Operation Diver
Encyclopedia
Operation Diver was the British codename for their countermeasures against the V-1 flying bomb
campaign launched by the German
Luftwaffe
in 1944 against London
and other parts of Britain. The V-1 was known by the codename "Diver".
When the German attack began, on the sixth day after the landings on the beaches of Normandy, the message "Diver, Diver, Diver" put the plan into action. Defences that had been guarding the embarkation ports for the invasion were redeployed against the V-1.
to the south coast of England; then a cordon closing the Thames Estuary
to attacks from the east. In September 1944 a new linear defence line was formed on the coast of East Anglia
, and finally in December there was a further layout along the Lincolnshire
-Yorkshire
coast. The deployments were prompted by the ever-changing approach tracks of the missiles which were in turn influenced by the Allies' advance through Europe.
Anti-aircraft gunners found that such small, fast-moving targets were difficult to hit. At first, it took, on average, 2,500 shells to bring down a V-1. The average altitude of the V-1, between 2,000 and 3,000 feet (610 and 915 m), was in a narrow band between the optimum engagement heights for light (such as the 40mm Bofors guns) and heavy anti-aircraft weapons. These low heights defeated the rate of traverse of the standard British QF 3.7 inch mobile gun, and static gun installations with faster traverses had to be built at great cost. The development of centimetric (roughly 30 GHz frequency) gun laying radars based on the cavity magnetron
and the development of the proximity fuze
helped to neutralise the advantages of speed and size which the V-1 possessed. In 1944 Bell Labs
started delivery of an anti-aircraft predictor fire-control system
based around an analogue computer (supplanting the previous electro-machanical Kerrison Predictor
) just in time for use in this campaign.
Barrage balloon
s were also deployed against the missiles but the leading edges of the V-1's wings were equipped with balloon cable cutters and fewer than 300 V-1s are known to have been destroyed by hitting cables.
Part of the area which the "Diver"s had to cover was given over for fighter operations. Several squadrons were put onto anti-Diver operations.
Most fighter aircraft were too slow to catch a V-1 unless they had a height advantage. Even when intercepted, the V-1 was difficult to bring down. Machine gun bullets had little effect on the sheet steel structure, and 20 mm cannon shells were explosive projectiles, which meant that detonating the warhead could destroy the fighter as well.
The V-1 was also nearly immune to conventional air-combat techniques because of its design, which eliminated the primary "one-shot stop" points of pilot, life-support and complex engine. A single hit on the pilot or oxygen system can force an abort or cause the destruction of a normal plane, but there is no pilot in a cruise missile. The reciprocating engines of WWII aircraft and the turbojet engines of today's fighters are also vulnerable, as a tiny nick in a quarter-inch oil line or one small shell fragment can destroy such engines. However, the Argus pulsejet could be shot full of holes and still provide sufficient thrust for flight. The only vulnerable point was the valve array at the front of the engine and the only one-shot stop points on the V-1 were the bomb detonators and the line from the fuel tank, three very small targets buried inside the fuselage. An explosive shell from a fighter's cannon or anti-aircraft artillery was the most effective weapon, if it could hit the warhead.
When the attacks began in mid-June 1944 there were fewer than 30 Hawker Tempest
s in No. 150 Wing RAF to defend against them. Few other aircraft had the low-altitude speed to be effective. Early attempts to intercept V-1s often failed but techniques were rapidly developed. These included the hair-raising method of using the airflow over an interceptor's wing to raise one wing of the Doodlebug, by sliding the wingtip under the V-1's wing and bringing it to within six inches (15 cm) of the lower surface. Done properly, the airflow would tip the V-1's wing up, overriding the buzz bomb's gyros and sending it into an out of control dive. At least three V-1s were destroyed this way.
