Flying Rams and Air to Air Ramming

"They (B-29s) were designed to do high-altitude bombing," said James. "But bombing from where we were in China to reach Japan was always a 17- to 18-hour mission and you had to carry mostly all gasoline and no bombs. And at high altitude you couldn't hit anything. The bombing was very inefficient from high altitude."
He continued, "When we moved to Tinian, to the islands, we could fly at 50 feet off the ocean all the way up to Japan with a whole lot of bombs and not a lot of gasoline. We just burned Japan down. We just burned every city down with low-altitude firebombing."
"Mid-air kamikaze ramming was our biggest fright I would guess, it was mine anyhow," said James. "They would ram you in mid-air. Of course that's awful hard to escape."
Crew members that were able to bail out in time, often found the parachute descent just as fatal. Some, though, were lucky enough to be rescued. "

wjz.com - 'Naughty Nose Art' From WWII At Easton Airport

 

am receiving several German docs sources of ULTRA, just to change the tune a little. this in regards to US/RAF interests in the German "ramming" :

3. Ultra-message 7484: Interpretation and some corrections of information given in BT 7207. On page 2 indication for an order to pilots "to ram day bombers determined to crash with their opponents rather than to land without a victory". This interpretation is not correct. It is probably a mixing up with the orders given to the Sturmjägers of the Sturmgruppen before they started their first operations. This order was cancelled a few months later. Pilots of Schulungslehrgang "ELBE" got only the order to ram four engine bombers.

 

Thanks for that Update Erich . Post more if there is any and when you can .

 

Your imput is always welcome .

 

The capture of the Mariana Islands sealed the fate of the Japanese Empire. This positioned the B-29s just 1300 miles southeast of Tokyo, and within range of Japan's industrial districts. The B-29s could fly above the reach of most fighter planes and accurate anti-aircraft fire, yet the trip to Tokyo and back took over 15 hours. General Hap Arnold chose General Haywood S. Hansell Jr. to command the XXI Bomber Command. The B-29s kept coming, and soon Hansell had over 100 to bomb the Japanese aircraft industry, which was first on the list. Over Tokyo the bombers were subjected to inaccurate flak ineffective fighters due to the altitude. However the altitude was the very cause of the bombers not getting results. The jet stream was causing most of the problems. The B-29s faced the first of many suicide attacks when a Kawasaki pilot crashed his plane into the tail of one flown by Lt. Sam Wagner. Both planes went down in vertical dives and no parachutes were seen. It was obvious to the Japanese that the loss of one pilot and one fighter plane compared to a B-29 and eleven trained airmen was an excellent exchange.

SUICIDE ATTACKS ON B-29s

 

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

On April 6 1941, the first day of Invasion of YugoslaviaInvasion of Yugoslavia

The Invasion of Yugoslavia, or the so-called April War, was the Axis Powers' attack on Yugoslavia on April 6 1941 ...
36th group of the 5th fighter regiment of the Yugoslav Royal Air ForceYugoslav Royal Air Force

The Yugoslav Royal Air Force or Jugoslovensko Kraljevsko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo in Serbian & Croatian: Jugoslovensko K...
, equipped with obsolete Hawker FuryHawker Fury

The Hawker Fury was a biplane fighter design used by the RAF in the 1930s....
biplanes scrambled to defend their airfield, Režanovacka Kosa, from a strafing attack by aprox. 30 Bf-109 and Bf-110s. In the ensuing uneven dogfight at least three Yugoslav pilots: Captain Konstantin Jermakov, Captain Vojislav Popovic and Lieutenant Milorad Tanasic rammed a German fighter each with fatal results on both sides. (*)

Ramming: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

 

Bulgaria

Several rammings were performed by Bulgaria against Allied bombers in 1943 and 1944. The first one to do so was Senior Lieutenant (posthumously elevated to Captain ) Dimitar Spisarevsky on December 20, 1943.

 

Found a listing for Soviet Taran Victories. Looks like the most that was acheived was 4 .

