dangerous mission

[Juha]

Still disagreing
Now for ex. Soviet bomber attacks against German panzer spearheads might have been according to doctrine but SB being almost totally devoit of armour protection and with unprotected fuel tanks and meager defensive firepower was not very well suited to attack panzer units with good AA protection and Bf 109s buzzling around. And after first few days both Soviet planners and aircrews knew for sure how dangerous those missions were.

I'm not belittling the courage of USAAF aircrews, they simply were lucky not to face such desperate situations.

Juha

 

[Thorlifter]

Yeah, that's a good point too Juha.

Also, what about the Ethopians attacking the Panzer's on horseback?

 

[namvet68]

I belive the most dangerous mission was for the American Army ploits who had to fly there P-38's to hunt down and kill Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto.

 

[Thorlifter]

ok...............
Why?

To me, that was just a standard ambush mission and it wasn't only 3 lightnings. It was 18 lightnings that met up and met only 6 zero's.

 

[Juha]

A couple more less well known very dangerous operations. Firstly showing how dangerous those torpedo attacks against USN were, on 30 Jun 43 19 out of 26 G4Ms (Bettys) were lost while attacking US invasion fleet in Blanche Channel.
And on 17 April 42 7 out of 12 Lancasters were lost during a low-level day-time attack on the MAN diesel engine factory in Augsburg.

Juha

 

[Marshall_Stack]

Wasn't there a low level attack by B-26 bombers over Europe where none of them came back?

 

[Juha]

Yes
it was a low-level attack. target was somewhere in Holland, 12 B-26s took off, one aborted and all 11 which crossed Dutch coast were lost. IIRC the aborted plane had some engine trouble and when it aborted it took more altitude as procedures demanded and it was then "seen" by German radar operators who gave alarm.

Juha

 

[Marshall_Stack]

What got the B-26s, flak, fighters, or both?

 

[rochie]

i've just read about a raid on Mailly-le-camp by 5 group of bomber command on the 3/4 may 1944
42 lancasters out of 360 were lost due to poor communications,going out on a bright moonlit night on a route past 6 night fighter bases and having the bombers orbit a bright yellow marker for at least 30 mins while the target was marked allowing the night fighters to assemble and attack !
the crews were credited with 1/3rd of a mission towards the total of ops they'd completed.
here's a link to more info
460 Squadron RAAF - Operations - German Defences

 

[Njaco]

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/ww2-general/day-war-europe-65-years-ago-6116-59.html

17 May 1943

In a third strike, 11 B-26 Marauders were dispatched on a low-level mission to bomb power stations at Haarlem and Ijmuiden, The Netherlands. One B-26 aborted, the other ten are all shot down before they reached the target. This action prompted the Eighth Air Force to abandon low-level medium bomber attacks. A B-26 Marauder of the USAAF was one of the flight of ten that encountered heavy AAA fire while en-route to bomb the power plants. It was shot down and forced to ditch in a canal. On-board was navigator Jim Hoel, of Evanston, Illinois, USA, one of three survivors of the aircraft's six man crew. During the crash Jim lost his elaborate Gallet Chronometer. 60 years later in 2003, Peter Cooper of England returned the watch to Jim.

 

[Juha]

Marshall
because of none of your countrymen has given answer to your question, here is IIRC answer, last 2 B-26s were shot down by Fw 190s/JG 26, 2 were lost in a collision, one might have been lost because of bird strikes and rest were shot down by flak.

There are more those really disasterous raids, 82 Sqn/RAF lost 11 out of 12 on 17.5.40, target German panzers, and the same sqn again 13.8.40 11 out of 11, target Aalborg a/f in Denmark. 18 Sqn lost 10 out of 10 in one raid against airfield in Tunisia. Both these were Blenheim sqns.

And more famous Betty formation disaster than that I wrote earlier was the 8.8.42 torpedo attack against Guadalcanal invasion fleet 18 out of 23 attacking Bettys were lost and all 5 which succeeded return from the attack were badly damaged. There had been 3 aborts out of 26 Bettys which took off.

Juha

 

[renrich]

My candidate for the most daunting and dangerous mission is and has been the the torpedo bombers on June 4, 1942, at Midway. The TBDs were slow(cruised at 100 knots), poorly armed and had no armor or self sealing tanks. They were not agile and their torpedos were unreliable and slow so they had to get really close to get a hit. Furthermore the VTs were launched just outside the range that if the Japanese were where they were anticipated to be, the VTs had not enough fuel to get home. Another factor to be considered was that if they went down they would be in the drink(not land) and if captured by the Japanese, they would not receive humane treatment like they would if they were captured in the ETO. The Yorktown launched 13 TBDs and lost 12 including the Sqd. Leader-Lt Cmd Massey. The Enterprise launched 14 TBDs and lost 11 including Sqd. Leader Lt Cmd Lindsey. The Hornet launched 15 TBDs and lost all including Sqd Leader Lt Cmd Waldron. Of the 30 crewmen in the Hornet VT8, one lived. All those men in the VT squadrons knew they were probably doomed. They had to immediately set course for the target after launch instead of waiting for the VBs and VFs to assemble because they were too slow for the others to accompany them and they had no fuel to spend orbiting. They made their choice and lived and died with it. Of the other USN carrier AC involved in the June 4, 5, 6, battle, 23 of 79 F4Fs were lost and 27 of 112 SBDs were lost.

 

[Juha]

Renrich
very good canditate indeed, I agree.
A couple more or less similar IMHO were the 30.6.43 Betty attack, at that time air crews were fully aware the effectiveness of USN AA fire and CAP arrangements and the vulnerability of Betty but went anyway because all knew that the time hit the invasion fleet was before it could end its unloading.

And the 17.4.42 Lancester attack, so early unescorted daytime attack deep into Germany, crews very probably knew that their chances were slim.

There were many others for ex the early Val raid against Guadalcanal invasion, same as TBDs at Midway, target outside their range. And Rabaul would not move any nearer during their attack.

Juha

 

[Amsel]

Medium bombers over Germany had the most dangerous mission in my opinion. Flak was especially intense toward the end of the war as German production levels peaked around late 1944. The Germans had a knack for AAA.

I would think the second most dangerous mission would be close support or strafing missions where you have no room for error or maneuver if hit hard. I have a deep respect for P-47 pilots in the late war. They may not get all the glory of the dogfighters but they had a tough job to do.

 

[davparlr]

Medium bombers over Germany had the most dangerous mission in my opinion.

I'm not sure you can say this. Losses for the B-25s and B-26s was about .006-7 per sortie whereas losses of B-17s and B-24s were about .016 per sortie. I am sure exposure time was factor, however.