The Tempest wing was built up to over 100 aircraft by September; North American Mustangs and Griffon
-engined Spitfire
XIVs were polished and tuned to make them almost fast enough, and during the short summer nights the Tempests shared defensive duty with de Havilland Mosquito
. Specially modified P-47M Thunderbolts (half their fuel tanks, half their 0.5in {12.7 mm} machine guns, all external fittings, and all their armour plate removed) were also pressed into service against the V-1 menace. There was no need for radar
— at night the V-1's engine could be heard from 16 km (9.9 mi) or more away, and the exhaust plume was like a beacon. Wing Commander Roland Beamont
had the 20mm cannons on his Tempest harmonised at 300 yards (275 m). This was so successful all other aircraft in 150 Wing were thus modified.
In daylight, V-1 chases were chaotic and often unsuccessful until a special defence zone between London and the coast was declared in which only the fastest fighters were permitted. Between June and mid-August 1944, the handful of Tempests shot down 638 flying bombs. One Tempest pilot, Squadron Leader Joseph Berry
of No. 501 (Tempest) Squadron
, downed fifty-nine V-1s, and Wing Commander
Roland Beamont
destroyed 31.
Next most successful was the Mosquito (428), Spitfire XIV (303), and Mustang, (232). All other types combined added 158.
The still-experimental jet-powered Gloster Meteor
, which was rushed half-ready into service in July 1944 to fight the V-1s, had ample speed but suffered from unreliable armament and accounted for only 13.
) and the proximity fuze
. Both of these had been requested by AA Command and arrived in numbers, starting in June 1944, just as the guns reached their free-firing positions on the coast.
Seventeen per cent of all flying bombs entering the coastal 'gun belt' were destroyed by guns in the first week on the coast. This rose to 60 per cent by 23 August and 74 per cent in the last week of the month, when on one extraordinary day 82 per cent were shot down. The rate increased from one V-1 for every 2,500 shells fired to one for every hundred.
A deception concerning the V-1 was also played on the Germans using double agent
s. MI5
(by way of the famed Double Cross System
) had these agents provide Germany with damage reports for the June 1944 V-1 attacks which implied that on average the bombs were travelling too far, while not contradicting the evidence presumed to be available to German planners from photographic reconnaissance of London. In fact the bombs had been seeded with radio-transmitting samples to confirm their range but the results from these samples were ignored in favour of the false witness accounts and many lives may have been saved by the resulting tendency of future V-1 bombs to fall short.
announced that the "Battle of London" against the bomb was effectively over.
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
campaign launched by the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
in 1944 against London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and other parts of Britain. The V-1 was known by the codename "Diver".
Diver Plan
The "Diver Plan" was prepared in early 1944 following the first reports of the weapon in April 1943 and the discovery of its planned launch sites in late 1943. The plan had to be flexible enough to cover both the expected assault on Britain and the needs of the invasion of Europe.When the German attack began, on the sixth day after the landings on the beaches of Normandy, the message "Diver, Diver, Diver" put the plan into action. Defences that had been guarding the embarkation ports for the invasion were redeployed against the V-1.
Defences
Anti-aircraft guns were redeployed in several movements: first in mid-June 1944 from positions on the North DownsNorth Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
to the south coast of England; then a cordon closing the Thames Estuary
Thames Estuary
The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
to attacks from the east. In September 1944 a new linear defence line was formed on the coast of East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, and finally in December there was a further layout along the Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
-Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
coast. The deployments were prompted by the ever-changing approach tracks of the missiles which were in turn influenced by the Allies' advance through Europe.
Anti-aircraft gunners found that such small, fast-moving targets were difficult to hit. At first, it took, on average, 2,500 shells to bring down a V-1. The average altitude of the V-1, between 2,000 and 3,000 feet (610 and 915 m), was in a narrow band between the optimum engagement heights for light (such as the 40mm Bofors guns) and heavy anti-aircraft weapons. These low heights defeated the rate of traverse of the standard British QF 3.7 inch mobile gun, and static gun installations with faster traverses had to be built at great cost. The development of centimetric (roughly 30 GHz frequency) gun laying radars based on the cavity magnetron
Cavity magnetron
The cavity magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field. The 'resonant' cavity magnetron variant of the earlier magnetron tube was invented by John Randall and Harry Boot in 1940 at the University of...
