Imported historical comment — Dreadnaught — 2018-11-02 11:07:27
In reply to historical comment #533.
Thank you for your very interesting comments.
I had previously come across the notion that the Cippenham V1 was air launched, based on it being seen to overfly Chalvey recreation ground and must therefore have originated from an easterly direction.
I’ve just done a little digging on this. It seems our Cippenham V1 was part of a salvo launch as there are records of at least 5 others over the space of an hour.
7:58 New Southgate, exploded
7:59 Cippenham, exploded.
8:20 Acrise (inland from Folkestone), shot down by AA
8:20 Elham (inland from Folkestone/Dover), shot down by fighter
8:32 Chiswick, exploded
9:00 Lyminge (near Folkestone) shot down by AA
If you draw a line from Cippenham through the middle of the three interceptions you end up at Pas de Calais. According to Peter J C Smith’s book “Air-launched Doodlebugs. The Forgotten Campaign” there were no V1 air-launches after 22 August until 29 August. During this period the Pas de Calais batteries were still in action. The last V1 fired from Pas de Calais was on 1 September.
Original comment #541