Fixed tail gun in an He-111

[Micdrow]

Actually, these were not grenades (as in mortars or guns), but mines.

IIRC, there were 2 - 4 containers in the aft cone of a He 111. These containers would open upon release and disperse a 200g mine hanging on a cable and a small parachute. A following plane should pick up the cable and the drag of the 'chute would move the mine towards the plane. The mine would detonate on contact.
Some combat tests were run, but were not that successful.

Thank you ChrisMAg2, that makes more sense. I remeber reading about that configuration a while back.

 

[Flyboy2]

Here is a pic from Sq-Sig 85, Ju 88, pt1:

Oh dang!! I've never seen that before. Thanks for the picture.

 

[Flyboy2]

Actually, these were not grenades (as in mortars or guns), but mines.

IIRC, there were 2 - 4 containers in the aft cone of a He 111. These containers would open upon release and disperse a 200g mine hanging on a cable and a small parachute. A following plane should pick up the cable and the drag of the 'chute would move the mine towards the plane. The mine would detonate on contact.
Some combat tests were run, but were not that successful.

Yeah, that makes a ton more sense. That is actually a pretty good idea but just not feasible. Thanks for the information.

 

[bf109 Emil]

did any of these succeed or prove successful???

I think the British used a cable launched rocket in the BoB, but never read if this was successful either??

bf109 Emil

 

[ChrisMAg2]

did any of these succeed or prove successful???

I think the British used a cable launched rocket in the BoB, but never read if this was successful either??

bf109 Emil

The germans found these devices interesting, but couldn't prove them successful enough to put them into wide scale action.

The british also used it on ships as a defence against marauding enemy a/c. There are reported incidents on that. There seems to be some kind of success, until the attacking tactics (remoter distance of attack) changed.