[Peter Spoden]

Hello Gentlemen,

maybe the following story is if of interest in connection with the 21cm rockets. A few years ago I wrote this down with the help of my friend from RAF Peter Hinchliffe:

"We attacked from astern and below, unseen by the fighters. Beneath the wings of our Me 110s we were carrying for the first time rocket launchers with 21-centimetre. rockets. The plan of attack was to approach the centre of the bomber formation with the aid of our Lichtenstein radar to a distance of exactly 2,000 metres - the range for which the rockets were calibrated - and then launch our missiles and so blow the cluster of bombers apart. Today such a murderous act of destruction would stand a much better chance of success with the aid of lasers, infra red and GPS, as many wars since 1945 have shown.
When we were still 3,000 metres away from our targets ( 20 or 30 B 17) we could see the bright tracer of the American cannon-shells coming towards us. As we came closer we had the feeling that we were flying into a shower bath. I received a large numberof hits in my wings - we could see the holes appearing. It was as if somebody we couldn’t see was sticking his finger in. I was a night fighter, and thank God I had never seen bullets hitting me so often - we didn’t see them until the mechanics pointed them out to us after we had landed. Two of the four Me 110s reported that they had lost engines: I never heard anything more about the crews. At that time of the year in January 1944 the Baltic was bloody cold.

As leader of the Schwarm of the four Me 110 I gave the order to open fire when we were 2,500 metres from the American bombers. Nothing happened! Not one of the launchers fired! The electric leads to the rockets must have been hit, or possibly they hadn’t been fitted properly. I pressed on the firing buttons like mad. At least I could have as go at the gaggle of Fortresses with my nose guns. I kept my finger pressed on the button and waggled my control column. Absolutely no effect – then I saw a white smoke trail coming from my port engine. That was something else that I was seeing for the first time because it was daylight. Break off quickly and head the German coast!

I reached the coast on one engine at an altitude of only a few hundred metres over Kiel, and to my alarm I suddenly found myself among barrage balloons and their cables. I had just enough fuel to reach my base, Parchim in Mecklenburg, and made a belly landing."

best regards Peter