V1 Flying Bomb

4 July 1944 – Poor weather continued throughout the morning, with cloud and mist. The first wave of V1s did not come over until 08:30, but thereafter 108 were plotted by 11 Group. Of these, 84 crossed the coast and 52 were shot down by fighters.
Weather conditions prevented 41 Squadron from getting airborne until after lunch, but from 12:40 onwards twelve anti-Diver patrols were flown over the Channel, southeast of the Isle of Wight, and the last pair landed at Friston at 22:30. However, despite their efforts, just one victory could be claimed by the Squadron, which was shared between Fg Off ‘Momo’ Balasse and Flt Sgt Freddie Woollard on the third patrol.
Blue Section (Balasse EN229 & Woollard MB856) was airborne at 14:10 to patrol an area ten miles out to sea between Hastings and Rye. The pair were vectored onto a Diver by Wartling Control at 14:30, and soon spotted it approaching Dungeness at 3,000 feet on a course of 340° and at an IAS of 340-350 mph.
Balasse and Woollard took turns firing on the V1, attacking it from quarter astern to full astern, at ranges of 250-200 yards, and sent it down to explode on impact at a location they described as “approx. 1 Mile W. of Lydd. (actually N. of Rye.)”. They returned to base at 15:30, claiming the Squadron’s fifteenth destroyed V1 (13 + 2 shared).
[Excerpt from "Blood, Sweat and Valour" (Fonthill, 2012)]

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