And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
A Spitfire pilot is about to flip the wing of a V1 in order to knock the gyroscope off balance and stop the flying bomb reaching its London target .
i saw a royal navy report on countermeasures the germans used to prevent this activity. once in cruise the guidance gyro was set to activate a detonation should it "tumble". wasn't used on but a smallish number of the v1s launched, but did make the tipping maneuver somewhat problematic. late war data suggested the RN was looking at a lot of v1s brought down by non lethal flak near hits that on film only caused an upset condition of the missile which intermittently then blew apart. british archives are very detailed but tough to follow unless you know what who where when of what you are looking for. i happened to follow a lead in Capt. Eric Brown's autobiography to archives of the Imperial War Museum. he was a most interesting fellow.
Never have so many owed so much to so few.
ReplyDeleteBalls. He has them.
ReplyDeleteOne has to wonder how he got those large, brass balls into that tiny cockpit.
DeleteThey were young men, raised to be men. Taking crazy chances is part of being young and male. No pajama boys need apply.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me:
ReplyDeleteRead the entertaining "fiction" book: "The 81st site" by Tony Kenrick. It features the V-1 "buzz bombs' and is pretty good.
The original cruise missile .
ReplyDeletei saw a royal navy report on countermeasures the germans used to prevent this activity. once in cruise the guidance gyro was set to activate a detonation should it "tumble". wasn't used on but a smallish number of the v1s launched, but did make the tipping maneuver somewhat problematic. late war data suggested the RN was looking at a lot of v1s brought down by non lethal flak near hits that on film only caused an upset condition of the missile which intermittently then blew apart. british archives are very detailed but tough to follow unless you know what who where when of what you are looking for. i happened to follow a lead in Capt. Eric Brown's autobiography to archives of the Imperial War Museum. he was a most interesting fellow.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this did happen, that particular photograph is a created artwork.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/Hangar7Art/status/956262507731042304