soc.history.war.world-war-ii

"weasel" wrote
> I recall videos of incoming "Scuds" launched against isreal in the
> "Gulf War." Sort of a fast moving contrail- at night, I think.
> I seem to recall that the range/velocity of a Scud is not too
> different from a V-2.
> Were any incoming V-2s spotted visually in London, or Antwerp?
> Wes

Well, Without having specific credible sources/cites at hand,
I am uneasy disagreeing with so many reputable posters:

But I am fairly certain a fair number (small number but much
more than a couple) were seen by the eyes of people on
the ground.

Real recently I even saw on one of those documentary
TV shows a moving camera picture of one descending.

Check out the reports about after the 'fluke chance' of the
Allies finding the Rhine Bridge at Remagen not being blown.
Allied forces were taking advantage by pouring accross.
Germans were doing everything possible to destroy the
bridge by every method they could (airplanes, artillery,
swimmers etc.), including Hitler ordering V2s fired at it.
So there were fair number of skilled AA gun crews
actively on duty watching the sky. They reported
seeing the V2s. (around March 10-17, 1945)

Although the V2 was quite fast, (I will not try saying
what it's terminal velocity on descent was?!), remember
it was big.
No warning sound, so few would be watching, but still
visable in clear daylight for those who happened to be
looking in the right direction at the right time,
and who were something like between 300 to 1600
meters from impact site (for angle of side view).

So that makes it rare for someone in a city to have
seen it unless they were on 'roof top watch'.
Also, many were fired at night, so no chance to see them.