Dive Bombers... Kamikaze

5fish

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I see we have paid little attention to dive bombers which had a big roll in WW2 like in the Pacific theater as well in the European Theater. The Japanese open the war with one type of dive bombers that lead the attack on Peral Harbor...


The Aichi D3A Type 99 Carrier Bomber (Allied reporting name "Val")[a] is a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber. It was the primary dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was involved in almost all IJN actions, including the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Aichi D3A was the first Japanese aircraft to bomb American targets in the war, commencing with Pearl Harbor and U.S. bases in the Philippines, such as Clark Air Force Base. They sank more Allied warships than any other Axis aircraft.

Here is a list...

During the course of the war, D3A dive bombers often combined their attacks upon enemy warships with the IJN Nakajima B5N Kate torpedo bomber; consequently enemy vessels were often sunk by a combination strike of bombs and torpedoes. However, there were occasions when just the D3A's would make the attacks, or at least score the sinking hits. Discounting the Pearl Harbor strike, which also used the B5N for level bombing and torpedo attacks, D3A dive bombers were credited with sinking the following Allied warships:[18]

 

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I did not know but the Japanese design a plane/missile for Kamikaze mission called Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (櫻花, Ōka, "cherry blossom"; 桜花 in modern orthography). Kamikaze's are either dive bombers or missiles...


The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (櫻花, Ōka, "cherry blossom"; 桜花 in modern orthography) was a purpose-built, rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack aircraft[1] employed by Japan against Allied ships towards the end of the Pacific War during World War II. Although extremely fast, the very short range of the Ohka meant that it had to be carried into action as a parasite aircraft by a much larger bomber, which was itself vulnerable to carrier-borne fighters. In action during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, Ohkas were able to sink or damage some escort vessels and transport ships but no major warships were ever sunk. Improved versions which attempted to overcome the aircraft's shortcomings were developed too late to be deployed. Allied troops referred to the aircraft as "Baka Bombs"

Here the Aichi D3A Type 99 Carrier Bomber were used as Kamikaze planes as well...

As the war progressed, there were instances when the dive bombers were pressed into duty as fighters in the interceptor role, their maneuverability being enough to allow them to survive in this role.[22] When the Yokosuka D4Y Suisei became available, the D3A2s ended up with land-based units or operating from the smaller carriers, which were too small to handle the fast-landing Suisei. When American forces recaptured the Philippines in 1944, land-based D3A2s took part in the fighting, but were hopelessly outdated and losses were heavy. By then, many D3A1s and D3A2s were operated by training units in Japan, and several were modified with dual controls as Navy Type 99 Bomber Trainer Model 12s (D3A2-K). During the last year of the war, the D3A2s were pressed back into combat for kamikaze missions.
 

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Here stories of how Kamikaze pilots cheated death...


As the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war looms, two would-be suicide pilots described how they prepared to die for their emperor and country

Here is one more...

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Unlikely as it may seem, a number of Japanese kamikaze pilots did survive the war. All had been instructed to return to base if their planes developed a fault on the way to their targets. That is how I came to meet Kenichiro Oonuki.
 

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Here is the Father of the Kamikaze...


Takijirō Ōnishi (大西 瀧治郎, Ōnishi Takijirō, 2 June 1891 – 16 August 1945) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II who came to be known as the father of the kamikaze.[2]

Here is this... the Japanese say they sent out Kamikaze planes but the United States navy does not report any contact with the Japanese at all on so and so days...


Kamikaze (神風, pronounced [kamiꜜkaze]; "divine wind" or "spirit wind"), officially Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (神風特別攻撃隊, "Divine Wind Special Attack Unit"), were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to destroy warships more effectively than with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by kamikaze attacks
 

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The plane that won the war with the Japanese the Dauntless Dive Bomber... The Dauntless sunk most if not all the Japanese carriers that attack Peral Harbor...

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Slow but rugged, the SBD Dauntless dive bomber ravaged the Imperial Japanese Navy during the monumental first year of the Pacific contest, in the process earning a place in the hearts of its pilots.

