# V-1 and V-2 - what's the difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376 "2010-02-25T10:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/21 "2010-02-26T01:02:15Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > Here are wiki links showing the design of the two rockets. > > [V-1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1), [V-2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2). > > There was also a manned version of the V-1 built in order to improve accuracy, the [Fieseler Fi 103R](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieseler_Fi_103R_(Reichenberg)). > > [3-view pic](http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/Fi103_gatial_tomas_500.jpg) Minor terminological quibble: IIRC the V-1 would not be considered a rocket, it’s a jet. A rocket is a special type of jet that carries its own oxygen supply; all rockets are jets, but not all jets are rockets. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/22 "2010-02-26T07:11:32Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Minor terminological quibble: IIRC the V-1 would not be considered a rocket, it’s a jet. A rocket is a special type of jet that carries its own oxygen supply; all rockets are jets, but not all jets are rockets. :o I know that and I was going to replace rocket with missile but I got distracted while finding links for the manned V-1 and forgot to change the first line. An interesting spin off of V-2 (A4 at the time) development was the [Wasserfall](http://www.luft46.com/missile/wasserfl.html) Surface to Air Missile. Visually guided by a ground operator in its intial form, a radar guided version was also being developed. While the V-1 and V-2 were of limited usefullness, the Wasserfall could have had a major impact on daylight bombing operations. The bombers would have been forced to adopt more open formations to prevent multiple bombers being brought down by a single missile. This in turn would have reduced the ability of the bomber gunners to support each other and made the job of the escort fighters a lot harder as they would have had to spread out to cover the wider bomber formations. If the Germans had focused their efforts on completing their more practical missile weapons, air-to-air missiles, surface-to-air missiles and further development of the anti-shipping missiles then they would have gotten far more bang for their reichsmark than they did with the V weapons. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/23 "2010-02-26T10:05:03Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The fighter pilots eventually tried to get around this by flying parallel to the bomb and then slipping one wing under one of the bomb’s wings and flipping it over. That’s pretty hard core. Do you have a cite on that? I’m not doubting you; I’d just like to read more about it. I’m always interested in the insanely dangerous things people do in wartime. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/24 "2010-02-26T10:54:24Z")
> [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](#): > > That’s pretty hard core. Do you have a cite on that? I’m not doubting you; I’d just like to read more about it. I’m always interested in the insanely dangerous things people do in wartime. Here’s a pic of a Spitfire [tipping a V-1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spitfire_Tipping_V-1_Flying_Bomb.jpg). And [here](http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=880o3Wwzn0MC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=wing+tipping+v1&source=web&ots=UnBsvTmecW&sig=3wijELKEVuO_fZRviyUJzQphhpI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#v=onepage&q=wing%20tipping%20v1&f=false) is an account of a pilot doing it from “Late Mark Spitfire Aces 1942-45 By Alfred Price”. In that account the pilot actually damages his wing tip using the tipping technique but the first pilot to do it didn’t actually intended to touch the V-1. He used the airflow over his wing to disrupt the airflow over the V-1’s wing which sent it out of control. He got the idea when his guns jammed, or he ran out of ammo not sure which, and he remembered a V-1 that crashed after another pilot dived past a V-1 at close range and the slipstream from the diving plane disrupted the V-1 enough to cause it to crash. I’ll try and find the reference when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/25 "2010-02-26T13:44:43Z")
> [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](#): > > That’s pretty hard core. Do you have a cite on that? I’m not doubting you; I’d just like to read more about it. I’m always interested in the insanely dangerous things people do in wartime. I can’t cite that either, but I remember hearing that before the internet even existed. And its probably not as dangerous as it sounds, or at least compared to all the other really dangerous stuff going on in war. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/26 "2010-02-26T14:00:09Z")
There’s a lengthy write-up, including the name of an officer who flipped a V-1 while flying a Gloster Meteor jet fighter, and what appears to be a painting of a Spitfire sidling up to a V-1 [here](http://greyfalcon.us/restored/The%20V.htm). The site also credits one pilot with destroying 60 of the things. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/27 "2010-02-27T20:43:18Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > …Strategic bombing was shown to be a huge waste of resources in WW2. Britain survived the blitz without much trouble but still believed that bombing Germany was a good idea. By the end of the war German cities and industry were being hit by massively powerful bombing raids almost daily but Germany still managed to increase production despite the bombing… I’ve read that elsewhere, as well. I wonder, though: had the Allies not massively bombed, how much more would the Germans have been able to produce? Perhaps the bombing, although not totally bringing German production to a halt, suppressed it to some useful extent? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/28 "2010-02-28T08:08:17Z")
If Germany had developed & stockpiled V-2s before the war began (a _very_ big leap) and used them against Britain early, it might have terrified the public enough that appeasement politicians may have won the day and gotten an armistice with Germany. Regardless, that would never have happened because the V-2 program was enormously expensive, proportionately akin to America’s Manhattan Project for the A-Bomb. Although it ultimately failed to effect the war it should be noted that the V-2’s design was sound enough that modified versions are still operational today! The infamous SCUD is little more than a V-2 with greater range & accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/29 "2010-02-28T08:45:19Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I can’t cite that either, but I remember hearing that before the internet even existed. And its probably not as dangerous as it sounds, or at least compared to all the other really dangerous stuff going on in war. I’ve had ex-RAF WWII fighter pilots tell me about the practice so I know it happened. There was also a computer game some years ago called _European Air War_ in which it was a valid tactic (mentioned in the manual, IIRC) to bring down V-1s later in the game, too. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376/30 "2010-03-01T13:16:42Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > It’s been said that had the Germans conserved V-1s and used thousands of them in a single massed attack against the cross-channel invasion fleet it would have been devastating, but this has always seemed iffy to me. You can’t hit a moving fleet with V-1s, and (as unguided area weapons) they’re ineffective against a dispersed fleet, so you’d have to hit the fleet just as it assembled for the crossing. Timing and aiming such an attack would certainly have required the aerial reconnaissance Germany was already unable to muster. Launching all those V-1s at once would have required thousands of launchers as it took too long to reload each launcher for it to be a rapid-fire weapon. Still, a hundred V-1s coming in all at once would have been powerful. There wouldn’t have been enough fighters and AA guns to take them all down and more would have gotten through. Especially if it was a night attack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-1-and-v-2-whats-the-difference/530376.md?page=1)