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Five He-177A-5s with obliquely rocket tubes
Five He-177A-5s were experimently equipped in January 1944 with batteries of 33 obliquely mounted 21cm rocket mortar tubes. They were combat tested by Erprobungskommado 25. So far these five He-177A-5s made a few sorties over Germany without contact with US four-engined bombers. When the escort fighters that flew with the bombers became ever more numerous according to Luftwaffe intelligence,the entire setup was abandoned.
I'm surprised that Luftwaffe Erprobungskommando 25 gave up so easily with this armament aircraft experiment so soon. I wonder what kind of fate afterwards that the five He-177A-5s that were equipped with batteries of rocket tubes had after the abandonment of that experiment? They couldn't be scrapped soon.
Edward L. Hsiao
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