cherry blossom
Senior Airman
- 513
- Apr 23, 2007
OK! Time to admit my ignorance. Dive bombers had dive brakes to keep them from going too fast. So how fast did they dive?
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Rudel mentions this in "Stuka Pilot".
What happens to the bomb after it is released? Does it follow the same dive angle onto the target, as the bombs aero dynamics are different from the bomber at some point it must surely change its path, is this taken into account when calculating the drop height?
A thoroughly unreliable author.
The dive brakes enabled the Ju 87 to remain within its design limitations in a vertical dive. Without dive brakes I assume Rudel was implying that something less than a vertical dive, with a consequent reduction in accuracy, was used. Unfortunately for him a shallower dive exposes the bomber to greater, not lesser, hazard from anti aircraft fire.
Does Rudel recall that as Luftwaffe doctrine? It certainly doesn't appear in any other document I've seen relating to dive bombing tactics.
Cheers
Steve
I don't think dive brakes are effective enough to stop you from reaching your maximum permissible IAS.
When Yamato was attacked by Helldivers vertical dives were used to minimize exposure to defensive fire as this minimised the exposed area of the aircraft. The defensive fire would have been coming from Yamato herself. However in the case of attacking land target AAA might more likely have been coming from the side of the aircraft from guns placed away from the targets itself. A steady vertical dive might help predicted fire.
Apparently the dive brakes on the Barracuda were effective enough to keep the aircraft under the Vmax limit