and the development of the proximity fuze
Proximity fuze
A proximity fuze is a fuze that is designed to detonate an explosive device automatically when the distance to target becomes smaller than a predetermined value or when the target passes through a given plane...
helped to neutralise the advantages of speed and size which the V-1 possessed. In 1944 Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
started delivery of an anti-aircraft predictor fire-control system
Fire-control system
A fire-control system is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. It performs the same task as a human gunner firing a weapon, but attempts to do so faster and more...
based around an analogue computer (supplanting the previous electro-machanical Kerrison Predictor
Kerrison Predictor
The Kerrison Predictor was one of the first fully automated anti-aircraft fire-control systems. The predictor could aim a gun at an aircraft based on simple inputs like the observed speed and the angle to the target...
) just in time for use in this campaign.
Barrage balloon
Barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against low-level aircraft attack by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables, or at least making the attacker's approach more difficult. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up...
s were also deployed against the missiles but the leading edges of the V-1's wings were equipped with balloon cable cutters and fewer than 300 V-1s are known to have been destroyed by hitting cables.
Part of the area which the "Diver"s had to cover was given over for fighter operations. Several squadrons were put onto anti-Diver operations.
Most fighter aircraft were too slow to catch a V-1 unless they had a height advantage. Even when intercepted, the V-1 was difficult to bring down. Machine gun bullets had little effect on the sheet steel structure, and 20 mm cannon shells were explosive projectiles, which meant that detonating the warhead could destroy the fighter as well.
The V-1 was also nearly immune to conventional air-combat techniques because of its design, which eliminated the primary "one-shot stop" points of pilot, life-support and complex engine. A single hit on the pilot or oxygen system can force an abort or cause the destruction of a normal plane, but there is no pilot in a cruise missile. The reciprocating engines of WWII aircraft and the turbojet engines of today's fighters are also vulnerable, as a tiny nick in a quarter-inch oil line or one small shell fragment can destroy such engines. However, the Argus pulsejet could be shot full of holes and still provide sufficient thrust for flight. The only vulnerable point was the valve array at the front of the engine and the only one-shot stop points on the V-1 were the bomb detonators and the line from the fuel tank, three very small targets buried inside the fuselage. An explosive shell from a fighter's cannon or anti-aircraft artillery was the most effective weapon, if it could hit the warhead.
Aircraft
Hawker Tempest
The Hawker Tempest was a British fighter aircraft primarily used by the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. The Tempest was an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, and one of the most powerful fighter aircraft used during the war....
s in No. 150 Wing RAF to defend against them. Few other aircraft had the low-altitude speed to be effective. Early attempts to intercept V-1s often failed but techniques were rapidly developed. These included the hair-raising method of using the airflow over an interceptor's wing to raise one wing of the Doodlebug, by sliding the wingtip under the V-1's wing and bringing it to within six inches (15 cm) of the lower surface. Done properly, the airflow would tip the V-1's wing up, overriding the buzz bomb's gyros and sending it into an out of control dive. At least three V-1s were destroyed this way.
The Tempest wing was built up to over 100 aircraft by September; North American Mustangs and Griffon
Rolls-Royce Griffon
The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a British 37-litre capacity, 60-degree V-12, liquid-cooled aero engine designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited...
-engined Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
XIVs were polished and tuned to make them almost fast enough, and during the short summer nights the Tempests shared defensive duty with de Havilland Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
. Specially modified P-47M Thunderbolts (half their fuel tanks, half their 0.5in {12.7 mm} machine guns, all external fittings, and all their armour plate removed) were also pressed into service against the V-1 menace. There was no need for radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
— at night the V-1's engine could be heard from 16 km (9.9 mi) or more away, and the exhaust plume was like a beacon. Wing Commander Roland Beamont
Roland Beamont
Wing Commander Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar was a British fighter pilot and test pilot for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, and the years that followed...
had the 20mm cannons on his Tempest harmonised at 300 yards (275 m). This was so successful all other aircraft in 150 Wing were thus modified.
