After that, the engine cut out and the bomb fell into a steep dive to the target. The bomb then flew for a predetermined amount of time, at first out to a maximum of 150 miles and then 250 miles later in the war. A relatively simple guidance system used gyroscopes to regulate its speed altitude and bearing on target. Once in the sky, it was powered by a pulse jet engine which gave it a top speed of between 340 and 400 miles per hour. Well, the most common way of launching a V1 was by ramp, but it could also be launched from a modified aircraft. All of which meant that Germany could strike back against the Allies in a much more cost-effective way. It was relatively simple to produce, used cheaper materials than aircraft, and avoided the expenditure of vital manpower over British skies. That's why pilotless bombs were such an appealing idea. Germany wasn't just losing the bombing war, but the production war as well. Hitler was looking for a way to combat the bad propaganda that these terrible raids were having and so he looks to create these vengeance weapons as a way to show Britain that they weren't losing the war yet and they would still be able to fight back. The Combined Bomber Offensive were relentlessly bombing German cities the RAF flew at night under the cover of darkness and the American bombers flew throughout the day. To do that we first need to understand Germany’s strategic situation. At how it worked, at whether it was effective, and at the people who paid the price for its existence. So today we're going to take a closer look at the V1. The V1 then is not just a symbol of Nazi attempts to fight the war in innovative ways, but of their greatest crime of all - The Holocaust. Inside the Harz mountains in Germany tens of thousands of slave labourers from Mittelbau-Dora and its many sub-camps lost their lives in awful conditions as part of the V weapons programme. Thousands were killed and wounded by its warhead, but alongside those civilians are the forgotten victims of the V1 the people who made them. The V1 flying bomb was one of the most fear-inducing terror weapons of the Second World War. The aircraft and its 1,800-pound warhead hit a railway bridge killing six and making hundreds homeless. A few minutes later the engine cut out and the flying bomb went into a steep dive. Onlookers didn't know it yet, but they had just caught a glimpse of the first Nazi Vergeltungswaffen or 'vengeance weapon' the V1. What looked like a short-winged plane half on fire tore through the sky at over 350 miles per hour with a distinctive buzzing engine noise. On the 13th of June 1944, a strange sight appeared in the early morning London sky.
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