What is the Name of the German rocket that bombed London in World War 2?

Answer 1

The rocket used by Germany to bombard London was the V-2. The "V" was for "vengeance". This was a true "guided missile", though the guidance was primitive and precise aiming was not possible. About the best accuracy that could be obtained was to hit the large London metropolitan area. The missiles arrived at supersonic speed, meaning there was no warning sound ahead of the explosion. At first the British government tried to forestall public alarm by trying to float a story that the explosions around the city were caused by "exploding gas mains", causing cynics to dub the rockets "flying gas mains". "Operation Paperclip" was the US effort to round up Nazi rocket scientists and spirit them to the US, serving the dual purpose of keeping them out of Russian hands and obtaining their advanced knowledge for the US. This was largely successful, as few, if any, of the scientists had any desire to fall into Russian hands, and getting out of war ravaged Germany to the serenity of the US was a very sweet deal. Werner von Braun, head of the German rocket program, retired from the US space agency NASA in the 1970s. ("When the rockets go up, who cares where they come down; that's not my department, says Werner von Braun"). Captured V-2 rockets shipped to the US were renamed the "Atlas" rocket and formed the foundation of the US space program.

Before the Germans had the V-2 operational there was the V-1. These were commonly called "buzz bombs", or, by the British public, "doodlebugs". This was more of a cruise missile, using a pulse jet engine which made an unmistakable sound. These flew over at several thousand feet, causing all below to stop and cast a wary eye skyward while listening. So long as the engine kept running those below were safe. The design was that the engine would simply cut off abruptly when over the target area, after which the missile would fall to earth and explode. Most unnerving. The V-1s flew around 450 mph, and the latest models of British fighters, such as the Hawker Typhoon, were just capable of intercepting them. There were three RAF squadrons kept on this task, and they destroyed hundreds of V-1s. They could be shot down, or, a skillful pilot could pull up alongside the flying bomb, position his wingtip under the tip of the bomb's stubby wing, then tip his wing up. The wings would not actually contact each other - the air over the fighter's wing would move the bomb's wing. This would cause the bomb to turn over, upsetting its gyroscopic guidance system and causing it to crash.