Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
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Strasbourg was the second and final member of the Dunkerque class of fast battleships built for the French Navy in the 1930s. She and her sister ship Dunkerque were designed to defeat the German Deutschland class of heavy cruisers that had been laid down beginning in the late 1920s, and as such were equipped with a battery of eight 330 mm (13 in) guns to counter the six 280 mm (11 in) guns of the Deutschlands. Strasbourg was laid down in November 1934, was launched in December 1936, and was commissioned in September 1938 as the international situation in Europe was steadily deteriorating due to Nazi Germany's increasingly aggressive behavior.
STRASBOURG during her inclining test in the River Penfeld at Brest, 1 September 1938.
STRASBOURG during her inclining test in the River Penfeld at Brest, 1 September 1938.
Unit 731 was just one of a mass of atrocities the Japs were never called to account for. It was the best decision at the time and saved countless lives in the longer run. About 100 of the scientist developing the bomb got cold feet and had regrets after it was dropped. What did they expect ?
Grizz
When ever I am in a bomber I note that the skin isn't much more protection than the side of a garbage can. Any bullet would go right through. It would seem to me that everyone would be at about equal risk of getting hit.
Those guys had balls to keep going back up.
Those guys had balls to keep going back up.
I had a friend who completed 32 missions over Europe as a tail gunner in a Halifax and was wounded by flak. He said he watched a lot of young men grow old sweating out the end of their tours. Many didn't make it.
My uncle did 37 missions recorded, he told me it was 42. Made him an instructor saying it would be bad for moral to loose him then. Crash landed one when hydraulics were shot out, on another was told to land in a different area as there was a 500 lb bomb stuck in the doors. Piloted mostly Lancasters, said there was no second set of controls so he was a target. One hell of a generation.
This horrific photo, taken in 1942, shows Japanese soldiers using blindfolded prisoners of war for target practice. These POWs served with the Sikh Regiment, British Indian Army, and were captured during the Battle of Singapore (February 1942). These poor men most likely realized they were going to die when the Japanese placed a target mark over the heart of each prisoner.
If you like podcasts, check out Dan Carlins Hardcore History - Supernova in the East. Absolutely fantastic. A good chuck of the Japanese fighting armies were reduced to just a handful of survivors after fighting, disease, starvation and mass suicide.
I did a fast google search
Was tail gunner survival so low because enemy fighters targeted them or was it too hard to bail from the plane when you are in the tail?
there isnt a whole lot of "targeting" in a ww2 fighter. put bullets into the other aircraft, you only have a few seconds of ammo and a few seconds to aim and you and your target are moving. tail and ball gunners are hardest to bail out. the ball turret in a b24 is retracted for takeoff and landing and if something fails, the ball gunner is trapped and will be killed on landing. if hydraluic is lost, the gunner can be trapped and the gear wont lower meaing death for the ball gunner. an aircraft might be able to make it back with damage that would kill the tail gunner, but something that killed the waist gunners would also likely destroy the aircraft and kill the whole crew.
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The Axis forces spec. targeted the tail gunner as he was an effective lookout esp. at the back of a formation I guess. They were Taking out the tail gunner for that reason. One would imagine they worked out methods to 'assassinate' tailgunners.
I doubt this was a real or effective strategy. Attacking from the rear was probably the worst option for a Luftwaffe fighter pilot. It was the worst option in the sense of trying to close the distance, while at the same time exposing the fighter to a high volume of fire for the longest period of time. The bomber rear was also the least vulnerable and harder to hit. Instead, Luftwaffe fighters tended to attack from the frontal aspect (head-on) or from above. (There is a reason for the term '12 o'clock high'.) As mentioned by scott585, the high closing speed/angle meant the attacking fighter had very little time or opportunity to focus on or attack specific parts of the bomber. That said, attacking from above also offered the advantage of allowing fire on the fuel tanks and the engines over the broadest area possible.
Also, attacking from straight behind presents an almost stationary target to the tail gunner, not a good idea and terrifying to the attacking fighter pilot.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Jesus - got right in there, didn't he? Not much return fire, and the ball turret with the guns pointing straight down. Can't imagine the scene inside that B-17.
The hunters and the hunted in a war of attrition. At the end of the day the once mighty Luftwaffe was swept from the skies and the bombers ran out of worthwhile targets to bomb. I once talked with an Me109 pilot who had been shot down by a P-38 in N. Africa. He said it was over in the flash of an eye.
