Tankbusters of WW2

Rudel was an exceptionally skilled pilot. Despite flying throughout the war in the Stuka, which was hopelessly obsolete by 1943, he only aborted a mission one time, and that was because some American-flown Mustangs based in Russia jumped his unit just before they were to attack their target. I read the American fighter commander's account of this incident, BTW. They thought the planes were Russian until someone realized that they were Stukas. Anyway, 519 tanks killed was certainly within his capabilities, especially spread out over four years. Of course, to the Soviets, this was a pinprick, though this is not to take anything from Rudel.

 

the russkies put a price for Rudel's head

 

How about the Henschel Hs-126 with a PAK-40 in a belly-pack?

Lethal.

 

Especially if you're in one and the enemy have any kind of fighters in the air at the time. Slow, no defensive firepower and poor manouevrability. Yeah, I'd say it was lethal...

 

Welcome to the forum Ricky.

The PaK 40L equipped Hs 129B-3/Wa could knock out about any tank it hit. When it hit. The trouble was that the gun was just too heavy and powerful for the aircraft, the weight of the gun made the aircraft almost unmanageable and the recoil from the gun was troublesome.

 

Yeah, but both the He177 and Ju88 had similar set ups with modified PaK40s. Personally I've always loved the idea of an aircraft around the size of a Lancaster being used as a Tankbuster!

Apparently the He177 used on the Eastern Front as a tankbuster was quite effective, anyone heard anything about it from a tanker's perspective?

 

Apparently the PaK 40 was too powerful for the He 177 as well, and only 5 He 177A-3/R5 were ever built.

I believe some field conversions were made during Battle of Stalingrad, but these were mainly used for flak supression as far as I know. I know some were fitted with the 50mm BK 5 ( ? ) anti tank gun.

 

The Heinkel He 177 was a piece of junk more dangerous to its own crews than to the enemy. The Luftwaffe pilots called it "The Flying Firework" because of the plane's tendency to catch fire even when no one was shooting at them. Total deathtrap.

 

some brits pilots flew the 177 after the war and claimed that despite the bugs of the 177 it was luck for them that it was not ready for combat, meaning that probably this plane was good .
and about the tendency of catching fire was due the unsolved problem with the coupled engines

 

True, but the Germans who had to fly it hated it. But it would have been a winner if they had just used a conventional four engined design for it. But this the Luftwaffe High Command refused to do.

 

He177? :cry: :cry:

 

what do you mean? :-?

 

yeap that order to build only bimotor planes was very stupid :angry: :bang:

 

Roel, if you're asking for info about the He 177 Greif here goes:
German four engine bomber. Looked a little like a big Ju 88 since there were only two nacelles and two props, the engines being coupled two to a prop. First flew in Dec 1939 but constant priority changes and development problems prevented it from entering service until 1942. The original version was the A-1 (130 produced), followed by the improved A-3 (170 produced). The A-5 version (565 produced) had better engines and was redesigned to accomdate large external loads.
Some stats:
Crew: five
Max speed 510kph (A-1/A-3); 488 kph (A-5)
Service ceiling: 7000m (A-1/A-3); 8000m (A-5)
Range: 1200km with max bomb load of 6,000kg (A-1/A-3); 5500km with two Hs 293 air to surface missles (A-5); A-5 max bomb load was 13,228kg
Wing span: 31.44m
Height: 6.39m
Length: 20.4m (A-1/A-3); 22m (A-5)
Primary source: Aircraft of WWII by Chris Chant
Secondary source: faluty memory :lol:

 

Here's a good web link:
http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/2833/ ... he177.html

And Roel, if you weren't just feeling sorry for the He-177.

 

Thanks very much canambridge for refreshing my memory. I have heard of this plane before, it was just, ... in there somewhere, if you knwo what I mean. Good info by the way.

Me262: this is what I meant. For a moment I forgot what this plane was.

 

Danyel's flying exploding burning Sherman!

 

You do have to wonder what kind of idiot would require a heavy bomber be capable of dive bombing. :roll:

 

On this subject, the American "Flying Tigers" operating in China made a tank buster by attaching no less than six six-centimeter Bazooka rocket launchers under the wings of their Mustang Bs. This must have been an awesome ground attack aircraft too...

 

At the Duxford D-Day airshow, they mentioned an arty spotter guy who did the same with his Piper Grasshopper!