Bombing with Hope

Imagine if you will, you are a young soldier in September 1944, and you are in a glider bouncing over the North Sea towards Arnhem. Perhaps you are from a land locked state in the US, or an inner-city area in the UK. The only light into your dark cocoon of a glider comes from the windscreen around the cockpit. Suddenly there is a commotion up front from the pilots, along with a 'thunk'. Seconds later as you stare towards the cockpit you see the towing aircraft cross rapidly up the windscreen. Then ahead of you is nothing but the rolling grey waves of the North Sea. Suddenly around everyone is dropping their equipment and weapons in preparation for ditching. Then the shuddering impact, followed by a hectic few seconds of crowded activity and the seeping cold of water trickling into your boots and clothing. You manage to fight your way out of the aircraft and inflate your life vest. But now you are adrift in the North Sea with a few of your mates. All you experience are huge waves and sky, and the taste of saltwater. On the crest of one of these waves you catch a glimpse of an large aircraft in the distance, flying low, heading right for you, salvation? No, it is not a flying boat it cannot land to save you, if you don't get out of the water soon you'll die from the cold. You're dead.

A Vickers Warwick, possibly your view from the sea.

Or at least you would be, if it was not for the yachtsman, and boat designer Uffa Fox. As the war progressed the Air Sea Rescue capabilities of the UK underwent a massive upgrade from the early years of the war. Small floating shelters were being moored along the routes of bombers, fully equipped with food, water, first aid kits, entertainment and signaling equipment. Equally, the planes of Coastal Command would start to carry dinghy's that could be dropped to people in the water. These would, invariably be governed by the tides and winds, and would often end up pushed ashore onto mainland Europe, resulting in eventual capture by the Germans. But what, if one could drop a boat by parachute to a stranded person? This idea was termed the Airborne Lifeboat, or ABL.

One of the rescue floats that were moored in the channel. The colours are actually yellow and red.

The requirements for the boat were tough, it had to be lightweight, but incredibly strong to survive the forces of dropping. Equally, it had to be able to be operable by the most inexperienced, and be all but unsinkable, as well as self-righting. Uffa Fox, along with help from several RAF officers designed the first Airborne Lifeboat after his company was given official sanction on the 8th of January 1942. Built from double skinned mahogany with waterproofed fabric in-between, the first examples tried several different engines, but all turned out to be too heavy. Eventually a pair of lightweight Vincent 2-stroke motorcycle engines were used, these gave a top speed of about six knots. There was a set of sails, and a beginner’s guide to sailing (on waterproof paper) included in the boat was well.

A series of shots showing an ABL in action.

On landing the boat would automatically deploy, including a salvo of rockets which would fire lines out fore and aft to act as a sea anchor, and provide adrift crew something to haul themselves onto the boat with.

Inside an ABL. This is obviously a posed shot, as the rockets have not fired, as well as the crewman looking suspiciously well groomed and not particularly soggy. There were other rockets in the bow and stern as well.

Often the ABL would only be needed for a short time until one of the RAF rescue launches, or another boat picked up the rescuees. On one occasion the bomber crew in an ABL was picked up by a Danish fishing boat, which then set course for home. The Coastal Command bomber that had dropped the boat, had stayed on station to ensure pick up, had scotched this idea by firing a few warning bursts from its gun turrets. The fishing boat heaved too until a short while later an RAF launch arrived to take off the crew. It is claimed that by the end of the war the ABL had saved over 5,000 lives.

Salvation arriving from coastal command for a ditched B-17 crew.

