This week in the war, on 13 June 1944, the first V-1s were launched against London from launching pads on the French coast. The ‘V’ stood for Vergeltung, meaning ‘reprisal.’
Ten V-1s were launched that day but only four of them reached Britain and only one of the four reached London. Six Londoners were killed.
The range of a V-1 was over 150 miles and the warhead contained over 1,800 pounds of explosive. The speed was around 400mph—faster than almost any aircraft of the day. Over 8,000 V-1s were launched during the course of the war.