Key Facts
- Duration
- October 1944 – April 1945
- Aircraft used
- Spitfire (dive-bombing configuration)
- Target
- German mobile V-2 rocket launch sites
- Code word 'Big Ben'
- RAF designation for V-2 rockets
- Notable pilot
- Flt Lt Raymond Baxter
Strategic Narrative Overview
Between October 1944 and April 1945, RAF Spitfires flew repeated dive-bombing sorties against German V-2 mobile launch sites across Holland. The missions were colloquially known among pilots and Filter Room staff at Fighter Command as 'Operation Big Ben,' though the term did not appear in official documentation. Pilots including Flight Lieutenant Raymond Baxter participated in these hazardous low-level attacks, attempting to locate and destroy the highly mobile German launch equipment before it could be redeployed.
01 / The Origins
From late 1944, Germany deployed mobile V-2 ballistic missiles from occupied Holland, launching them against targets in Britain including London. The V-2 was the world's first operational ballistic missile, impossible to intercept in flight. The threat prompted the RAF to develop counter-launch tactics, tasking Spitfire units with dive-bombing the mobile ground launch sites before rockets could be fired, in an effort to suppress or destroy the German launch capability.
03 / The Outcome
The operations concluded in April 1945 as Allied ground forces advanced through the Netherlands, overrunning the remaining German V-2 launch areas and ending the rocket campaign. The liberation of Holland in May 1945 rendered further missions unnecessary. While the sorties achieved limited documented destruction of launch equipment due to German mobility, they formed part of the broader Allied effort to neutralise the V-2 threat during the final months of the war in Europe.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Raymond Baxter.
Side B
1 belligerent