But before the Hellcat’s 1943 appearance in Pacific skies and before the Superfortress went operational in 1944, the basis of U.S. victory was established by an obsolescent carrier-based dive bomber in 1942. Officially it was the Scout Bomber by Douglas, the SBD. The American public knew the globe-trotting ship-killer as the Dauntless. When faster carrier aircraft appeared later, SBD partisans insisted the acronym meant “Slow But Deadly.” And so it was. Despite its slightly dumpy silhouette, during the 12 months after Pearl Harbor the Dauntless became the worst enemy of imperial Japan.

SBDs logged numerous records in the first 12 months of combat, including the first Japanese warship sunk (a submarine, I-70, on 10 December 1941) and the greater share of the first enemy carrier destroyed (the Shoho on 7 May 1942 at the Battle of the Coral Sea). In one fabled day of battle at Midway, SBDs wrecked the Imperial Japanese Navy’s striking force by destroying all four carriers committed to the Midway operation, and they added another flattop off Guadalcanal in August. Thus, the Dauntless possessed a unique ability to exert world-historic importance, determining the outcome of battles, campaigns, and the course of the war itself.


Here is one of those 8 thing did you know click bait... @rittmeister , they came after them German's in Africa...


In addition to their extensive use in the War in the Pacific, they also saw action in the war in Europe. They participated in Operation Torch — the Allied invasion of western North Africa. In that engagement, they flew from the lesser-known aircraft carrier USS Ranger. The Ranger is often forgotten as it was seen as too slow for the more demanding War in the Pacific and so served out the war in the Atlantic.
 

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Here is some more accolades for the Dauntless... French , British had a look at the Dauntless...


If the Dauntless had a secret ingredient, it was that “most important, it was an accurate dive bomber.” Brown found it easy to make precise downline corrections in a dive with the “pleasantly light” ailerons. He also admitted that the Dauntless was hell for stout. “Extremely strong but also rather heavy,” which gave it “a loss rate in the Pacific…lower than that experienced by any other U.S. Navy shipboard aeroplane.” In fact, the Dauntless had the lowest loss rate of any American combat aircraft of the war.
 

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@rittmeister ... The Dauntless sinks a Vichy French Battleship...


On 10 November, Ranger's Dauntlesses made the final attack against the determined, but battered battleship Jean Bart, whose crew had returned one turret to operation. The SBDs scored two hits with 1000-pound bombs and the French ship was out of the war for good. Nine Dauntlesses had been lost during TORCH, most to operational causes.
 
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I found this long list to Japanese suicided weapons in WW2... Land, Air, and Sea...


There were more than 400 Allied vessels struck by Japanese special attack weapons in the last twelve months of World War II, including some vessels that were struck as many as six times in one attack.[1] The one special weapon that is most often associated with World War II is the Japanese kamikaze aircraft. Kamikaze was used to describe the way the Japanese believed they would be victorious by destroying the Allied fleet by crashing aircraft into their ships. The word kamikaze originated as the name of major typhoons in 1274 and 1281, which dispersed Mongolian invasion fleets under Kublai Khan. The Allies referred to these special weapons as "suicide" attacks, and found it difficult to understand why an individual would intentionally crash an airplane into a ship, as the two cultures clashed in battle. Both Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army had Special Attack Units organized specifically for this mission. Aircraft were not the only special attack weapons. Attack boats, suicide divers, and several types of submarines were also used to destroy ships and landing craft as the Allied forces advanced toward Japan.[2]
 

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Here are German Night Fighters... @rittmeister , @Wehrkraftzersetzer


The “Fernnachtjagd” was a success because many enemy bombers were shot down, mainly during January to early October 1941, but on October 12, 1941 a Hitler´s order was received: stop immediately all the “Fernnachtjagd” missions. The main reason was that enemy bombers continued their attacks despite the “Fernnachtjagd” missions.
We have to remark that Germany took the first steps for the modern night fighting with the Spanner-Gerät infrared detection system. It consisted in an IF searchlight and a monitor display that could enable the pilot to illuminate with the infrared light the enemy bomber in the dark of the night then locate it in the monitor; but it never worked well because it received too many signals that confused the pilot.


