Me 163 at night?

[RodM]

Originally Posted by JDCAVE

Thanks very much for that Rod. I believe my colleague has had some discussions with you on this subject. I wonder then whether Dad was attacked by a nightfighter with Schrage Musik that fortunately missed! Fortunate for me and Dad anyways! Would Schrage Musik Cannons cause any kind of light display.

In his Audio taped memoires, Dad reports this as a really hairy experience. It was his 27th operation so he had considerable experience to that date. The 28th op to Dessau on March 7, 1945 also had considerable night fighter activity

Jim

Hi Jim.

my own opinion is that it is very difficult to work out exactly what a crew actually saw because the reports are usually phrased as if it was a jet/rocket aircraft attacking.

What is needed is a copy of the pro forma combat report that would have been completed by your father's crew. This would provide the most detail on the incident (pro formas were completed for all sightings and engagements with enemy aircraft, even if no claim for destruction or damage against the enemy aircraft was made). While the Bomber Command combat reports in British archives are woefully incomplete (most of the 1945 reports are missing), Canadian Archives do hold copies, and I would suggest that you contact Richard Koval, the webmaster at http://www.rcaf.com/6group/, as he holds a massive collection of copies of RCAF bomber squadron combat reports.

The narrative in the combat report would go a long way to helping you understand what the crew saw. You describe (if I understand correctly) that the enemy aircraft made a diving attack on the Lancaster, this would make it unlikely that upward firing cannon was used, unless the enemy aircraft dove under the Lancaster before opening fire.

Probably of more relevance is what led the crew to believe it was an Me163 in the first place. I mentioned that signals muntions were used by the Luftwaffe and this does explain a lot of Bomber Command sightings/claims (a large number of claims were made against 'rocket' a/c seen rising up from the ground at high speed before either exploding or simply dropping back to earth). What is not so clear are the cases where the enemy aircraft opened fire. Night fighters did drop 'fighter flares' during 1945, to aid other night fighters in finding the bomber stream.

I think in your father's case, his Lancaster was attacked by a twin-engined night fighter and it is too early to say, without a better description of the incident, what method of attack was employed (i.e. frontal or upward firing armament).

Cheers

Rod

[JDCAVE]

Again, thanks Rod for your insight into this observation. I will contact Richard, who I have been in contact with last summer.

Jim

[Kaczmarek]

Very interesting thread, especially for me. At Jim I have send you a PM.

Kaczmarek