Meteor I vs V1 Flying Bomb: 1944

The Luftwaffe's desperate reliance on jet technology led to the world's first cruise missile attack on one of the world's largest cities and also heralded the first air-to-air combat between jet-powered aircraft. This is the story of that combat.

A total of 10,500 missiles were launched as part of the V1 attack, of which 3,957 were destroyed by the defences. Indeed, it could have been much worse, for by the end of the war the Germans had manufactured close to 32,000 flying bombs. The defence...