I have read an explanation ( [here](https://users.monash.edu/~dschmidt/personal/v1.html) ) on how the guidance system worked but it went over my head
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They had a little propeller that would count out the miles as it flew.
So to hit a target you’d have to get the distance from Berlin to London, measure the wind speed, and then calculate the total number of turns you’ll expect that propeller to make covering that distance.
Once you’ve figured that out, point it in the direction of London and let ‘er rip. Gyroscopes keep it level, and once the estimated distance is covered the engines cut out so it falls like a bomb.
If this doesn’t sound particularly accurate to you… you’d be right. They were never effective at striking targets with any useful precision, although they did score a few hits.
Calling them guided is not quite accurate in most peoples view. The “guidance” system was a simple form of gyro stabilization. There would be spinning gyroscopes spun by the rush of air that were connected to control surfaces. If the missile changed direction due to a gust of wind or something then the gyroscopes would alter the control surface to put the missile back on the original track. So all they had to do was to aim the launcher towards the target and the missile would follow the rough course. To set the distance they would adjust the amount of fuel in the missile, when the missile ran out of fuel it would fall out of the sky towards its target. This allowed it to be aimed at stationary targets. It was not very accurate but were able to hit targets the size of cities.
The guidance on a V1 was incredibly basic.
It had a gyro that kept it pointed in the same direction (though didn’t account for the wind blowing it left or right).
An altimeter to keep it at a constant altitude.
And a spinny thing that initiated a dive after a certain amount of rotations.
To aim it you took a map, do a bunch of math to correct for wind drift, aim it in the correct direction, set the number of rotations and cross your fingers.
It’s barely accurate enough to hit a london sized target.
The V1 found it starger by flying at a constant direction for a fixed fixed distance and then it dove down to the ground. So you aimed it by setting the direction it should fly at the distance is should fly before launch.
In practice the system hand gyroscopes to yaw and pitch to keep it flying straight. The azimuth used a magnetic compass. You set up what azimut according to the magnetic compass is should fly at.
The distans worked by having a small vane anemometers that the airstream around the V1 turned. The distance setting was the number of turns of the Vane anemometers until it should drive. So it measured the speed of the V1 relative to the surrounding air, this is just like if you have a have a device on the ground that measure the speed of the wind.
The accuracy was quite low in part because the distance is relative to the air and wind will have a result of what that distance is relative to the ground. So some V1 had radio transmitters that send a signal that could be triangulated and you use the information of where it end up to change the setting for later launches.
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Slightly expanding the question, there is an interesting account in RV Jones’ memoirs about the V1 range finding.
By 1944 the Germans had no capability to do aerial reconnaissance over London, and had not some some years. So any damage reports were going to be reliant on agents. All the “agents” were in control of the XX committee. The V1s were falling short anyway: the aim point was supposedly Charing Cross, but they were falling more in south London. It was determined that by carefully reporting fake impact points, or more precisely reporting as falling in north London V1s which actually fell in south London, the aim point could be crept back into much less populated Kent. The “agents” were so trusted that the Germans believed them even when they conflicted with radio tracking.
The civilian government was outraged by this: although it would kill fewer people, it would do so by killing people who would not otherwise have died. A moral conundrum raised by Herbert Morrison, and solved by Jones by doing it anyway.
Poorly.
The V1 was a terror weapon, all it had to do was land close enough that people became afraid of it. That doesn’t require a lot of precision. It was “good enough” for the era, but it’s not comparable to what we call a “precision weapon” today.
Interesting to note that far more people died constructing the rockets than were ever killed by them. Because of their inaccuracy most fell into fields and other low density areas.
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