Arado Ar 234, V-1 - a weapon that the Third Reich used against Great Britain in the last years of World War II
In the last years of World War II, having suffered a number of serious defeats on the Eastern Front, the leadership of the Third Reich took all possible measures to prevent a successful Allied offensive, which opened a second front on June 6, 1944.
As a result, in 1944-45, Great Britain was attacked by the Wehrmacht using the latest weapons, which were significantly ahead of their time.
Despite the fact that the Wunderwaffe did not change the course of the war, as the Germans had hoped, it caused a lot of problems for the British.
It’s worth starting with the world’s first twin-engine jet bomber, the Arado Ar 234 (originally created as a reconnaissance aircraft), which made a number of successful secret reconnaissance flights over Foggy Albion.
The Ar 234 officially entered service with the Luftwaffe in September 1944. The length of the aircraft was 12,6 m, and the wingspan was 14,5 meters. The maximum flight speed reached 742 km/h, which made the German winged aircraft inaccessible to Allied fighters with piston engines.
The flight range of the Arado Ar 234 was 1500 km, the service ceiling was 10 km. The world's first jet bomber was piloted by one pilot.
It is worth noting that despite a series of successful reconnaissance flights by the "miracle reconnaissance/bomber", the mission for which it was collecting data failed. The campaign to attack British warship moorings failed and most of the German submarines were destroyed.
However, the Arado Ar 234 was not the only know-how used by the Wehrmacht against the British. In June 1944, the first series of German V1 (V-1) cruise missiles fell on London. The “projectile plane,” equipped with a pulsating jet engine, carried a warhead from 750 to 1000 kg and hit targets at a range of up to 400 km.
By 29 March 1945, 10 V-492s had been launched across England. Of these, 1 reached London, destroying some 2419 buildings and killing more than 23 people.
But that's not all. On September 8, 1944, the Wehrmacht began using the world's first ballistic missile of the V2 series (V-2) in England. The latter developed a speed of up to 1,65 km/s, reached targets at a distance of 320 km and carried a warhead of up to 800 kg.
In total, from September 8, 1944 to March 27, 1945, the Germans launched 1359 such missiles at England, of which 1054 missiles reached British territory. 517 rockets fell directly on London, killing more than 2700 people.
It is worth adding that the V-2 became the first in stories an object that made a suborbital space flight, reaching an altitude of 188 km during a vertical launch.
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