In daylight, V-1 chases were chaotic and often unsuccessful until a special defence zone between London and the coast was declared in which only the fastest fighters were permitted. Between June and mid-August 1944, the handful of Tempests shot down 638 flying bombs. One Tempest pilot, Squadron Leader Joseph Berry
Joseph Berry
Joseph Berry was an English first-class cricketer, who played three matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club over a span of thirteen years from 1861 to 1874. He was a right-handed batsman who scored 82 runs at 10.25 with a best of 30...
of No. 501 (Tempest) Squadron
No. 501 Squadron RAF
No 501 Squadron was the fourteenth of the twenty-one flying units in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, the volunteer reserve part of the British Royal Air Force. The squadron won seven battle honours, flying Hurricane, Spitfire and Tempest fighter aircraft during World War II, and was one of the most...
, downed fifty-nine V-1s, and Wing Commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
Roland Beamont
Roland Beamont
Wing Commander Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar was a British fighter pilot and test pilot for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, and the years that followed...
destroyed 31.
Next most successful was the Mosquito (428), Spitfire XIV (303), and Mustang, (232). All other types combined added 158.
The still-experimental jet-powered Gloster Meteor
Gloster Meteor
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. It first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...
, which was rushed half-ready into service in July 1944 to fight the V-1s, had ample speed but suffered from unreliable armament and accounted for only 13.
Squadrons and units engaged in anti-Diver operations
- 363rd Fighter Group, P-51B (Mustang)
- No. 315 Squadron, Mustang III
- No. 129 Squadron, Mustang III
- No. 3 Squadron RAFNo. 3 Squadron RAFNo 3 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Typhoon F2, FGR4 and T3 from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.No 3 Squadron, which celebrated its 95th anniversary over the weekend of 11-13 May 2007, is unique in the RAF for having two official crests....
, Hawker Tempest V, RAF Newchurch - No. 486 Squadron RAF, Hawker Tempest V, RAF Newchurch
- Fighter Interception UnitFighter Interception UnitThe Fighter Interception Unit was a special interceptor aircraft unit of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. It was part of Air Defence of Great Britain....
, Tempest V, RAF Newchurch - No. 56 Squadron RAFNo. 56 Squadron RAFNumber 56 Squadron is one of the oldest and most successful squadrons of the Royal Air Force, with battle honours from many of the significant air campaigns of both World War I and World War II...
, Tempest V, RAF Newchurch - No. 501 Squadron RAFNo. 501 Squadron RAFNo 501 Squadron was the fourteenth of the twenty-one flying units in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, the volunteer reserve part of the British Royal Air Force. The squadron won seven battle honours, flying Hurricane, Spitfire and Tempest fighter aircraft during World War II, and was one of the most...
, Tempest V, RAF WesthampnettRAF WesthampnettRoyal Air Force Station Westhampnett, more commonly known as RAF Westhampnett, was a Royal Air Force station, located in the village of Westhampnett near Chichester, in the English County of West Sussex....
, ManstonRAF ManstonRAF Manston was an RAF station in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site is now split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre , following on from a long...
, Bradwell Bay, Hunsdon - No. 274 Squadron RAFNo. 274 Squadron RAFNo. 274 Squadron RAF began to form as a patrol squadron, intended to fly Vickers Vimys, at Seaton Carew in November 1918 a few days before the end of World War I. The squadron formation was then cancelled. It was reformed on 15 June 1919 as a bomber squadron, flying Handley Page V/1500s, but...
, Tempest V, RAF Merston, RAF DetlingRAF DetlingRAF Detling was a station of the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I and the Royal Air Force in World War II. Situated 600 feet above sea level, it is located near Detling, a village about three miles north-east of Maidstone, in Kent....
, Gatwick, West Malling - No. 222 Squadron RAFNo. 222 Squadron RAF-In World War I:The Squadron was formally formed at Thasos on 1 April 1918 from A squadron of the former No. 2 Wing, RNAS when the Royal Air Force was formed. Later, 6 April 1918 former Z Squadron of No. 2 Wing, RNAS was added to the strength. Renumbered No. 62 Wing and consisting of Nos...
