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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operation Crossbow | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossbow | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:26:06.748565+00:00 | kb-cron |
== V-2 counter-measures ==
The British intelligence services (Secret Intelligence Service and Air Ministry's Scientific Intelligence Office) were monitoring German rocket artillery research and information received by bugging high-ranking German prisoners-of-war increased focus on activities at Peenemunde. In response to discussions by the vice-chiefs of staff on the subject of German long range rocket developments, in April 1943 Duncan Sandys was given the responsibility of investigating how far Germany had progressed. Under the codename Bodyline, investigations by SIS, the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre, and the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit were able to confirm existence of rocketry activities at Peenemunde and Sandys reported his findings to the chiefs of staff that the Germans were developing rockets, were probably well-advanced and countermeasures should be studied The Bodyline Scientific Committee (19 members, including Duncan Sandys, Edward Victor Appleton, John Cockcroft, Robert Watson-Watt) was formed in September 1943 regarding the suspected V-2 rocket. After the 1944 crash of a test V-2 in Sweden, "transmitters to jam the guidance system of the rocket" were prepared. A British sound-ranging system provided "trajectory [data] from which the general launching area could be determined", and the microphone(s) in East Kent reported the times of the first V-2 strikes on 8 September 1944: 18:40:52 and 18:41:08. In November 1943, the Bodyline committee handed over the tasks to the Air Ministry as the extent of the issue became clear. On 21 March 1945, the Pile's plan for the "Engagement of Long Range Rockets with AA Gunfire" which called for anti-aircraft units to fire into a radar-predicted airspace to intercept the V-2 was ready, but the plan was not used due to the danger of shells falling on Greater London. Unlike the V-1, which had a speed similar to the fastest available fighter planes, the velocity and trajectory of a V-2 made aircraft interception an impossibility. Happenstance instances of Allied aircraft encountering launched V-2 rockets include: 29 October 1944, Lieutenants Donald A. Schultz and Charles M. Crane in a Lockheed P-38 Lightning attempted to photograph a launched V-2 above the trees near the River Rhine, 1 January 1945, a 4th Fighter Group pilot aloft over the northern flightpath for attacking elements of five German fighter wings on Unternehmen Bodenplatte that day, observed a V-2 "act up for firing near Lochem ... the rocket was immediately tilted from 85 deg. to 30 deg", and on 14 February 1945, a No. 602 Squadron RAF Spitfire Mk XVI pilot, Raymond Baxter's colleague "Cupid" Love, fired at a V-2 just after launch. After the last combat V-2 launch on 27 March 1945, the British discontinued their use of radar in the defence region to detect V-2 launches on 13 April.
== Named activities == Bodyline Joint Staff Committee Diver – a secret British Defence Instruction specified the code name: "Enemy Flying Bombs will be referred to or known as 'Diver' aircraft or pilotless planes" to alert defences of an imminent attack (often called Operation Diver, particularly post-war, without citation). Flying Bomb Counter Measures Committee (Duncan Sandys, chairman) Fuel Panel of the Special Scientific Committee (Sir Frank Smith, chairman) Questionnaire ... to establish the practicability ... of the German Long-Range Rocket (by Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell) Project Danny, a plan to use Marine F4U Corsairs of Marine Air Group 51 to strike V-1 sites with Tiny Tim rockets. The operation was ultimately scrapped under the orders of General Marshall as a result of the intense inter-service rivalry that existed at the time.
== See also == Aviation in World War II List of air operations during the Battle of Europe Strategic bombing during World War II Operation Hydra (1943)
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Bibliography == Collier, Basil (1976) [1964]. The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944–1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press. ISBN 0-7057-0070-4. Cooksley, Peter G (1979). Flying Bomb. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-16284-9. Craven, Wesley Frank; Cate, James Lea, eds. (1951). Volume 3. Europe: Argument to V-E Day, January 1944 to May 1945. The Army Air Forces in World War II. ISBN 978-0-912799-03-2 – via Hyperwar Foundation. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Eisenhower, David (1991) [1986]. Eisenhower: At War 1943–1945. New York: Wings Books. ISBN 0-517-06501-0. Gruen, Adam L (1998). "The U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II". Preemptive Defense, Allied Air Power Versus Hitler's V-Weapons, 1943–1945. Air Force History and Museums Program. pp. 4 (Round 1), 5 (Round 2). ISBN 978-0-16-049671-4. Archived from the original on 5 July 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2007. Kelly, Jon (13 May 2011). "Operation Crossbow: How 3D glasses helped defeat Hitler". BBC. Retrieved 21 June 2011. Kennedy, Gregory P. (1983). Vengeance Weapon 2: The V-2 Guided Missile. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-87474-573-X. Ordway, Frederick I III; Sharpe, Mitchell R (1979). The Rocket Team. Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. ISBN 1-894959-00-0. Williams, Allan (2013). Operation Crossbow: The Untold Story of Photographic Intelligence and the Search For Hitler's V Weapons. Random House. ISBN 978-1848093072 Zaloga, Steven J. (2018). Operation Crossbow 1944: Hunting Hitler's V-weapons. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2614-5. Zaloga, Steven J. (2005). V-1 Flying Bomb 1942–1952. New Vanguard 106. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. "Campaign Diary 1940: Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary". UK Crown. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
== External links == Media related to Operation Crossbow at Wikimedia Commons Chapter 15: Crossbow Phase II US Army Air Forces in WWII, Volume 3, via ibiblio