Actually, the ground launched V1s were surprisingly accurate for the
technology used. The biggest problem was variability of the thrust
produced by the pulse jet motor, hence the use of a simple distance run
control rather than a timer. Some V1 s were so fast they were
impossible to catch with existing aircraft, but some were slower and
could be caught and shot down or tipped up to upset the control system.
The most interesting story is the one already mentioned. The area
where they were falling was measured by radar, but more reliance was
given to reports from German spies (who were captured and feeding false
information). The range of V1s was later adjusted based on the false
information, steering more of them into empty countryside.

Despite the higher damage and death rate of the more sophisticated V2,
the V1 caused
a lot more distress because of its sound, visability and apparent
unstoppability.

Mike

jb92563 wrote:
Funny you should mention the V1, my father(19 yrs old at the time) who
was in German University in their Aeronatical Program was pulled from
school and sent to a factory to
assemble the V1 missles.

They were built rather hastily he says and it no doubt resulted in less
than predicatable performance when trying to set them out to a target.

I think the best they could hope for was that they would indeed explode
somewhere in England when sent off in that direction.

It was more for the demoralization of the enemy, not knowing when or
where these things would go, than specific targets and quite frequently
they simple exploded in empty fields.

Terrors of war are not limited by the imagination, and these are things
people would rather forget.

Ray Buhr