We are in the middle of the second war, with a battle between the allies and the axis, both looking for ways to improve their technology to attack better, and suddenly appears with something that initially scared everyone.
With a name beyond complicated (Vergeltungswaffe V-1) and an even more frightening proposal, better known as the flying bomb and there we have such an aircraft in 1944.
Well, for today's technology this is not so much of a secret, although we currently have much worse things, but in the past such an advance was instigating (which was to prove to be “much worse” with the creation of the V-2). This small aircraft carried up to 1 ton of explosives in the front part, anterior to the wing. At the back there was a deposit for up to 680 liters of “gasoline” and compressed oxygen (which gave something around 550kg of weight), in the middle a modern system for the time, with a gyroscope and a com already pre-configured for the operation. And there goes a maximum speed of 680km/h and heights of up to 1200m, with a take-off weight of 2150kg and a range of more or less 230km.
Even more ingenious was a kind of silometer (comparable to the odometer of a car), composed of a propeller on the tip of the flying bomb, which, as soon as it reached the programmed distance, would turn off the engines (through relays) and instruct the aircraft elevators to go down hard (and there goes his luck being in the wrong place). It was usually destined to land in London, but only 1/3 achieved any success in the endeavor. Most were shot down for ease, in fact, he flew in a straight line his whole life and made a very loud noise. And also because of the not-so-reliable system at the time, which usually failed.
About the launch methods, it was by bombers (even planes), or via the ground by piston catapults. In all, about 10 V-1s were launched, imagine, at the same time there was also a V-2 that was 1000x more efficient. Of these about 2500 thousand fell in London.
Next post, V-two.
Below is a video for more examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY308O42Ur4