, Tempest V, Gilze-Rijen (The Netherlands) - No. 96 Squadron RAFNo. 96 Squadron RAFNo. 96 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron. The squadron served on the Western Front during World War II and the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. No. 96 Squadron served in a variety of roles such as night fighter cover and transportation. It was disbanded in 1959,...
, Mosquito XIII, RAF Ford and RAF OdihamRAF OdihamRAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force station situated a little to the south of the historic small village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift helicopter, the Chinook HC2, HC2A and HC3... - No. 91 Squadron RAFNo. 91 Squadron RAFNo 91 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force but is no longer operational. The name acknowledges the contribution made by Nigeria to the cost of the squadron's aeroplanes.-World War I:...
, Spitfire XIV, RAF West MallingRAF West MallingRAF West Malling was a Royal Air Force station near West Malling in Kent, England.Originally used as a landing area during the first World War, the site opened as a private landing ground and in 1930, then known as Kingshill, home to the Maidstone School of Flying, before being renamed West Malling... - No. 322 Squadron RAFNo. 322 Squadron RAFNo. 322 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a Fighter Squadron during the Second World War-History:No. 322 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed from the Dutch personnel of No. 167 Squadron RAF on 12 June 1943 at RAF Woodvale. The squadron retained the code-letter combination VL which had...
, Spitfire XIV, RAF West Malling
Technological advancements
By mid-August 1944, the threat was all but overcome—not by aircraft but by the sudden arrival of two enormously effective electronic aids for anti-aircraft guns, both developed in the USA by the MIT Rad Lab: radar-based automatic gunlaying (using, among others, the SCR-584 radarSCR-584 radar
The SCR-584 was a microwave radar developed by the MIT Radiation Laboratory during World War II. It replaced the earlier and much more complex SCR-268 as the US Army's primary anti-aircraft gun laying system as quickly as they could be produced...
) and the proximity fuze
Proximity fuze
A proximity fuze is a fuze that is designed to detonate an explosive device automatically when the distance to target becomes smaller than a predetermined value or when the target passes through a given plane...
. Both of these had been requested by AA Command and arrived in numbers, starting in June 1944, just as the guns reached their free-firing positions on the coast.
Seventeen per cent of all flying bombs entering the coastal 'gun belt' were destroyed by guns in the first week on the coast. This rose to 60 per cent by 23 August and 74 per cent in the last week of the month, when on one extraordinary day 82 per cent were shot down. The rate increased from one V-1 for every 2,500 shells fired to one for every hundred.
A deception concerning the V-1 was also played on the Germans using double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
s. MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
(by way of the famed Double Cross System
Double Cross System
The Double Cross System, or XX System, was a World War II anti-espionage and deception operation of the British military intelligence arm, MI5. Nazi agents in Britain - real and false - were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselves and were then used by the British to broadcast...
) had these agents provide Germany with damage reports for the June 1944 V-1 attacks which implied that on average the bombs were travelling too far, while not contradicting the evidence presumed to be available to German planners from photographic reconnaissance of London. In fact the bombs had been seeded with radio-transmitting samples to confirm their range but the results from these samples were ignored in favour of the false witness accounts and many lives may have been saved by the resulting tendency of future V-1 bombs to fall short.
End of operations
In September 1944, Duncan SandysDuncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CH PC was a British politician and a minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s...
announced that the "Battle of London" against the bomb was effectively over.
Further reading
- Vergeltungswaffe V-Weapons – From Daniel Green's World War II Air Power website; contains descriptions and film sequences (AVIAudio Video InterleaveAudio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...
format) - The V-Weapons – From Marshall Stelzriede's Wartime Story website; with June 1944 UK/US news reports on V-1 attacks
- Fi-103/V-1 "Buzz Bomb" – From the Luftwaffe Resource Center website, hosted by The Warbirds Resource Group; with 42 photos
- The Lambeth Archives includes description and sound of V1 and provides the means of finding where bombs fell on particular districts.
- Defeat of the "V.I" Flight 1944