2-839-595 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The V-1 (Vergeltungswaffe Eins, or Vengeance Weapon One), was the world's first operational cruise missile. This name was given to it by the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, but the original Air Ministry designation was Fi 103, after its airframe designer, the Fieseler company. Powered by a simple but noisy pulsejet that earned it the Allied nicknames of "buzz bomb" and "doodle bug," more than 20,000 were launched at British and continental targets, mostly London and Antwerp, from June 1944 to March 1945. It carried a one-ton, high-explosive warhead and had a range of about 240 km (150 miles) but was very inaccurate. The Smithsonian acquired this V-1 on 1 May 1949 from the U.S. Air Force. It was moved to the National Air Museum's storage facility in Suitland, Maryland in January 1955 and was restored in 1975-76 for exhibition in the new National Air and Space Museum building.