On the 30th of March 1945 a US Catalina flying boat was sent to retrieve a P-51 pilot who had ditched off Schiermonnikoog (one of the islands off the coast of Holland). They eventually spotted him and landed in heavy seas, however, before they could rescue the pilot a wave smashed one of the engines. Despite this the crew continued to attempt to rescue the downed pilot. Unfortunately, it appears the pilot was already dead or unconscious and he did not respond to attempt to save him, and he drifted apart from the Catalina and was lost. A distress call was sent by the Catalina crew, but no one was able to locate the flying boat for the rest of the day, or the missing pilot’s body. The next morning a RAF Warwick, along with an escort of four Mustangs, spent some two hours searching for the Catalina. When they eventually located it, an ABL was dropped. The Catalina crew tried to taxi over to the ABL, however this exposed them to the waves, and the tail was smashed off the plane, which began to sink. As the first ABL had been lost a second Warwick was vectored in and dropped another ABL. As the Catalina crew abandoned their aircraft, they climbed onboard the ABL, which also began to sink, so they abandoned ship once again and returned to the partially submerged Catalina. The final decision to abandon the Catalina was provided by the Germans when a ME262 streaked into the area and strafed the Catalina. So, the crews left the flying boat for the final time on three dinghies. At this point a third ABL was dropped by a US B-17.

The ABL was fitted to a huge number of planes. Here a fairing is being demonstrated for the fit to a B-29. After the war A new, improved, standardised version of the ABL was introduced and fitted to Avro Shackleton's.

The crew boarded and spent the next 36 hours or so heading North-West, until the ABL's fuel supplies ran out. Battling the weather and Germans a Beaufighter managed to enter the area but was lost for unknown reasons. The following day, the 3rd of April, supplies were dropped, including fuel. Despite this the ABL's engines could not be restarted. In the evening another ABL was dropped, but by this time the Catalina crew were too exhausted and made no effort to reach it. RAF launches spent the night of the 3rd looking for the Catalina crew. On the 4th of April several aircraft were searching the area when the news came that the Catalina crew had been recovered by an RAF launch. In total the Catalina crew had spent some 109 hours adrift, but they all survived and were landed on the morning of the 5th.

Image credits:
www.navtechlife.com

Eden

A couple of weeks ago I had to travel up to Yorkshire. I travelled down the day before, and as I had a few hours spare I visited a Museum called Eden Camp. Consider this  review, if you will.

Eden camp was set up in 1942 as a POW camp, it consists of all the old huts turned into a series of galleries each focusing on one aspect of warfare.

Some of the German POW ID cards that were saved from the camp.

It does focus on other aspects of warfare having a couple of huts turned into regimental museums or focusing on other conflicts, but the vast majority of it is about the Second World War. One thing that is a bit perplexing to me is you have a logical start point (Hut 1), and progress takes you through the following huts in sequence, each covering a later period. Then it offers an alternative start point of Hunt 24, which is proudly entitled 'Museum inside a Museum!'.  This starts at Hut 24, and progress takes you through the following huts in sequence, each covering a later period.
Yes I did just copy and paste, as although the exhibits are different it really is covering the similar ground.
The silly thing is the huts cover similar ground, but don't cover exactly the same items, and their exhibits are sometimes different. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Huts are laid out to conform with GCSE history syllabus as well, but this a logical idea for the museum to make itself sellable. One thing that I really did notice was the cost. I arrived at just after 1500, the museum closed at 1700 (although the staff started their close down routine at about 1600), and it was still full price to get in. That price was pretty steep as well, coming in at £10.50. Some museums are free, or offer reduced costs to enter after 1500.
I got round everything in about 90 minutes, but I wasn't stopping to read I was just ambling around taking the occasional picture of stuff I thought you'd find interesting.

One of the main selling points of the museum is in several huts they've converted the hut to a diorama of the events they are talking about. For example in the Blitz section they have a bombed out house:

Or a house that has just been hit by a incendiary bomb, with ARP types dealing with it:

The dummies involved in these are bloody terrifying! Equally a lot of them are pitch black, especially if moving from bright sunlight (as I was) into a pitch black room. The floors are sometimes uneven as well, although all obstructions have gentle ramps up to them.
They do have somewhat of a sense of humour, in the U-Boat walk-through:

And from the D-day section:

There are some interactive activities to keep the inquisitive mind going:

If you lift up the Friend or Foe tabs it will tell you if you are wrong, or what the plane is.

But these activities are not common.

They did have some larger external exhibits, and this is where the museum felt the cheapest. As several of them seem to have been brought simply because its vaguely militarily themed, even though some of them are not really connected to the subject of the museum.