Here is another look... they had a radar system... Heinkel He-219A Uhu (Owl) star night fighter...


Germany’s main night fighters were the Messerschmitt Bf-110G, the Junker Ju-88G6, the Dornier Do-217J and the Heinkel He-219A Uhu (Owl). Towards the end of the war, a night fighting version of the Me-262 was used. Though this was potentially a highly effective weapon, as with other weapons developed by Germany towards the end of the war, it was a case of ‘too little too late’

All the above aircraft could not fly blind at night and had to be equipped with night flying radar. In the case of the Luftwaffe, they used the Lichtenstein radar. By 1943, Germany had developed a radar shield that identified aircraft when they were miles away and gave night fighters a fix on incoming bombers so that the night fighters themselves could then use their Lichtenstein radar before attacking. At twenty-miles intervals across the coast of northern Europe, the Germans built a long-range early warning radar called ‘Freya’. This would pick up an incoming raid when it was still miles out. As the raid closed, it would be picked up by short-range radar called ‘Wurzburg’. This radar system would also have a second fix on circling night fighters and by decreasing the angle between both fixes would bring the night fighters nearer to the incoming bombers. Once they were near enough, each fighter would use its Lichtenstein radar to hunt out a target
 

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Here is a List of German night fighter aces...


Here is one of the German radars...


Here is land base Radar early warning... German had radar...


The conviction that Germany did not possess radar as an early warning technology had stemmed partly from the absence of anything resembling the high radio towers so prominent on Britain’s coastlines. Watson-Watt, in fact, had spent his vacation in the summer of 1937 looking for tell-tale aerials in Germany; finding none, he assumed that Nazi Germany had not plumbed radar’s secrets. After studying the Oslo Report, which mentioned the use of short wavelengths which would have precluded large aerials, R. V. Jones thought otherwise. His suspicions were confirmed in the summer of 1940 when he received information that British aircraft had been intercepted as a result of a German system called ‘Freya-Meldung-Freya’. Jones reflected that Freya was a Nordic goddess whose necklace was protected day and night by Heimdall, a watchman who could see vast distances in every direction.

Here is this...


Freya was an early warning radar deployed by Germany during World War II; it was named after the Norse goddess Freyja. During the war, over a thousand stations were built. A naval version operating on a slightly different wavelength was also developed as the Seetakt.
 

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The Americans had a night fighter... P-61


The first P-61 operation took place on 25 Jun 1944, and the first kill, a Japanese G4M bomber, was achieved on 30 Jun. The P-61 night fighters continued to serve in the Pacific War through 1944, defending against night time raids.

In late Jun 1944, the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron finally received their P-61 aircraft. By mid-Jul, they were patrolling the British skies. Their first action took place on 15 Jul when Lieutenant Herman Ernst's P-61 Black Widow night fighter attempted to intercept a V-1 rocket; Ernst failed the mission after the plastic rear cone imploded during the attack. On the very next day, Ernst was directed to intercept another V-1 rocket; he was successful in this second attempt, scoring the first kill for the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron. In early Aug 1944, the 422nd and 425th Night Fighter Squadrons were transferred to Maupertus, France. In the same month, they began engaging German aircraft, shooting down a Bf 110 and a Fw 190 shortly afterwards. In Dec 1944, P-61 night fighters of the two squadrons performed daylight ground attack missions against German supply lines during the Ardennes offensive that later came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. By early 1945, combat engagements with German aircraft became rare as Allied air superiority became nearly total.


Here is this...


The P-61 flew its first operational intercept mission as a night fighter in Europe on July 3, 1944, and later was also used as a night intruder over enemy territory. In the Pacific, a Black Widow claimed its first "kill" on the night of July 6, 1944. As P-61s became available, they replaced interim Douglas P-70s and Bristol Beaufighters in all USAAF night fighter squadrons. During World War II, Northrop built approximately 700 P-61s; 41 of these were C models manufactured in the summer of 1945 offering greater speed and capable of operating at higher altitude.
 

