Editing V-2 rocket (section)

=== Big Ben and Operation Crossbow ===
Unlike the [[V-1 flying bomb|V-1]], the V-2's speed and trajectory made it practically invulnerable to anti-aircraft guns and fighters, as it dropped from an altitude of {{cvt|100|-|110|km}} at up to three times the speed of sound at sea level (approximately {{convert|3550|km/h|mph|0|abbr=on}}). Nevertheless, the threat of what was then code-named "Big Ben" was great enough that efforts were made to seek countermeasures. The situation was similar to the pre-war concerns about manned bombers and resulted in a similar solution, the formation of the Crossbow Committee, to collect, examine and develop countermeasures.

Early on, it was believed that the V-2 employed some form of radio guidance, a belief that persisted in spite of several rockets being examined without discovering anything like a radio receiver. This resulted in efforts to jam this non-existent guidance system as early as September 1944, using both ground and air-based jammers flying over the UK. In October, a group had been sent to jam the missiles during launch. By December it was clear these systems were not having any obvious effect, and jamming efforts ended.<ref name="stock25">Jeremy Stocker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rr-RAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 "Britain and Ballistic Missile Defence, 1942–2002"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920143537/https://books.google.com/books?id=rr-RAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |date=20 September 2017 }}, pp. 20–28.</ref>