Name that MWiF counter - 20

[Greyshaft]

category = 'Easy'.
Grognards of Honor will step aside and let the other ranks have first shot.

Which MWiF air counter was the first to achieve supersonic speed?

[Froonp]

Level or dive attitude ?
It must be dive speed, no WWII plane broke the sound barrier in level speed.

[Froonp]

The Hampden or Whitley counters, if they miss the ground strike on out of supply Grazziani HQ-A tonight, will achieve supersonic speed I think. Out of the window.

[buckyzoom]

Here's a report by an ME-262 pilot who insists he broke the sound barrier,

Shaken by a Giant

On 9th April, Mutke was flying at an altitude of 12,000 meters when he received a distress call from a comrade who was being attacked by a British Spitfire. In response, he immediately put his jet fighter into a power dive. Here is his description of what happened then:

"The airspeed indicator was stuck in the red danger zone, which is over 1100 km/hr.

I noticed that rivets began popping out of the tops of the wings.

The airplane began vibrating and shaking wildly, banging my head against the sides of the cockpit.

After diving about three miles I again regained control and was able to return to base.

On the runway the mechanics were very surprised by the appearance of the airplane, which looked as though it had been shaken by the hand of a giant."

[terje439]

on loose grounds here...is the V-2 a mwif counter? If so I place my money on that one

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: terje439

on loose grounds here...is the V-2 a mwif counter? If so I place my money on that one

The V2 is indeed a MWiF counter. Pick up your winnings at Window Two.[;)]

In September 1944 Britain had no defence against the V-2 ballistic missile. These 14 metre high rockets with a 1,000kg payload were launched vertically and achieved supersonic speeds within 30 seconds of launch which meant that they arrived at their destination before the sound of their engine. Like the V-1, the guidance system for the V-2 was only rudimentary and its operators could not accurately target a specific location such as a bridge or airfield. Despite this handicap the 518 V-2 rockets which hit London killed over 2,000 people and wounded another 6,000. In the end the Allies negated the V-2 threat by overrunning their launch sites and forcing the Germans to rebase their remaining weapons out of range of England.