12-pounder QF naval gun

WE.177B nuclear free fall bomb.. because reasons?

Captioned as a WWII British Bofors 40mm... yeah ok, it is a Bofors 40mm under all that junk, but its not a British one that I can see.

Yeah...? No! Now the museum looks like you don't know what you're talking about, which casts doubt on everything else in your museum. Equally the Museum has this Really irritating habit of sticking 'Eden Camp' on each of their large exhibits. Which again makes the place feel cheap and desperate.

Oddly their best exhibit was hidden out the back of the Admin buildings, mainly because they hadn't had time to 'restore it' and end up calling it a Sherman Firefly or somesuch. As it wasn't 'restored' You're able to get right up to it.

You'll note the engine bay is missing along with all its automotive parts, and you can actually see into the fighting compartment.

Anyway, the following are just some of the fun or interesting stuff they had supporting the diorama's you could walk through.

Their Churchill Crocodile

That's what 6in of armour looks like. The inside is in a terrible condition though, as it is semi-open to the elements.

The following section of pictures are from the Blitz display and I think they're quite interesting. The first shows a 1kg magnesium based incendiary bomb 15 seconds after it was ignited, the second is after 45 seconds.

15 Seconds

45 seconds

Anyway, that's all, next week we're back to normal with an article as usual.

Panzershreck

Last weekend I was rather busy with a trip, which meant time away. Then the Long Haired CO (the wife) decided we were going to be out all day on Sunday for an exhibition. The trip away will be of benefit to you lot for articles and such forth so its worth it.
It did mean that I didn't get an article done. So here are some documents direct from an archive. What did the British think of the Panzershreck?

'What is it Tim?'
'No idea... some kind of horribly over engineered, but inferior, German version of a PIAT? I'll bet it uses Rockets?'

Page 1:

 

Page 2:

Page 3:

Drawings:

Field of Dreams

In the west corner of the Zeppelin field, one of the Nazi Party rally grounds at Nuremberg, German soldiers dug in furiously. Above them were the giant Swastika flags and iconography on the buildings. They laid barbed wire out in front of them, scattered a handful of mines, and sighted their machine guns, for they knew that soon the enemy would arrive. They knew they had some light field guns in support, but nothing else. Heavy artillery began to rain on their positions and the Germans ducked into cover. From the far side of the field the first troops from the 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment began to assault towards the defenders. Covered by heavy machine guns, the assaulting infantry tried to make it through the curtain of fire laid down by their enemies. It's almost like a World War One battle, charging into machine gun fire. The weight of the defender’s fire is just too much, and the troops are pinned in the open.

One side of the Zeppelin Field, pre-war.

 Tanks rumble onto the field and begin to push through the stalled assault, blasting at point blank range into the defender’s positions. As the tanks close a few vehicles are unlucky and strike mines, although disabled they are still able to fire. The tanks continue their assault ripping through the barbed wire, once the way is open the infantry leap up and close in to continue their stalled assault. The German defenders begin to fall back under the unrelenting pressure, retreating out of the field.

There is thunderous applause from the crowd in the stands.

 The year is 1936, and for the last few hours the Wehrmacht has been putting on demonstrations of its might, and mock battles as part of the Nazi Party rally. Earlier the army had demonstrated how effective its cavalry troops were, with a screen of reconnaissance cavalry advancing across the field. When the cavalry spotted enemy tanks, they launched red rockets which gave the main cavalry troops time to unlimber their anti-tank guns. After driving off the enemy tanks with a few well aimed shots the entire force mounted up and galloped off the field.

The show had started, at 0800, with a Luftwaffe air display, followed by a dive-bomber and level bombing attack on the stadium, which was defended by several AA batteries. Nine years later the same design of guns would be in action firing at aircraft, this time for real, and the aircraft were American planes. But first, after the Wehrmacht parades, Hitler was to speak to the crowd.

