already seen the Wright Brothers museum in NC, and it is fantastic.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

They had all sorts of crazy stuff! Read Thomas Pynchon’s “Gravity’s Rainbow. Tons of facts laced into his fictional narrative.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk.

[Henchster]

Towards the end of the Second World War, some 5,000 V1 rockets, the world's first cruise missile, were launched by the Germans to bomb London, causing massive loss of life.

Fake News. Germany launched about 15,000 V1 and V2s and the total loss of life was less than 7,500 - meaning you had to launch two V weapons to kill one Brit. Terrible waste of resources.

[samtheman]

I think you are right. They were terror weapons that were by definition terrifying, but they had absolutely zero impact on the course of the war.

The only concrete result of the V1/V2 rocket program was to give an opportunity for skills-development to a great rocket scientist who ended up in the hands of the US and who was a large factor in us putting Americans on the moon.

[Axenolith]

They had plenty of fighters and posted some of their highest production numbers in the last 8 or so months of the war, they didn’t have pilots and fuel.