Spitfire Dive-Bombers Versus the V2: Fighter Command’s Battle with Hitler’s Mobile Missiles

On 8 September the first of over 1,000 V2 missiles aimed at southern England explode3d in West London. It had been launched from a wooded street corner in Den Haag in the Netherlands. Fighter Command was responsible for defending Britain from air attack and thus Air Marshal Roderic Hill countered the threat by using six squadrons of Spitfires from 12 Group bases in Norfolk to discover and then dive-bomb the mobile V2 launch sites scattered throughout the Dutch towns and countryside. This was no east task as the missiles were well camouflaged aand often positioned adajacent to dwellings occupied by civilians. The RAF was under orders to cause minimum damage to Dutch property and life, therefore precision bombing became a necessity.
This is a full account of the campaign including discussions of the strategy and tactics employed and the equipment used and it also considers the effect upon the Dutch civilians. It draws upon the experiences of sixteen Allied pilots, ground crew and the Dutch who were at the receiving-end of the attacks.

AUTHOR: William ‘Bill’ Simpson is a semi-retired ebgineer who lives in Edingburgh. He is co-author of The Greatest Squadron of Them All which became Book of the Month in Aeroplane magazine. He has also written articles for Flypast, Spitfire, Air Mail and the RAF Historical Society.

80 b/w photographs