Editing V-1 flying bomb (section)

===Interceptors===
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}
The Defence Committee expressed some doubt as to the ability of the [[Royal Observer Corps]] to adequately deal with the new threat, but the ROC's Commandant [[Finlay Crerar|Air Commodore Finlay Crerar]] assured the committee that the ROC could again rise to the occasion and prove its alertness and flexibility. He oversaw plans for handling the new threat, codenamed by the RAF and ROC as "Operation Totter", which included a proposal whereby ROC posts would fire 'Snowflake' illuminating rocket flares in order to alert RAF fighters to the presence of a V-1.[[Image:The Royal Observer Corps in Britain, 1943 TR1444.jpg|thumb|left|upright|ROC personnel preparing a battery of 'Snowflake' rocket flares.]]

Observers at the coast post of [[Dymchurch]] identified the very first of these weapons and within seconds of their report the anti-aircraft defences were in action. This new weapon gave the ROC much additional work both at posts and operations rooms. Eventually RAF controllers actually took their radio equipment to the two closest ROC operations rooms at Horsham and Maidstone, and vectored fighters direct from the ROC's plotting tables. The critics who had said that the Corps would be unable to handle the fast-flying jet aircraft were answered when these aircraft on their first operation were actually controlled entirely by using ROC information both on the coast and at inland.

The average speed of V-1s was {{cvt|550|km/h}} and their average altitude was {{cvt|1000|m}} to {{cvt|1200|m}}. Fighter aircraft required excellent low altitude performance to intercept them and enough firepower to ensure that they were destroyed in the air (ideally, also from a sufficient distance, to avoid being damaged by the strong blast) rather than the V-1 crashing to earth and detonating. Most aircraft were too slow to catch a V-1 unless they had a height advantage, allowing them to gain speed by diving on their target.

When V-1 attacks began in mid-June 1944, the only aircraft with the low-altitude speed to be effective against it was the [[Hawker Tempest]]. Fewer than 30 Tempests were available. They were assigned to [[No. 150 Wing RAF]]. Early attempts to intercept and destroy V-1s often failed, but improved techniques soon emerged. These included using the airflow over an interceptor's wing to raise one wing of the V-1, by sliding the wingtip to within {{cvt|6|in|cm}} of the lower surface of the V-1's wing. If properly executed, this manoeuvre would tip the V-1's wing up, over-riding the [[gyroscope|gyro]] and sending the V-1 into an out-of-control dive. At least sixteen V-1s were destroyed this way (the first by a P-51 piloted by Major R. E. Turner of [[356th Fighter Squadron]] on 18 June).{{sfn|Thomas|2013|p={{page needed|date=March 2020}} }}

The Tempest fleet was built up to over 100 aircraft by September, and during the short summer nights the Tempests shared defensive duty with twin-engined [[de Havilland Mosquito]]s. Specially modified [[P-47M|Republic P-47M Thunderbolts]] were also pressed into service against the V-1s; they had boosted engines ({{convert|2,800|hp|kW|order=flip|abbr=on|disp=or}}) and had half their .50 calibre (12.7&nbsp;mm) machine guns and half their fuel tanks, all external fittings and all their armour plate removed to reduce weight. In addition, [[North American P-51 Mustang]]s and [[Rolls-Royce Griffon|Griffon]]-engined [[Supermarine Spitfire]] [[Supermarine Spitfire (Griffon powered variants)#Mk XIV (type 379)|Mk XIVs]] were tuned to make them fast enough. At night airborne radar was not needed, as the V-1 engine could be heard from {{cvt|10|mi}} away or more and the exhaust plume was visible from a long distance. [[Wing Commander]] [[Roland Beamont]] had the 20&nbsp;mm cannon on his Tempest adjusted to converge at {{cvt|300|yd|m}} ahead. This was so successful that all other aircraft in 150 Wing were thus modified.

The anti-V-1 sorties by fighters were known as [[Operation Diver|"Diver patrols"]] (after "Diver", the codename used by the [[Royal Observer Corps]] for V-1 sightings). Attacking a V-1 was dangerous: machine guns had little effect on the V-1's sheet steel structure, and if a cannon shell detonated the warhead, the explosion could destroy the attacker.
[[File:Spitfire Tipping V-1 Flying Bomb.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|A Spitfire using its wingtip to "topple" a V-1 flying bomb]]

In daylight, V-1 chases were chaotic and often unsuccessful until a special defence zone was declared between London and the coast, in which only the fastest fighters were permitted. The first interception of a V-1 was by F/L J. G. Musgrave with a [[No. 605 Squadron RAF]] Mosquito night fighter on the night of 14/15 June 1944. As daylight grew stronger after the night attack, a Spitfire was seen to follow closely behind a V-1 over Chislehurst and Lewisham. Between June and 5 September 1944, a handful of 150 Wing Tempests shot down 638 flying bombs,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=h98DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA54 "4-Cannon Tempest Chases Nazi Robot Bomb"]. ''Popular Mechanics'', February 1945.</ref> with [[No. 3 Squadron RAF]] alone claiming 305. One Tempest pilot, Squadron Leader [[Joseph Berry (RAF officer)|Joseph Berry]] ([[No. 501 Squadron RAF|501 Squadron]]), shot down 59 V-1s, the Belgian ace Squadron Leader [[Remy Van Lierde]] ([[No. 164 Squadron RAF|164 Squadron]]) destroyed 44 (with a further nine shared), W/C Roland Beamont destroyed 31, and F/Lt Arthur Umbers (No. 3 squadron) destroyed 28. A Dutch pilot in [[No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron RAF|322 Squadron]], Jan Leendert Plesman, son of [[KLM]] president [[Albert Plesman]], managed to destroy 12 in 1944, flying a Spitfire.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tracesofwar.nl/persons/42537/Plesman-Jan-Leendert.htm | title=Plesman, Jan Leendert | work=TracesOfWar.nl | language=nl}}</ref>

The next most successful interceptors were the Mosquito (623 victories),{{sfn|Sharp|Bowyer|1995|p=179}} Spitfire XIV (303),{{efn|1=Squadrons 91, 322 (Dutch) and 610. The top ace was S/L Kynaston of 91 Sqn with 21 destroyed.<ref>''Ultimate Spitfire'' (pp.&nbsp;203–204)</ref>}} and Mustang (232). All other types combined added 158. Even though it was not fully operational, the jet-powered [[Gloster Meteor]] was rushed into service with [[No. 616 Squadron RAF]] to fight the V-1s. It had ample speed but its cannons were prone to jamming, and it shot down only 13 V-1s.{{sfn|Cooper|1997|p=8}}<!-- These were the first air battles between jet-powered aircraft in history, although that distinction is usually ascribed to the battles between manned jet fighters during the Korean War in 1950.—not an air "battle", but an interception-->

In late 1944 a radar-equipped [[Vickers Wellington]] bomber was modified for use by the RAF's [[Fighter Interception Unit]] as an [[airborne early warning and control]] aircraft.{{sfn|Jackson|2007|p=217}} Flying at an altitude of {{cvt |100|ft|m}} over the North Sea at night, it directed Mosquito and Beaufighters charged with intercepting He 111s from Dutch airbases that sought to launch V-1s from the air.<ref>Ross H. Hamilton. June 2003 [http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/exag0306.html "The Very First Awacs"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115060838/http://www.airmuseum.ca/mag/exag0306.html |date=15 January 2020 }} Ex Air Gunners Association. via Commonwealth Training Plan Museum</ref>