Spitfire "tipping-off" a V1. If you've never heard of
this insane tactic. At first V1's were shot down by gunfire. Optimum
range was inside 200 yds, which was marginal for survival. Many planes
were damaged and quite a few pilots killed. Basically at such high speed
and low altitude a plane had to fly though the explosion and hope.
With the high risk of being blown up some of the best pilots started
tipping the V1's wing, because of damage to wing tips they later
developed a tactic of disrupting the airflow by placing their wing very
close to the V1's wing, causing it to topple.
Not every pilot did this. At night this was not possible, the flame from
the V1 blinded the pilot to everything else, though some Mossie pilots
flew past closely in front of the V1, again causing it to topple. The
thought of doing this at 450mph, 4,000 feet above the ground, at night
and being blinded gives me the willies.
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