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By Lone_Sentry_Admin, on October 9th, 2010%
“A new shape in our neighborhood… and a new face” from “Antiaircraft Artillery Notes,” HQ ETO, No. 14, January 1945:
The aircraft are the P-61 Black Widow night fighter and the A-26 Invader attack bomber.
By Lone_Sentry_Admin, on September 27th, 2010%
Diagram of snow camouflage for 90mm antiaircraft gun battery, from “Antiaircraft Artillery Notes,” No. 9, December 1944:
By Lone_Sentry_Admin, on September 27th, 2010%
German V-1s were fired in attacks against the strategic port of Antwerp after the Allied capture of the V-1 launch facilities used to attack England. Antwerp was hit by over 2,000 V-1s from October 1944 to March 1945. Numerous Allied antiaircraft units were deployed around Antwerp to defend against the V-1 attacks. The following report describing the rules for V-1 claims by antiaircraft units was published in “Antiaircraft Artillery Notes,” No. 8, December 1944.
SUBJECT: Rules for Confirming Claims of Pilotless Aircraft Shot Down.
SOURCE: Headquarters, Antwerp “X” Command, Operations Memorandum #25.
Operations Memo #25, Hq Antwerp “X” Command, 2 December 44, is quoted:
1. In order that all concerned may be apprised of the conditions under which claims for PAC (Diver) shot down are allowed at this Headquarters, the following rules governing the procedure of the Claims Board established by Operations Memo No 13, this Headquarters, are hereby published:
a. The claim is initiated by unit commander who must cite the basis for the claim.
(1) To substantiate a Cat A claim the statement will be made that a PAC while engaged by AA exploded in mid-air.
(2) To substantiate a Cat 3 claim the statement will be made that a PAC fell as a result of damage sustained from AA fire as manifested in one or more of the following:
(a) Deflection in course.
(b) Definite and abnormal change or cessation in motor sound.
(c) Appearance of fragments of PAC in air.
(d) Definite and abnormal increase in flame area around target. b. Each claim must be reviewed by commanders in the chain of command. When received at the Statistical Office, the claims board tentatively allows or disallows claim. This does not require a meeting of the entire board but may be done by any one member of the board. 2. All concerned are reminded that the records being compiled, of PAC shot down, are an important military and historical record which will be given the most careful study by higher authority and it is therefore incumbent on everyone in the chain of command to insure that all claims registered are founded on substantial fact. It is considered to be a serious dereliction of duty to enter, or allow, claims which are not so founded.
3. In forwarding claims the commanders concerned will insure that the basis of the claim is fully stated, in order that the claims board may have sufficient data on which to proceed. Prior to 1500 daily, the entire claims board will meet for confirmation of rejection of all claims which have previously been allowed tentatively. After this has been done, credit will be allocated to specific batteries for the PAC shot down.
4. In order to avoid duplication of reports, it is desired to obtain individual battery credits, or PAC Kills, from the daily Statistical Report. To avoid confusion between units “engaging” and units actually “claiming” PAC, Groups and Brigades are directed to plainly indicate on report forms the difference between the two categories.
By Lone_Sentry_Admin, on August 31st, 2010%
Operational antiaircraft report from “Antiaircraft Artillery Notes,” No. 8, December 13, 1944. This attack was mounted by the Luftwaffe’s Jagdgeschwader 4 (JG 4). The aircraft displayed the black-white-black bands of JG 4.
SUBJECT: First Army AAA Versus the Luftwaffe (SECRET).
SOURCE: AA Section, Headquarters Twelfth Army Group.
a. “Ich habe niemals etwas ähnliches gesehen!” meaning “I’ve never seen anything like it.” This statement by a captured GAF pilot epitomizes the disastrous effort of the Luftwaffe to match its air skill against First Army AAA on the afternoon of 3 December. In this action, the heaviest daylight effort since 5 October, 70 enemy aircraft operated over the front in the First Army area. AAA claim 41 enemy aircraft destroyed and 23 enemy aircraft probably destroyed.
b. The enemy started the attack at 1359 hours when approximately 2 Gruppen entered the First Army area in the VII Corps zone, swung south through the V Corps zone to enter the VIII Corps zone, then reversed to retrace the route, and leave again at the northern part of VII Corps zone. The action lasted for approximately 45 minutes. The enemy chose to operate in concentrated numbers on an afternoon when weather had grounded all our fighters, a fact which the enemy evidently judged would give him freedom in the air to attack targets in the fighting zone and thus slow the threatening ground advance. But the enemy did not reckon with the prepared AAA.
