While the V1 flying bomb could travel at speeds up to 500mph, the V2 was far deadlier. It used a liquid fuelled motor to take off and fly at more than 5 times the speed of sound.
Imperial War Museum London
The first A4 (Later V2) was scheduled for the 13 June 1942 attracted a large gathering including Albert Speer, the new Armaments Minister. Despite all the checks the A4 fell back onto the pad and exploded as 10 tons of fuel ignited in a massive fireball. On 16 August 1942 002 was launched successfully only to break up after 45 seconds travelling at Mach 3. Despite these failures 003 was launched on the 3 October 1942 and made a perfect flight.
In Antwerp the V weapons took a heavy toll as they did in London. Beginning in September 1944 over 5,000 rockets fell on a radius of eight miles of the centre. 3,470 civilians were killed along with 642 Allied servicemen. 6,400 buildings were destroyed and a further 60,000 buildings were damaged.
An Eighth army solider was heard saying `It was bloody safer fighting the Germans in the desert' than being in Antwerp
War & Peace Show reconstruction
Production in late 1943 was 900 per month but gradually increased to 1,800 per month by April 1944
France
The V2 was still unreliable and problems didn't get solved until early 1945
The colour pattern changed from the black & White chessboard pattern, when it was in the test phase, to the olive green colour in 1945
RAF Cosford
Recently discovered information has established a link between the V2 and poison gas. It wasn't until British troops stumbled on the factory by accident. V2's were found adjacent to factory entrances which showed that some warheads had been modified to carry a gas payload.