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Here is radar the Japanese's had in WW2...



Japanese surface units were being equipped during these years with 1.5 m mark 2 model 1 air warning, a dipole array following the design of the land-based set, mark 1 model 1, and as such was similar to the general principles of Freya and SCR-270, although of shorter range. These installations were not notably successful, owing to their not being sturdy enough for use aboard warships. The set mounted on the 18 inch gun battleship Musashi suffered broken antenna insulators and the failure of transmitter tubes when the vessel underwent firing practice off Katsuru Island in September 1942, which naturally enough sent criticism to the Naval Technical Research Department (NTRD).
 

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Well the German's had suicided pilot program too... @rittmeister , @Wehrkraftzersetzer There a list of pilots and bombers rammed...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderkommando_Elbe

Sonderkommando "Elbe" was the name of a World War II Luftwaffe task force assigned to bring down heavy bombers by ramming aircraft into them mid-air. The tactic aimed to cause losses sufficient to halt or at least reduce the Western Allies' bombing of Germany.[1] The pilots were expected to parachute out either just before or after they had collided with their target. The chances of a Sonderkommando Elbe pilot surviving such a practice were low, at a time when the Luftwaffe was lacking sufficient numbers of well-trained pilots.

Here a more detail of the tale...


Sonderkommando Elbe (Special Command Elbe), one of the most bizarre units in the Luftwaffe, flew its only mission on April 7. The unit was the brainchild of Oberst Hajo Herrmann, who resurrected his once-rejected proposal for a bomber-ramming formation in January, after he had joined Gemaj. Peltz’s command.

Koller scaled down Herrmann’s ambitious plan, code-named Werwolf (Werewolf), considerably. The requested 1,000 aircraft were reduced to 350, and then to 180. The number of volunteers was restricted to 300. Very few commissioned officers, and no experienced, decorated fighter formation leaders volunteered, so Herrmann was forced to draft some experienced officers from his non-operational KG(J) units


Here a video recreation of their attack, showing how it failed...

 

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Here a story about a famous German Night Fighter Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer and a innovation he made to his plane... he became "The Spook of St. Trond" ...

He from the same area of German my family is from...


Here is video about the night he shot down 8 bombers in 20min...

 

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Here is the tool that won WW2... it is called a Cavity Magneton... it is the key to RADAR back in WW2


[Curious Droid] is back with a history lesson on one of the most important inventions of the 20th century: The cavity magnetron. Forged in the fighting of World War II, the cavity magnetron was the heart of radar signals used to identify attacking German forces.


When power was supplied to the cathode and a magnetic field surrounded the device, the oscillation of the electric charge around the cavities led to the radiation of electromagnetic waves. Each cavity created its own resonant frequency.


The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and subsequently in microwave ovens and in linear particle accelerators. A cavity magnetron generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field, while moving past a series of cavity resonators, which are small, open cavities in a metal block.
 

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Here story about Mexican pilots fighting with Americans against the Japanese in WW2...


In collections of wartime patches, the winged roundel of the Mexican Air Force stands apart. This extraordinary unit was Escuadrón Aéreo de Pelea 201; the Aztec Eagles. Consisting of 36 volunteer pilots and 264 ground personnel, these men served in the Pacific during the final months of combat with the Japanese. Only Japan’s capitulation in August 1945 prevented more Mexican flyers from entering service in time for the bloody beginning of the invasion of the Japanese home islands planned for November.

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The Aztec Eagle pilots flew Republic P-47D-30-RA Thunderbolt single-seat fighter aircraft carrying out tactical air support missions. During its operational history, the squadron flew 795 combat sorties, accumulated nearly 2,000 hours of combat flying and sadly lost seven pilots. The Squadron 201 remains the only military unit in the history of Mexico to engage in combat outside of its national borders.
 
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