Spitfire
"tipping-off" a V1. If you've never heard of
this insane tactic .... |
V1
At first V1's were shot down by gunfire. Optimum range
was inside 200yds, which was marginal for survival. Many
planes were damaged and quite a few pilots killed. Basically
at such high speed and low altitude a plane had to fly
though the explosion and hope.
With
the high risk of being blown up some of the best pilots
started tipping the V1's wing, because of damage to wing
tips they later developed a tactic of disrupting the aitflow
by placing their wing very close to the V1's wing, causing
it to topple.
Not
every pilot did this. At night this was not possible,
the flame from the V1 blinded the pilot to everything
else, though some Mossie pilots flew past closely in front
of the V1, again causing it to topple. The thought of
doing this at 450mph, 4,000 feet above the ground, at
night and being blinded gives me the willies.
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