V1's over Yorkshire

[Flying10uk]

My mother recently mentioned that she experienced, during WW2, a number of V1 flying bombs flying over Mexborough , South Yorkshire, and also heard of damage in the area caused by them. I haven't heard her speak of V1's flying over her childhood home before but she has spoken many times of the air-raids by conventional German bombers. I assumed that V1's didn't have the range to get that far north from occupied Europe. There were a number of attractive targets relatively near Mexborough but the No1 obvious target was Sheffield but there was also Doncaster and Manchester.

We had a bit of a discussion on where the V1's could have been launched from but it would seem that they must have been "air launched" V1's. See link at bottom of page. The V1's which my mother experienced could have been the ones aimed at Manchester or they could have been others intended for different targets. I believe that Mexborough could have been more or less on the flight path of the V1's aimed at Manchester.

My mother's father worked at the local coal mine, above ground, which meant that he was in a reserved occupation. Although he wasn't in the armed forces, he did his bit for his country, because when he wasn't at the coal mine he was a "Civil Defence Fire Watcher", during air raids. This meant during air raids, instead of being in a shelter, he was on roof tops looking for fires, putting out incendiary bombs and risking his life.


V1 attack on Manchester, Christmas Eve 1944 aircrashsites.co.uk
V1 Flying Bomb Site, Sowerby, West Yorkshire aircrashsites.co.uk
Map of V1 attack on Manchester aircrashsites.co.uk

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[GeeRam]

My Mum's older sister narrowly missed being killed/injured on 14th March 1945, when the last V1 to land west of the centre of London (air-launched) landed on the RAOC factory in Greenford, killing 14 people. Aunt Mary worked there, living just up the road, and she was walking to work that day with her friend that lived across the road. They were just about to walk through the depot gates when they heard the V1 and when the motor cut, they both froze, as they watched it fall down appearing to head straight for them. My aunts friend turned away and dropped to her knees, but my aunt stood frozen to the spot. The V1 hit the depot, and my aunt suffered nothing more than ever so slightly singed hair from the blast, and severe ringing in her ears. Her friend though who had attempted to take cover suffered the indignity of a piece of hot shrapnel burying itself into one of her buttocks, much to my aunts amusement. Her friend suffered for many years with the problems from this shrapnel injury, not that stopped my aunt from re-telling the story with a laugh, even many decades later, so much so that, I retold the story at her funeral a few years ago, knowing that it would have made her laugh.

[Flying10uk]

A now deceased lady who lived in London during the war told me, a few years ago, that you were normally alright if the V1's engine cut-out directly above you. This was because, despite what some people say, the V1 didn't stop suddenly in mid-air and did not fall to earth exactly vertical the moment that the engine cut out. It did, in-fact glide a certain amount and if the engine cut-out directly above you, it normally crashed and exploded far enough away from you not to kill you. If you saw a V1 heading in your direction and the engine cut-out before it reached you, you knew that you may be in trouble.

[Bob Womack]

We've got a complete one living right up the road in a museum.

They leave the dress cover off of the guidance package for you to get a peek. The engine is taken out for test runs routinely. They've posted videos of it.


Bob

[Gil Boyd]

Interesting subject the V1 or Vengeance Weapon, and logged quite comprehensively at the IWM Duxford.
It was indeed launched from a modified Heinkel He 111 bomber, and underslung under the fuselage and remotely launched to extend its range, for targets like Liverpool docks and Manchester, with the ARADO bomber adapted to overslung the bomb, as per the picture below.

Most were launched from Karlshagen,which formed part of the Peenemünde Luftwaffe site, and subject of many attacks by Mosquito Squadrons and local resistance groups, some very famous attacks logged in WW2 history, and loads of WW2 films about the raids.

The WAR OFFICE SECRET files were only released five years ago, and it was learnt that double agents were fed wrong locations well outside north London to ensure many fell outside the City. Apparently it was the faulty ones that actually fell on the City and many never made it across the North Sea, so tactics were changed to over slung and underslung on bombers.
Over 3,000 were launched from all sources.
When you read up on the German pulsejet engine used, they were well ahead of Frank Whittle and his team working on their engine they finally fitted to the Meteor.....said it was interesting. Being half German, glad it panned out the way it did, as I think, had it been planned a bit better, we would have had our arses well and truly kicked!!

[mrclark303]

Interesting subject the V1 or Vengeance Weapon, and logged quite comprehensively at the IWM Duxford.
It was indeed launched from a modified Heinkel He 111 bomber, and underslung under the fuselage and remotely launched to extend its range, for targets like Liverpool docks and Manchester, with the ARADO bomber adapted to overslung the bomb, as per the picture below.

Most were launched from Karlshagen,which formed part of the Peenemünde Luftwaffe site, and subject of many attacks by Mosquito Squadrons and local resistance groups, some very famous attacks logged in WW2 history, and loads of WW2 films about the raids.

The WAR OFFICE SECRET files were only released five years ago, and it was learnt that double agents were fed wrong locations well outside north London to ensure many fell outside the City. Apparently it was the faulty ones that actually fell on the City and many never made it across the North Sea, so tactics were changed to over slung and underslung on bombers.
Over 3,000 were launched from all sources.
When you read up on the German pulsejet engine used, they were well ahead of Frank Whittle and his team working on their engine they finally fitted to the Meteor.....said it was interesting. Being half German, glad it panned out the way it did, as I think, had it been planned a bit better, we would have had our arses well and truly kicked!!

My Uncles log books show quite a few missions to Peenemünde Gil.

460SQN (Australian) Lancasters.

[Gil Boyd]

Yes Peenemunde was hammered by all Air Forces including the Americans, but they still delivered a massive blow to London whilst it operated from there.
The delivery method was then swithced by delivery from aircraft as above.
460 Squadron has masses of documented raids on V1 sites. Nice piece of family history there John. Sadly much of what happened was abbreviated in their books as there wasn't a lot of room to write down what happened!