Stuka Siren!

Did the Stuka "scream"?

  • Yes, definitely

    Votes: 24 80.0%

  • Not more so than other fighters

    Votes: 1 3.3%

  • Only when angry

    Votes: 3 10.0%

  • To Kool-Aid drinkers only

    Votes: 2 6.7%
  • Total voters
    30

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If you ever messed around with an old early 1900s "oogah" horn, I suspect it is the same principle. Its a squirrel cage fan in a shaped cavity. Operates on a similar principle to a whistle. I suspect that instead of electrical motor powered, the Stuka siren is wind driven. A simple solenoid could be used to engage and disengage the propeller from the siren itself.
 
Airframes said:
My Dad did, both in France up to and including Dunkirk, and later, in the desert. He passed away last December, but I remember him telling me about it, and how, particularly at Dunkirk, under constant and heavy bombardment, the 'scream' of the 'Stuka' really pushed some people over the edge. Whether an intended part of the design or not, the 'scream', also heard from JU88's incidentaly, which didn't, as far as I know, have a 'siren', certainly had a marked phsycological impact.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the first-hand report from your Dad...

So, the Junker 88 had a similar sound effect.

I can slightly begin to imagine what the sound could have been like under fire, with several Stukas diving time after time after time... at the very least make it difficult to concentrate - but, at least you'd know where they were! :shock:
 
109ROAMING said:
heres a photo clearly showing the little propeller on the right hand undercarriage pylon

Full praise to the modeller who did an excellent job
Click to expand...
Whoa! :shock:

I'm surprised by how large the siren propeller device was!

So, the gear was fixed.

There was only ONE siren.

The "little door" to shut off the sound were arranged behind the little propeller?

Did the Junker 88 have something similar, or was that reported sound just air movement?
 
Matt308 said:
If you ever messed around with an old early 1900s "oogah" horn, I suspect it is the same principle. Its a squirrel cage fan in a shaped cavity. Operates on a similar principle to a whistle. I suspect that instead of electrical motor powered, the Stuka siren is wind driven. A simple solenoid could be used to engage and disengage the propeller from the siren itself.
Click to expand...
I've heard that there was a "door" to close off the incoming air to the siren... but, you are saying that the propeller and/or siren could be electrically disengaged... sort of as in flipping a circuit breaker, right?

But unless the propeller got fixed in position at that moment, it would still revolve, no?
 
I've never heard anything about the Ju-88 having a siren while diving

Wasn't it a really horrible dive bomber? got some pretty decent dive brakes though
 
Thanks, Matt, that's the term I was looking for, and yes, that was also the design. I've just checked, and the JU87 (early model, and not all.) incorporated this device within the generator.
On the model, the 'prop' is a bit overscale.
On the JU88, the 'scream' was naturally generated by airflow, mainly through the 'venitian blind' type, slatted dive brakes under the wings. (more accurately, speed brakes, or spoilers). Although the '88 is very often denegrated as a 'dive bomber', it was, in fact, quite good in that role, although the dive angle used was nowhere near as steep as the '87.
When used in this role, the angle was more of a steep approach, around 45 degrees. There was a red line, painted down the side of the canopy, to assist the pilot in achieving the desired angle. This line was aligned with the horizon (to one side), thereby giving a simple indication of angle of attack. When the bombs were releasd, and the aircraft pulled up, the effect was not unlike what we would now call 'loft bombing', where the ordance is 'tossed' at the target. Must have been successful, as it was JU88's that took out Ventnor radar, and one or two other Chain Home sites, during the BoB.
Overall, the '88 was better as a (relatively) low-level, fast attack bomber, and enjoyed quite a bit of success in this role.
When I find the drawings I'm looking for, I'll post the part showing the '87's 'siren'/generator.
 
I had asked an old friend of the family about the siren when I was a kid, he told me the siren was called a "Jerico Trumpet".

When the Stuka entered it's dive, the siren's brake was released as the dive flaps were deployed. Once the dive brakes were retracted, the siren's brake was reset. He also told me that the brakes sometimes didjn't reset entirely, and the poor pilot/crewman had to listen to the siren turning slowly all the way back to base...

That would have drove me insane...lol

Anyway, hope this helps shed some light on that.

Also, my Uncles who were in the Pacific Theater during WWII told me the Japanese used to call the F4U Corsair "Whistling Death" because of the sound it made in a dive while attacking. My guess behind that would be the air whistling through the foreward cooling vents on the wings?
 
Nice addition to the Stuka thread, Dave. The Corsair bit is right, and I've also heard the name was derived from the whistling sound of the engine as it passed.
 
GrauGeist said:
I had asked an old friend of the family about the siren when I was a kid, he told me the siren was called a "Jerico Trumpet".

When the Stuka entered it's dive, the siren's brake was released as the dive flaps were deployed. Once the dive brakes were retracted, the siren's brake was reset. He also told me that the brakes sometimes didjn't reset entirely, and the poor pilot/crewman had to listen to the siren turning slowly all the way back to base...

That would have drove me insane...lol

Anyway, hope this helps shed some light on that.

Also, my Uncles who were in the Pacific Theater during WWII told me the Japanese used to call the F4U Corsair "Whistling Death" because of the sound it made in a dive while attacking. My guess behind that would be the air whistling through the foreward cooling vents on the wings?
Click to expand...
Great additional on the Stuka, GrauGeist...

So, the solenoid was intiated at the dive brakes point...

Also, just an aside, several people have told me that like the Corsair the F-4 Phantom made a quite noticeable scream, but only on final approach... for no purpose-built reason.
 
Sorry guys! I've searched and searched, but I'm blowed if I can find the drawings of the device, noted both as a generator and siren. All I've found so far is an un-anotated cutaway of a JU87B, which clearly shows the housing and small 'prop', but no explanatory notes.
 
Bluehawk said:
Thanks, very much.

Didn't mean to duplicate, but am very glad for all the great history here.
Click to expand...

No biggie bluehawk, sometimes it good to bring up old threads and continue them on. I just happened to rember about this one.
 
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