He 177

[Erich]

dang it this was probably back in the archivs or at the end of the numerable pages of threads....

thoughts on this German a/c in the Maritme role with the udnerwing glider bombs ??

heres a small portion of an older article in the German publication Jet and Prop that covered just a small sampling of a He 177 crew attacked by what they thought was a P-38. It was a p-61 that got it's but chewed so bad the a/c cracaked up on landing and was written off, parts taken that were needed for other squadron P-61's. Time April 15, 1944. The victor a young tail gunner operating his MG 151/20 2cm weapon in the nick of time before he and his Kameraden were turned to dog meat. Soory ofr the grainy look of the scan

~ E

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Note the right prop is feathered....

 

[KraziKanuK]

Erich,

The 1st P-61 unit in the ETO was the 422cd NFS which was formed in March 1944. They did not receive any P-61s until May 23 1944 when the first of 8 P-61A-5s were delivered. They did not start to perform practice intercepts until June 17 1944.

The April 1944 date must be an error.

 

[Erich]

KK I will check further as I have the microfishce for the 422nd and 425th nfs and I was part of the US NFS as a friend.

Just checked the date should be August 14, 1944 with pilot Gordon at the helm. He thought he had damaged the He 177 greatly using 120 rounds of P-61 20mm.s The P-61 thought the rear gunner was firing a lighter weapon..

"Followed He 177 going 180mph. Fired into the wings and tail and pieces flew off. Rear gunner fired 13mm and hit the P-61 starboard engine and shot out the hydrallics. He 177 dove away and the P-61A-10 /Cat B/E damage). Crash landed with one engine. # 91 Impatient Widow "

The P-61 became a hangar queeen like I said and when the depleted 422nd needed spare parts the widow got yanked....

thanks for the ehads up KK on the date

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

More info about this incident can be found at this link:

Northrop P-61 Black Widow - Wikipedia

 

[Snautzer01]

KK I will check further as I have the microfishce for the 422nd and 425th nfs and I was part of the US NFS as a friend.

Just checked the date should be August 14, 1944 with pilot Gordon at the helm. He thought he had damaged the He 177 greatly using 120 rounds of P-61 20mm.s The P-61 thought the rear gunner was firing a lighter weapon..

"Followed He 177 going 180mph. Fired into the wings and tail and pieces flew off. Rear gunner fired 13mm and hit the P-61 starboard engine and shot out the hydrallics. He 177 dove away and the P-61A-10 /Cat B/E damage). Crash landed with one engine. # 91 Impatient Widow "

The P-61 became a hangar queeen like I said and when the depleted 422nd needed spare parts the widow got yanked....

thanks for the ehads up KK on the date

Black widow against Greiff (article)