Kirschkern (cherry stone)
A poetic codename for the V-1 flying bomb, or “Vengeance Weapon” launched against London on June 13, 1944. The flying bomb, was developed at Peenemunde Army Research Center in 1939 by the German Luftwaffe. It was a weapon of desperation, launched after the successful D-day landing on the beaches in France.
Nearly 10,000 V-1s were launched from sites in northern France over an 80 day period. At the peak of the attack more than 100 rockets were hitting Britain a day. Casualties reached 22,000 with more than 6,000 fatalities.
The V-1 was a crude weapon, but it was cheap, and it was lethal. It was more lethal than the V-2 rockets that were to follow, because the fuse detonated the V-1 warhead upon impact, before it buried in the ground. It took a V-1 15 minutes to travel from the launch ramp in Calis France to the heart of London–a distance of 95 miles.
The 20 foot long flying bomb was powered by a pulse jet engine, and was assembled by concentration camp slave labor. The engine pulsed at 50 times a second, as determined by the intake shutters, thus the characteristic sound of the buzz bomb–like a steel insect of death. The engine cut off when at a predetermined distance the elevator control jammed, putting the aircraft into it’s silent, dive of death.
Here is the sound of the V-1.
