Aviation History > Miscellaneous Aviation History

V I - Timer.

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mmitch:
Some time ago I read about bomb disposal in London in WW2. A V1 crash landed in some woods (near Bromley?) without exploding. It took the best part of a week to defuse it. There were several fuses some were made safe using sulphuric acid. I believe it was the first V1 recovered intact?
mmitch.

grandarog:
Beg to differ Pete .
I have checked details since posting .
Dive was instigated by a Wind vane driven odometer that counted down to zero which then cut the services.
The Datum Number entered at the launch determined the range.It also armed the Warhead after a certain distance to the target.
The timing Mechanism was a backup fusing if the Impactfuses failed.


The Encyclopedia Brittanica article is Below.
The first practical cruise missile was the German V-1 of World War II, which was powered by a pulse jet that used a cycling flutter valve to regulate the air and fuel mixture. Because the pulse jet required airflow for ignition, it could not operate below 150 miles per hour. Therefore, a ground catapult boosted the V-1 to 200 miles per hour, at which time the pulse-jet engine was ignited. Once ignited, it could attain speeds of 400 miles per hour and ranges exceeding 150 miles. Course control was accomplished by a combined air-driven gyroscope and magnetic compass, and altitude was controlled by a simple barometric altimeter; as a consequence, the V-1 was subject to heading, or azimuth, errors resulting from gyro drift, and it had to be operated at fairly high altitudes (usually above 2,000 feet) to compensate for altitude errors caused by differences in atmospheric pressure along the route of flight.The missile was armed in flight by a small propeller that, after a specified number of turns, activated the warhead at a safe distance from the launch. As the V-1 approached its target, the control vanes were inactivated and a rear-mounted spoiler, or drag device, deployed, pitching the missile nose-down toward the target. This usually interrupted the fuel supply, causing the engine to quit, and the weapon detonated upon impactBecause of the rather crude method of calculating the impact point by the number of revolutions of a small propeller, the Germans could not use the V-1 as a precision weapon, nor could they determine the actual impact point in order to make course corrections for subsequent flights. In fact, the British publicized inaccurate information on impact points, causing the Germans to adjust their preflight calculations erroneously. As a result, V-1s often fell well short of their intended targets.

pete.mason:
dive was due to timer cutting the engine so could be varied to take into account head wind etc or change the range easily.

grandarog:
As far as I am aware the V 1 Doodlebug was designed to dive down above the target site by means of a system of mechanics that severed controls and jammed the rudder in straight ahead position. This was achieved by a small propellor driving a  mechanism t which counted down ,thus arming the warhead after a certain distance from launch and when it had counted down to Zero initiated the Dive.
The clock was the 3rd backup for detonation if the impact fuse or the delay fuse  to allow penetration failed.
I didn't see the programme so don't know what the timer looked like. When I was a kid one of our neighbour,s had a  clock he said came from a V1 .It was about 5 or 6 inch,s diameter and had a brass face and works.
  Hope this helps until someone with more knowledge can elaborate.

castle261:
An interesting piece emerged yesterday. - Thursday Oct 22nd - 2020
A programme on Sky television had `BRUCE` on Combat Dealers, he found a V 1 timer -
while looking for items - for a fellow dealer in a Museum in Calais.
I always had the impression that the rocket motor cut out - when the fuel ran out -
causing the V 1 - to dive & crash - It could be that the timer was for a delayed action fuse
He bought it for £50 - Programme may be the same on Sky 144 today - at 3.00pm

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