Missile, Cruise, V-1, Electric Motor

The V-1 (Vergeltungswaffe Eins, or Vengeance Weapon One), was the world's first operational cruise missile. Powered by a simple but noisy pulsejet that earned it the Allied nicknames of "buzz bomb" and "doodle bug," over twenty thousand were launched at British and continental targets, mostly London and Antwerp, from June 1944 to March 1945. It carried a one-ton high-explosive warhead and had a range of about 240 km (150 miles), but was very inaccurate.

This artifact is an electrical motor from the control system of the V-1. Its exact function cannot be determined at this time. It was acquired from the U.S. Air Force as a part of the massive transfer of World War II artifacts to the Smithsonian.