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Normal Topic Operation Crossbow (Read 2,273 times)
Nick Loveday
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Posts: 188
Location: Derbyshire
Operation Crossbow
12.06.2014 at 21:30:04
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On 13th June 1944, the Germans launched their first attacks using the V1 Flying Bomb.  At 0425 hours, the first V1 to fall on London hit Grove Road Bridge in Bow; six people were killed.

The Germans had been developing 3 x 'V' for 'vengeance weapons':

     V1, a flying bomb which would fall at random and detonate wherever its fuel ran out;

     V2, a true rocket which could reach targets hundreds of miles away;

     and an abortive supergun, which was to be installed in the cliffs of northern France and bombard England.

In 1943, Bomber Command had learnt through photo-reconnaissance missions and Intelligence reports that these new secret weapons the V1 and V2 rockets were being tested on the Baltic coast, at Peenemunde.  Fearing that these would be used against Britain, Churchill ordered "Operation Crossbow".

Operation Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight".

Over the next couple of months, we'll describe the role that the Dowding System and Fighter Control personnel played during Operation Crossbow which included tracking the V1s over England, giving warnings of incoming V2s to the UK and, for a select few, an overseas posting to the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Belgium to track and destroy V2 launch vehicles.
  

V1_Flying_Bomb_Plaque.jpg ( 44 KB | Downloads )
V1_Flying_Bomb_Plaque.jpg
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