Quote:
Originally Posted by tcolvin
One other nitpicking comment, Biltongbru.
The sole objective of the frontal attack, AFAIK, was to kill or disable the bomber pilot and co-pilot and smash the dashboard and controls.
The bomber must then inevitably crash, while the only option for the rest of the crew would be to bail out.
To minimise the risk of collision when the bomber dropped its nose as a result of the pilots being shot up, the German pilot would at the last moment pull up over the bomber.
Your film instead shows Knoke aiming at the B24's engines, and then sheering off below the bomber rather than pulling above it.
The attached picture is from a wartime (1944) publication issued by 8 USAAF and published by HMSO. It shows that the Americans also understood that the German tactic was to aim straight at the bomber pilots.
Also, it shows the FW190 going in with the right wing down. This attitude was probably intended to maximise the chance that some of the spread from the four cannon would also take out the B17's front gunner as collateral damage, without the German pilot having to shift the Revi sight from aiming directly at the bomber pilots in the cockpit.
Frontal attack must have tested the bravery of both fighter and bomber pilots to the absolute limit.
Tony
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Hi Tony;
Thanks again; In reply of what you say is that the Narator do an exact quote from the text in the book as Heinz Knoke wrote it; in this specific run he said that he nearly scraped the belly of the B24 when he passed, so he must have passed under the B24.