davebender
1st Lieutenant
The Luftwaffe War Diaries: The ... - Google Books
- Invented by a guy named Harlinghausen during the Spanish Civil War.
- A form of skip bombing.
- Normally used against naval targets.
- Approach speed of about 200 mph.
- Altitude of 45 meters.
- Bombs released while 240 meters from the target. They hit the target side or in the water next to the hull.
- Bombs had an 8 second delay. This allows time for the aircraft to fly past the blast area.
- This attack method could be used by any level bomber provided the pilot was properly trained.
- Employed by Fw-200s during their relatively short period of use as maritime bombers.
- Employed by the majority of Ju-88A4s during the devastating 2 Dec 1943 attack on Bari, Italy.
I find the last item most interesting. The Ju-88s could have dive bombed at Bari. They could also have attacked using torpedoes. Instead they chose to skip bomb. And the results were absolutely devastating. 105 bombers attacked Bari without fighter escort. They apparently suffered no battle losses at all! Apparently the low attack altitude allowed them bomb and be gone before anyone had time to man AA guns and launch fighter aircrraft. The 105 Ju-88A4s sank 17 ships and heavily damaged 7 more. Phenomenal results by WWII bomber standards.
Perhaps Ernst Udet was wrong in thinking that dive bombing was the only way to bomb accurately. Perhaps turning the Ju-88 into a dive bomber was an expensive mistake that only served to lower aircraft performance. What do you think?
- Invented by a guy named Harlinghausen during the Spanish Civil War.
- A form of skip bombing.
- Normally used against naval targets.
- Approach speed of about 200 mph.
- Altitude of 45 meters.
- Bombs released while 240 meters from the target. They hit the target side or in the water next to the hull.
- Bombs had an 8 second delay. This allows time for the aircraft to fly past the blast area.
- This attack method could be used by any level bomber provided the pilot was properly trained.
- Employed by Fw-200s during their relatively short period of use as maritime bombers.
- Employed by the majority of Ju-88A4s during the devastating 2 Dec 1943 attack on Bari, Italy.
I find the last item most interesting. The Ju-88s could have dive bombed at Bari. They could also have attacked using torpedoes. Instead they chose to skip bomb. And the results were absolutely devastating. 105 bombers attacked Bari without fighter escort. They apparently suffered no battle losses at all! Apparently the low attack altitude allowed them bomb and be gone before anyone had time to man AA guns and launch fighter aircrraft. The 105 Ju-88A4s sank 17 ships and heavily damaged 7 more. Phenomenal results by WWII bomber standards.
Perhaps Ernst Udet was wrong in thinking that dive bombing was the only way to bomb accurately. Perhaps turning the Ju-88 into a dive bomber was an expensive mistake that only served to lower aircraft performance. What do you think?