Jan J. Safarik: Air Aces Home Page

 

Soviet Aces of World War 2
Page 15


Soviet Aces of World War 2 - Google Book Search

 

P-39s in Russia

"Hundreds of Soviet pilots became ace in the Kobra against German planes like the Bf-109 and FW-190 on the Eastern front. As an active front line fighter, Kobras were even used in taran ramming attacks. "

Book Review: P-39 Airacobra Units of World War 2

 

A couple more exerpts,

P-29 Airacobra Aces of World War 2 - Google Book Search

Soviet Lend-Lease Fighter Aces of ... - Google Book Search

And,


"In World War II, ramming (Russian/Polish name: taran) became a legendary technique of VVS pilots against the Luftwaffe, especially in the early days of the hostilities in the war's Eastern Front. In the first year of the war, the Soviet machines were considerably inferior to the German ones and the taran was sometimes perceived as the only way to guarantee the destruction of the enemy. Trading an outdated fighter to a technologically advanced bomber was considered a good trade. In some cases, heavily wounded pilots or in damaged aircraft decided to perform a suicidal taran attack against air, ground or naval targets, similar to kamikaze. The first taran attack in World War II was carried out by the Polish pilot, Lt. Col. Leopold Pamuła with his damaged PZL P.11c on 1 September 1939, over Łomianki near Warsaw.
Nine rammings took place on the very first day of German invasion of the Soviet Union. About 200 (some estimates give the number closer to 500) taran attacks were made by Soviets between the beginning of Operation Barbarossa and the middle of 1943 when enough modern aircraft had been produced to make the tactic obsolete, even if Russian fighter pilots still were trained to perform it. Lieutenant Boris Kovzan survived the record of four ramming attacks in the war. Alexander Khlobytsev made three. Seventeen other Soviet pilots were credited with two successful ramming attacks. The Japanese also practiced ramming-example a B-17 brought down in May 8, 1942"

Talk:F4U Corsair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Air warfare

Ramming in air combat is a last-ditch tactic that was used when all else had failed. The ramming pilot could use his entire aircraft as a ram or he could try to destroy the enemy's controls using the propeller or wing to chop into the enemy's tail or wing. Ramming took place when a pilot ran out of ammunition yet was still eager to destroy an enemy, or when his plane had already been damaged beyond saving. Most ramming occurred when the attacker's aircraft was economically, strategically or tactically less valuable than the enemy's, such as by pilots flying obsolescent aircraft against superior ones or by single-engine aircraft against multiple-engine bombers. Defenders rammed more often than invaders. A ramming attack was not considered suicidal in the same manner as kamikaze attacks — the ramming pilot stands a chance of surviving, though it was very risky. Sometimes the ramming aircraft itself could survive to make a controlled landing, though most were lost due to combat damage or the pilot bailing out. Ramming was used in air warfare in the first half of the 20th century, in both World Wars and in the interwar period. In the jet age, as air combat speeds increased, instances of ramming became rare. It was too risky.
Technique

Three types of ramming attacks were made:
- Using the propeller to go in from behind and chop off the controls in the tail of the enemy aircraft. This was the most difficult to perform, but it had the best chance of survival.
- Using the wing to cut off the wing or tail of the enemy aircraft. Some Soviet aircraft like the Polikarpov I-16 had wings strengthened for this purpose.
- Direct ramming was the easiest to perform, but also the most dangerous.

Ramming articles and news from Start Learning Now

 

Victory List of 146 GIAP including "Taran" victories.

http://aces.safarikovi.org/victories/doc/soviet.union.victory.list.of.146.giap.pdf

 

this is reported to be a B-17G rammed by an Elbe Me-109

 

Below a copy from the Osprey's # 38 "B-17 Flying Fortress units of the MTO".

 

The worrying thing is it was repaired no doubt these guys had a Post War future in Chop Shops

 

another Osprey goof up JC. no Fw 190A fighter units in the MTO in February 43 as your caption for the book states

 

Thanks Erich. I just noticed that LOL. . Its mentioned a few times there. Bad proofreading I guess LOL.

 

While on a mission to intercept a force of US B-24s attacking Rangoon MSgt Anabuki Satoru became seprated due to technical problems and arrived over the target area alone. He found 11 B-24s and 2 P-38s. He immediatly attacked and shot down 3 B-24s and the 2 P-38s. One of the B-24s he brought down by ramming when he ram out of ammunition.

 

As far as I know the Zonderkommando Elbe only made one mission, right?