England. C. 1945-05. One of the unorthodox, yet highly effective, ways of destroying V-1's ...

England. C. 1945-05. One of the unorthodox, yet highly effective, ways of destroying V-1's (flying bombs), was for RAF Fighter Command pilots to touch them over with the wing-tips of their machines. On first contact with V-1's the Tempest and Spitfire pilots often suffered damage through the explosion of the bombs in mid-air; to counteract this, especially when ammunition had been exhausted, the wing-tipping technique was employed. No record of the number of "kills" made in this fashion has been kept, but it is known that the figure was quite high. V-1's were often diverted from military and civilian targets in much the same manner. In one case a Spitfire pilot, seeing that a flying bomb appeared to be about to fall on a gun site, dived underneath the bomb and turned it off its course. In another case a large house used by Service personnel was saved in the same way. Photographs taken from the ground show a Spitfire aircraft approaching, closing in on and finally tipping over a flying bomb.