German night fighter ammunition .....

[Erich]

greetings all !

thought I would post this as it may be of interest.........

from a letter last spring of 2004. please excuse me if I have posted this elsewhere on the site but it is probably buried deep in the archivs ?

this is in reagrd to several questions I had of my nachtjäger ace friend Peter Spoden

Erich,

The ammo we used was a mixture done by the waffenmeister according to the wishes of the pilot.
normally 1 piece of explosive- Minengeschoss, then 1 phospor-fire - Phosphorbrand, and 1 tracer ammo-Glimmspur, the last not too bright. With the tracer the pilot could follow the round. Our 2cm was terribly effective.

After the mission our 'black men' checked the used ammo for the claim-report and I told you once already that in one case the pilot brought down a Lancaster with one shot of phosphor-brand in the fuel tank, because he had a "Ladehemmung"-(Jam) after this shot. this was checked by the mechanics...........
After

 

[lesofprimus]

Very interesting Erich....

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting stuff Erich.

 

[evangilder]

Good info there.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Very interesting thanks for the info Erich.

 

[hellmaker]

Very interresting indeed, Erich. Though I have one little question. Should I start my own ammunition factory right now or wait a while???

PS: Hello to everybody... It's been a while since I've posted here...

 

[Erich]

seriously I wouldn't be field digging for any phosphor or minen rounds fella. A death sentance if you would like one.............

I have read reports of fools going on ammo digs thinking they would find that real special treat for their collections. chink chink...........Slam ~ that is all . I have several de-activated 2cm yellow bodied Minengeschoss. Powder is gone and the elctro fuze which was highly volatile has also been drilled out.

By reading Peters one account you an guage just how fierce the night air war was..........it was brutal

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I know around the Airfield where I work we are not allowed to use metal detectors or dig for old WW2 ordinance because it is still hidden and burried everywhere over here. Wonder what one would find though consindering the field had Ju-88's and Ju-87's for atleast part of the war.

 

[hellmaker]

Yeah... You must have heard about the ww2 japanese bombs carried by baloons to america and found some years later by kids. They went boom. And I don't mean to be funny cause it isn't something to laugh about...

 

[Erich]

for your info the balloons landed some 35 miles to my west. One familie ws killed during a lunch get together. this was during the war and not after.........

just leave the dug in stuff for the experten please.........

 

[lesofprimus]

Now if u wanna go dig up some American Civil War stuff, please feel free to dig and root around all u want....

 

[MacArther]

Slight problem with that, not everyone lives in a state that had Civil War Era battles take place on its soil (AKA Arizona)

 

[Erich]

back to topic. Once the RAF resistance faded somewhat in the spring of 1945, German night fighter crews were ordered to attack ground targets at night and also during the day. a pic of HE and AP mix used in a similiar way to take out Soviet Motor transport with success. But the losses to the German crews was terribly high due to light AA and just flying way too low and striking embankments, trees, etc.......
Some of the Ju 88G-6 crews were also ordered to take part in the last battle of Kustrin and taking on Soviet targets were also rescuing the Wehrmacht from it's encirclement

 

[Erich]

yeah it's an old thread but : blue cased phosphor round - glimmspur which was faint night tracer round.