Five Brothers and a War

V-1 “Buzz Bomb”

A model of a V-1 ground-based launch site, with the “ski-jump” configuration. This weapon began its deployment against London on June 13, 1944, exactly one week after the D-Day Normandy invasion. Bertus recalls that German radio had been putting out the word that Germany was about to deploy amazing new weapons systems, but he, along with most people, discounted the reports as being typical Nazi propaganda. That is, until he saw the flying bombs cross past the Margrietstraat with its distinctive noise of a low-flying airplane with seemingly misfiring engines and with a large flame blowing out of the engines’ tails. This caused great concern to the van Pelts, because no one knew what impact this new weapon would have on the outcome of the war, and because no one knew how many other wonder weapons Hitler would yet deploy. The V-1 launches were accomplished either by dropping them from aircraft already in flight or from ground-based steam powered catapults. While the vast majority of launches were from ground-based sites, almost 1,200 were dropped from modified Heinkel He-111 aircraft. The first launches, exclusively against London, were fired from coastal France.

However, as more and more of the coast was taken over by the Allies, the launch sites were moved. The last attack on Britain occurred on March 29, 1945. The British had become very proficient at destroying incoming V-1s through a variety of means. They were shot down by fighters, they were shot down by ground-based anti-aircraft artillery, or they were “tipped” by fighters that came within a few inches of the V-1’s wingtips, changing the airflow and aerodynamics to the point that the autopilot system was overwhelmed, and the drone would enter an uncontrolled dive to the water below. British radar spotted the V-1s far more often than not, allowing for the countermeasures to be highly successful. By the time the attacks against England ceased, the British were able to shoot down or destroy more than 80% of the weapons.

nazi germany

A moment before impact

Five Brothers and a War

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