http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1434
6. This Me 410 A-1/U-2 matches Schwachenwald's description on p. 85 of I./KG 51's aircraft equipped with four W.Gr. 21 mortar launchers used to try and penetrate the effective 1000 m of defensive fire of American daylight bomber formations. According to Schwechenwald, on their first operation on 6 September 1943, I./KG 51 blew an American bomber out of the sky but Winkel's aircraft had one of its engines shot out and barely made it back to base. I can find no record of either incident but Harald Haverstadt was wounded and his
bordfunker killed that same day. (RL 2-III/193 p.86 and p.118) Note that this version of the Me 410 has two longer barrels of additional guns mounted in a ventral container mounted in the bomb-bay.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1438
7. This photo of a Me 410 A of II./ZG 26 (note the heel of the 'wooden shoe' on the port engine) shows to good advantage the installation of two W.Gr. 21 mortar launchers under each wing, with their upward tilt calculated for firing outside the 1000 m range.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1439
8. Ground crew load a 21 cm. mortar into its launcher. Note that the mortar has no stabilizing fins visible. As far as I know, there were no official claims made by I./KG 51 in the West in 1943 before they moved to France in December for night bombing operations. As a result, Häberlen was sacked by Peltz and Göring on 11 October 1943 in an acrimonious meeting at Fels am Wagram.