Mid-air Ramming of He 111, 1T+HK

[Dénes Bernád]

There is a well known photo of a He 111H, 1T+HK (of 2./KG 28), reportedly rammed by a Soviet 'Rata', with damage to the tail and starboard wing visible.

Is the story behind this Propagandakompanie photo known?

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hello Dénes.
I saw this picture on a Luftwaffe basic-book writen by Alfred Price. This is a very good photo who clearly shows the TARAN attacks. So far ( my library is modest with only 400 books on the subject...surely there are more experts on TARAN here on the Forum...) this is the sole picture I ever saw corroborating such attacks...Unfortunately, there is not a date to verify the photo´s history and check who could have done the damages ( I mean the Russian pilot ). I am sure one of the Experts of the site will help you the way you wish...and I do hope to learn more about the subject. We could start a thread about TARAN photographs, what do you think?
Friendly yours
Adriano

[BC]

I have an old (1964) book, The War In The Air (Major Gene Gurney, USAF) which has a page entitled "Soviet Fighter Tactics". The page mentions the Russians "...reviving a WW 1 tactic" (ramming) and has three artists impressions of a Ju 88 being rammed by Soviet fighters.

At the foot of the page is a picture of a Russian fighter with a smiling pilot before it, the propeller badly twisted and misshapen and what looks like grass or vegetation on the top of the engine cowling, obviously where the aircraft nosed over on landing (?). The caption says:
"In Oct 1942, pilot Sgt I Chumbarev, in one day, using the primitive ramming method, downed one Focke-Wulf scouting plane and damaged a Dornier 215".

I know little about this aspect of the air war in Europe, but thought I'd mention it in case it is of interest.

BC