some info about this doodle bug ..
Fi.103A-1 Flying Bomb
The Fi.103A-1 was more commonly known as the "V-1" (Vergeltungswaffe 1 -- Vengeance Weapon 1) missile. It was a pilotless, mid-win monoplane powered by a unique pulsating flow duct motor, carrying a warhead weighing 846kg.
Guidance and accuracy were pre-programmed into the missile before firing and this prevented the missile from any form of electronic interference or jamming. The path of the missile would always be a straight line. When target was reached the pulse jet simply shut off and the missile began its free-fall.
Mass production began in March 1944 and approximately 35,000 were constructed before the end of the war. Of the 35,000, 9,251 were used against England (London in particular), of which 4,621 were shot down, and 6,551 landed on Antwerp, of which 2,455 were destroyed.
Length : 7.75m
Body Diameter : 82.3cm
Wingspan : 5.4m
Launch Weight : 2,200kg
Warhead : 846kg
Guidance : Preset magnetic compass, airlog propeller, autopilot
Propulsion : Pulsejet
Range(km) : 260
Deployment : About 35,000
Fi.103Re-4
The Fieseler Fi 103R manned missile was one of the many desperate projects conceived as the German situation became more hopeless. Basically the Fi 103R was a piloted version of the V-1 flying bomb, powered by the same Argus pulsejet engine. By mid-1944, preparations had been made for mass production, in time for the operation to attack the Allied forces amassed in southern England.
The Fi 103R was to be carried by a parent aircraft and released near the target. Then the pilot would take over and direct the bomb into a dive towards the target. The pilot was to detach the canopy and bale out just before impact. The canopy, however, would almost certainly block the pulsejet inlet and reduce the chance of pilot survival to almost zero. Nevertheless, the Germans went to great lengths to distinguish their Selbstopfermänner (self-sacrifice men) from the Japanese Kamikaze pilots, whose cockpits were sealed closed before take-off.
The Fi 103R's operation was codenamed Reichenberg and a total of about 175 manned Fi 103Rs (R for Reichenberg) were made. The R1, R2 and R3 were used for test and training, and R4 was to be the production model. Two Rechlin pilots crashed while test-flying the Fi 103R, and afterwards trial flights were transferred to DFR test pilots Hanna Reitsch and Heinz Kensche. Flying the Fi 103R was quite simple, since the Fi 103R's unmanned version could fly without direct control.
Landing, on the other hand, was very difficult due to the primitive control system, absence of landing gear and high landing speed. This should not have mattered much because the Fi 103R was not designed to return anyway! The project was deemed impractical and abandoned, even though some 70 pilots volunteered for training.
Length : 7.75m
Body Diameter : 82.3cm
Wingspan : 5.4m
Launch Weight : 2,200kg
Warhead : 846kg
Propulsion : Pulsejet
Range(km) : 260
Deployment : About 175
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Weapons :
- "Fi.103A-1 Flying Bomb" : unarmed
- "Fi.103Re.4" : unarmed
- "Fi.103Re.4 CAP" : 2 mg17, 2 MK108, 24 R4M rocket
- "Fi.103Re.4 CAS" : 2 mg17, 4 50kg bomb
Topic: Fi103A-1 / Re4 released !! (Read 970 times)