It was a job that had to be done, and some one had to do it.
It was their turn in the barrel.

Walt

Absolutely. And a whole lot of people on the ground were sure relieved that
they learned the skills necessary to defeat the "Doodlebugs", but only after a
painful time for those within V-1 range.
In the other thread, I noticed that folks disagreed that V-1 chasing was combat
- I am interested in that idea, but I feel it should count as combat, if not in
the actual "victory" totals for the pilots leading to ace status. Its like
Frank Luke and the barrage balloons - the balloons themselves didn't shoot back
and were usually abandoned prior to the attack, but there were inherent dangers
associated with attacking them.
Same for the V-1s, in my mind.

The guys that hunted V-1s did so in a war zone, filled with every danger that a
fighter pilot facing a more traditional opponent would provide. Add to it the
near certainty that a successful attack would include a detonation of about a
ton of torpedo-grade explosive within a couple hundred yards of the nose of
your straining, flat-out racing fighter - as someone else reported, more than
one defending fighter was lost several severely damaged in the attempt. At
night, it was worse - German fighters were in the air at times that the
interceptions were underway, and GCI was hard pressed to sort the friendlies
and ghosts during the V-1 raids due to their low altitudes and fast inbound
tracks. Its a mess for airborne IFF at night and there were definite losses
due to friendly fire as a result. That's aerial combat to me, my friend!

v/r
Gordon