Fi-103 V1 Flying Bomb (Germany)

The Fi-103 is a guided missile of the type used by Germany during the Second World War initially against Britain and later against allied targets in France and Belgium. It consists of a composite wooden and sheet steel fuselage, with an Argus Duct motor mounted on its upper rear surface. The missile would have originally been deplayed with an 876kg warhead. The missile has short wooden wings parallel in plan. A small twin bladed propellor on the nose powers an odometer, which controls the range of the weapon.

There were two basic designs of the V1, an earlier version with with a tapered wing and steel nose and a later varient with a parallel wing, squared off wing tips and lighter weight wooden staved nose. This was intended to give the missile a greater range, but at the expense of a slightly smaller explosive warhead. The Memorial's example is a later model.

German forces knew the weapon by a number of names: Fi-103, the descriptor originally given by Fiesler, the aircraft manufacturer responsible for its airframe development; FZG 76, a German code, designed to conceal the purpose of the weapon from allied intelligence, and V1 (an abbreviation of Vergelstungswaffe 1 or 'revenge weapon one' in english). The Allies knew it as the PAC (pilotless aircraft), Fly (an early code) the robot plane, and the 'buzz bomb' (an onamatopaeic term which described the noise its engine made) and the doodlebug.

Development of the V1 began in June 1942 at Peenemunde and continued successfully until the first operational deployment in June 1944. The missile design was based on a mid-wing monoplane propelled by a pulsating duct motor. Guidance was preset before launch within the missile. The VI was simple to use and relatively cheap to produce. Rather than use aluminium and other materials needed for aircraft, the V1 made extensive use of mild steel plate and wooden components. The missile was launched from a series of fixed 50 metre ramps on the Northern coast of France using a piston to propel the missile into the air with sufficient velocity to enable the duct motor to produce enough thrust to maintain powered flight. With a maximum range of 240 kilometres, the guidance system guaranteed about 80% of missiles would strike within a 12 kilometre circle of the selected target.

Mass production of the missile began in March 1944 and estimates indicate that up to 25,000 were manufactured in 1944 with 12,000 becoming operational during that year. Another 10,000 were manufactured at the beginning of 1945. 9,251 were fired against England of which 4,261 were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire and allied fighter aircraft interception, while another 6,551 were launched against Antwerp, of which 2,455 were destroyed by aerial defences.

Australians serving in the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Air Force played a significant role in fighting the design, construction and use of V1 rockets against the United Kingdom and western Europe. Flying and maintaining an immensely diverse range of aircraft such as heavy bombers including the famous Avro Lancaster, to attack aircraft such as the Mosquito and Typhoon to the sleek Spitfire and Mustang.

Efforts to secure a V1 Flying Bomb for the Memorial were first made in late 1944 while they were still being used against Allied forces. In December 1945 the RAAF War History Section finally secured a V-1 for exhibition purposes from RAF Air Historical Branch. There is no indication from available records where it was captured. The V1 was shipped to Australia on the SS Suffolk in October 1945 and subsequently suffered much handling damage. After a period of storage at Laverton it was repaired and repainted at Point Cook in October 1946. It was placed on display in the Memorial on 11 September 1947.