Aircraft that did not quite produce a full top ace

[Dénes Bernád]

Pegg just published a revised edition of his book. Check out the Books sub-forum.

[bearoutwest]

Brian Cull's book "Fighters over the Aegean" has a number of incidences recorded of combat between Beaufighters and Arado 196's. The Arados were successful on quite a few occasions.
I am aware also that the Arados also caused some concern to RAF Coastal Command Whitleys and a RN Submarine (HMS Seal).


...geoff

[knusel]

I suppose the Beaufighters were torpedo bombers ?

Cheers,

Michael

[bearoutwest]

Not generally torpedo bombers, from memory they were RAF or SAAF Beaufighters on coastal patrol, fighter sweep or bomb/rocket strike.


...geoff

[knusel]

This seems to be a bold deed, as the Beaufighter is much faster and more heavily armed than the Arado Ar 196.

Michael

[bearoutwest]

Beaufighter losses to Ar196 (Appendix I - Fighters over the Aegean):

17-Sep-43 252 Sqn V8335

29-Oct-43 47 Sqn JM225

6-Nov-43 47 Sqn LX998

27-Jan-44 603 Sqn LZ144

22-Feb-44 227 Sqn X8103

1-Jun-44 227 Sqn JM235

1-Jun-44 603 Sqn LZ517 (shared with flak)

1-Jun-44 16SAAF NE641

17-Jun-44 16SAAF NExxx (shared with flak)

Here's an oddity for you - a Beaufighter shot down from return fire of a Ju52:
30-Aug-44 603 Sqn NV213

If you compare straight performance statistics between Beaufighter and Ar196, the Beau wins hands down. However, remember that combat is not a comparison sheet. The Beau has good low-level speed, but in a shipping srtike wouldn't be going flat-out top speed on the way in to target. Down low, the Arado was very nimble. If the Arado takes the Beau by surprise or the Beau's crew is over-confident and underestimates the floatplane result is not so sure. As for the benefits of the Beau's heavy armament....well RAF crews were supposed to be lousy shots in general. Air-to-air marksmanship was not as heavily drilled in the Commonwealth as for the USN/USMC or USAAF training.


...geoff

[knusel]

Good evening Geoff,

that's a cool list.
Do you know any of the claimants ?

I wish you a good Saturday,

Michael