c. The First Army AAA was ready and waiting. The effectiveness of the early warning is demonstrated by the fact that gun crews had four minutes warning of the approach of enemy aircraft. An additional factor in the preparedness was that the area controller had released guns to fire unseen because none of our aircraft were airborne in that area.
d. The cloud ceiling at the time of the action was approximately 1000 feet. The enemy aircraft approached in formations but split up to small individual groups of two’s and three’s before entering the area. The mission assigned was to cover the area “thoroughly and attack any and all targets of opportunity. In attempting to carry out this mission, each aircraft took individual action; more often than not this consisted of violent evasive action to avoid AAA fire. The enemy planes darted in and out of the cloud cover, and even attempted to fly down valleys to avoid our flak. In a determined effort to complete the mission the planes strafed and bombed for 45 minutes, all the time in the face of devastating AAA fire.
e. Fifteen (15) AAA battalions participated in the action. It is not possible to tabulate the claims of each unit at present as claims in many instances are overlapping and the AAA intelligence officers, the air force crash intelligence teams, and the interrogation teams are working overtime to segregate the true facts of the downed planes. Many of the observed coordinates of crashed aircraft are in heavily mined areas or behind the enemy lines and thus are not readily accessible. However, as of 8 December, seventeen (17) crashed aircraft had been located, together with nine live pilots. Units participating in this action were: 116th AAA Gun Bn (M), 555th AAA AW Bn (M), 376th AAA AW Bn (M), 552nd AAA AW Bn (M), 486th AAA AW Bn (SP), 474th AAA AW Bn (SP), 462nd AAA AW Bn (M), 460th AAA AW Bn (M), 387th AAA AW Bn (SP), 438th AAA AW Bn (M), 461st AAA AW Bn (M), 197th AAA AW Bn (SP), 103rd AAA AW Bn (M), 445th AAA AW Bn (M), 377th AAA AW Bn (M)
f. The interrogation of one captured pilot, an extremely experienced one having seen much action on other fronts, produced the following facts: He was shot down by flak after his plane had been hit four times – in the tail, fuselage, wing, and engine. When flak was mentioned, he became very agitated and cursed our AAA fire as being too intense and too accurate. He said that evasive tactics of skidding his plane and jinking, which had worked so successfully on other fronts, was useless here, as evidenced by his being hit and downed. When the flak opened up, it appeared to him that the whole mountainside was alive with fire. He had “never seen anything like it.”
g. The following facts emerging from this action are interesting to note:
(1) Some planes were painted with a replica of the invasion stripes on the fuselage between the cockpit and stabilizer. There were three stripes – black, white, black – each 10-11 inches wide.
(2) Me 109 G-6 and Me 109 G-14 types participated. The Me 109 G-14 had a 20mm cannon mounted between the engine blocks.
(3) First Army policy of preventative maintenance was demonstrated by the fact that the 197th AAA AW Bn (SP) had 36 half-tracks in action without a single malfunction of any type.
(4) The 116th AAA Gun Bn (M) fired some rounds of pre-cut fuzes in gun control at low flying strafing planes. It is reported that one plane was destroyed by this method of fire control. This battalion claims four (4) planes destroyed by unseen fire control.
By Lone_Sentry_Admin, on August 14th, 2010%
 The following tactical intelligence report appeared in “Eastern Air Command Weekly Intelligence Summary”, No. 10, Nov. 3, 1944 published by Headquarters Eastern Air Command, Southeast Asia.
Oscars Drop Aerial Bombs on B-24 Moulmein Mission
22 October Preliminary Report from 356 Squadron (RAF)
Thirteen Liberators (B-24s) dropped bombs on Moulmein between 1159 and 1202 hours from 2000 feet to 2500 feet. Immediately after this attack two enemy aircraft; one Oscar and one Tojo, were sighted at two oclock, 2000 yards away and 500 feet above. One of these rolled off the top and dived through the first formation. (The Liberators were in two formations, 2000 yards apart – ahead and astern.) As it dived, enemy aircraft fired and hitting aircraft “D” inflicted slight damage to that machine’s leading and trailing edges. Enemy aircraft leveled off at 1000 feet.
The second of these two enemy aircraft stood off at 2000 yards then disappeared in the direction of Rangoon, performing aerobatics as it went on it’s way.
Two Oscars (MK II) were sighted 37 minutes after leaving the target area. Standing off, they remained in sight of the squadron for 35 minutes. At 1314 hours in position 1630 N 9500 E these two enemy aircraft split up and attacked simultaneously. The Liberators were now at 10,000 feet.
