Issue 39.13
Once on a mission to a German industrial target, we passed over the Netherlands when we saw a German V-2 rocket launched. It came from almost directly below us and trailed a great white plume of white exhaust gases as it passes us and arched way overhead and was pointed toward London before it passed from view. Of course I as the lower ball turret gunner, I had the best seat in the house. This was about the time that Germany was switching from the V-1 that the English called the “Doodle Bug” that was unmanned and was powered by a ram-jet engine which was vulnerable to protective means to the unstoppable rocket bomb which was the brainchild of Werner Von Braum. When a V-2 struck London, it would level a whole city block. That sight of a V-2 launching was very impressive and unforgettable. On one of my not often enough forays to London, our tail gunner, Ivan Kimmel and I went on a seventy two hour pass to a suburb of London called Tottenham but pronounced by the locals as Tottnam. That city had a huge dance hall with a revolving band stand that was a fun place to go. We danced the “Hokey Pokey”. We stayed with a middle aged couple in one of their spare bedroom with beds with supper and breakfast. She cooked us wonderful meals (for wartime rationing). We were always served fried tomatoes which they grew in their window. Occasionally she served a very tiny piece of steak. I guess we could call this a “Bed And Breakfast”. Once while we were asleep during the middle of the night, there was a very loud explosion that shook us out of bed and the plaster in our room fell down on top of us. If manned bombers or Doodle Bugs” were coming there would have been air raid .warning, but there was no warning for the V-2 rocket bombs.
We cleaned up some and the next morning we saw that the bomb landed about a block from us and where there had been buildings, now there was a big hole surrounded by rubble. When there was an air raid warning sounded, the Londoners scurried to the bomb shelters but we dumb Americans just stood and watched. We were consoled by the fact that the Germans were taking bombings ten times worse.
On another mission to Germany, Ivan called out “TwoV-2’s coming up in formation. We could hardly believe our eyes because what would rockets be doing in formation. Of course I had the best view in the house and I was the first to say “They aren’t V-2’s so they must be ME262 jet fighters. How come Jet fighters could climb straight up like that?”
A closer look indicated that they must be “163’s”. “163’s” were the new rocket propelled manned German fighters. They went right through our group and shot down one “Flying Fortress” on the way up and their tactic was to shoot another bomber on their way down. That was all the fuel they had but with luck, they could shoot down one bomber on the way up and another on the way down. In many ways, the German scientists developed many marvelous weapons but they did not have the Norden bomb site, the proximity fuse or the Atomic bomb.
It has been estimated that Germany spent enough money and manpower on the two vengeance weapons (V-1 and V-2) to equal building, manning and training crew for 28,000 first line fighters. That blunder and other blunders were enough to lose the war for Germany.
Sam Wyrouck can be contacted at 801-707-2666.