Attacking from ahead and above, one enemy aircraft dived and dropped what appeared to be aerial bombs which seemed to flutter down slowly in pairs. One bomb burst with a reddish yellow flash in front of and below the Oscar while it was still diving, but no damage was done to our aircraft.
The second Oscar came in level from astern. It closed to 250 yards but did not fire. Two rear gunners and one mid-upper gunner opened lire and tracer from aircraft “J” appeared to enter the Oscar’s wings. Enemy aircraft broke away apparently undamaged….
Jap T/E Fighter Drops Aerial Bomb on Truk Strike
Thirteen B-24s bombed N Moen Airfield, Truk, from 19,500 feet on 19 September 1944. A twin-engine Jap fighter attacked the formation and dropped a phosphorous aerial bomb. (7th AF Intelligence Summary No. 53, 7 October, 1944).
The attack was made at noon and was unescorted. One minute after “bombs away” our planes were intercepted by 3-4 Zekes and one possible Nick. One two-plane coordinated attack was made from one oclock high. Both of these planes dropped aerial bombs, after coming in from out of the sun. This attack was followed by five individual passes from between twelve and two oclock. These fighters also came in high and released three aerial bombs and made two shooting passes. The bombs hit low and wide.
One of our planes had a feathered engine and was subjected to two fairly aggressive attacks from five and eight oclock high. However, the formation protected this plane by slowing down and keeping him well covered.
The twin-engine fighter came in from the nose, high and out of the sun, and pressed his attack to 250 yards. He broke away to the right at two oclock, exposing the belly of the plane. A phosphorous bomb was dropped, bursting approximately 300 yards at three oclock. Although twin-engine fighters have been seen on many previous missions, this aerial bomb attack is the first reported from this type fighter. (Illustration A).
Zekes Coordinate on Aerial Bomb Attack
Fifteen more B-24s hit the same target. (See story above). The attacks were coordinated so that after “bombs away” the two formations gave mutual support. Separate bomb runs split the AA defenses.
Interception of this second formation was started just before the bomb run. Three Zekes made a coordinated attack, two coming in trail from 11 oclock high and the third diving steeply from out of the sun. The first pass was a shooting pass, the second was an aerial bomb attack, and the third was an aerial bomb and shooting pass. The first fighter broke away at 500′ rolling down toward 5 oclock. His trailing wingman also broke off the attack at 500 feet and pulled off toward 3 oclock low. The Zeke that dove out of the sun, reached a position about 600′ in front of the formation but then pulled up and rolled into a spiral breakaway above the formation.
Both of the aerial bombs released in this coordinated attack were a new type. (Illustration B). One of the bombs was observed prior to bursting and was described 1½ feet in diameter, 6 feet long and spinning to the left as it fell. The burst was orange-red and shrapnel was thrown out which looked like tracers. Both bombs were accurate as to altitude. One burst to the left and one to the right of the formation. One burst was close enough to No. 2 plane in B-Flight for the blast to jar loose lighting fixtures in the cockpit.
All other passes were very unaggressive. The mission was notable since after leaving the target, all 27 planes offered mutual support instead of the two formations leaving separately. The 431st crew members expressed the opinion that this may have been responsible for the unusually unaggressive tactics on the part of the enemy pilots. No damage to our aircraft resulted from enemy fire.
For additional intelligence reports on German and Japanese use of aerial bombs against Allied bombers, see:
By Lone_Sentry_Admin, on March 31st, 2010%
Three ordnance intelligence illustrations of the German 2 cm FlaK 30 (Fliegerabwehrkanone 30) antiaircraft gun show the major components of the gun and mounting:
2 cm FlaK 30 on Trailer Ready for Transport
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2 cm FlaK 30 Mounting
1. Sub Mounting, 2. Carriage Body, 3. Cradle, 4. Elevation Hand Wheel, 5. Traversing Hand Wheel, 6. Slipper, 8. Firing Pedal (Single), 10. Layer’s Seat, 11. Flakvisier, 12. Elevation Arm, 15. Travelling Clamp |
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2 cm FlaK 30 Mounting
1. Sub Mounting, 2. Carriage Body, 3. Cradle, 4. Elevation Hand Wheel, 5. Traversing Hand Wheel, 6. Slipper, 7. Compensator, 9. Firing Pedal (Automatic), 10. Layer’s Seat, 11. Flakvisier, 12. Elevation Arm, 13. Sight Bracket Arm, 14. Transmission (Carriage to Sight), 15. Travelling Clamp, 16. Compensator Lock |
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Dragon Models 1/6th Scale Jeep (1/4 Ton 4x4 Truck)
Dragon Models DX'08 American WWII Jeep w/ Full Engine
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