In April 1945 the US forces were pushing through southern Germany, straight towards the city of Nuremberg. On the Allied side were battle hardened, well equipped and supplied US troops. The defence of the city fell to the fanatical Nazi, Gauleiter Karl Holz. Like most last stand defences, the defenders were a mix of auxiliary troops such as Luftwaffe manpower and Volkssturm. In addition to these, the defenders also had a force from the Russian Liberation Army. This latter force were volunteers fighting for the Germans against the Communists and were in no illusions about their fate. The battle started on the 16th, and the Americans used their superior firepower and blasted the city block by block.

By the 18th the US forces had reached the city centre. Gauleiter Holz and the Mayor Willy Liebel were ensconced in a command bunker. Like in many cities Mayor Liebel was more concerned about protecting his city and its inhabitants, so he wanted to surrender in the face of overwhelming US firepower. Holz shot Liebel sometime between then and the 20th of April. On that date, Hitler’s birthday, the bunker was stormed by the Americans and Holz was shot. With the command knocked out the defence of the city collapsed.

 At the party rally grounds there is a mystery. There are numerous pictures of a lone Sherman sitting burnt out in the Zeppelin field. Some of these shots show a single dead German soldier about 60-70 meters away, and in the direction of the Sherman's gun. Could this be the last die hard German (or Russian?) with a very lucky long range panzerfaust shot?

The units involved in the capture of Nuremberg do not record any fighting in the area, although there are signs of damage to the structure caused by military hardware. The Sherman is a very early production model, with some later additions such as duckbill grousers. It was later dragged outside of the Zeppelin field ground but was certainly in place to witness the iconic demolition of the giant swastika on the roof of the building.

After the surrender of the city the Nazi party rally grounds were turned to the US Army's use. The wide 'Great Street' became a temporary air strip. The Luitpoldarena was used to host entertainments for the troops at first, including, ironically, a jazz band (The Nazi's had tried to outlaw and ban jazz music). It later became a vehicle park. Many features of the rally grounds have been demolished over the years, or otherwise altered, driven mainly by neglect and indifference from the German authorities. However, over recent years the authorities have started spending money to restore these items.

All American

Ralph Burbridge was 21 in 1940, at this age he could finally make his own life choices, and his first one was to join the USAAF. On December 7th 1941 he was still undergoing training when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Once he had graduated as a bombardier, he was stationed on the Pacific coast ready to attack any Japanese shipping, and otherwise support the US Navy. The victory at Midway soon removed that threat, and the mass of the USAAF bombing wings were turned against the other Axis member, Germany.

On 17th August 1942 twelve B-17's, escorted by four squadrons of Spitfires were sent to bomb the marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville. This attack would have far reaching consequences. The first flight of six planes was led by Butcher Shop, flown by Major Paul W. Tibbets Jr., a name you may have heard of before. He would, three years later, drop Little Boy at Hiroshima. On his right wing was the All American, with Lt Burbridge as its bombardier. The twelve B-17's took off about 1530, and arrived, without incident over their target about 1830. From an altitude of 23,000ft the USAAF was about to put their vaunted day-light bombing accuracy ideas to the test in combat. General Eaker in Yankee Doodle, the lead ship of the second group, watched the bombing which he later described:

'As each plane’s bomb load reached its mark, a lofty, mushroom-like pall of smoke and dirt rose sluggishly into the air and clearly identified the point of impact. The tallest of these giant mushrooms was within the central target area; two appeared to engulf the roundhouse while four were well spaced among the tracks of the marshalling yard. The bombing, I thought, was especially good.'

Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards in July 1944.

Despite all the advantages, the bombing accuracy was just as bad as before. Less than 50% of the bombs landed within the target area, the others killed 52 Frenchmen and wounded 120 more. Only one of the aim points was hit, the rest of the bombs were scattered within 1,500ft radius. For the second aim point the grouping was out to 2,000ft radius. Only 10 of the 24 tracks in the marshalling yards were hit, as well a locomotive workshop and two storage sheds. As these were mostly 600lb bombs, the damage would have been minimal. This was a lesson learned by the British during the Luftwaffe's best efforts. This raid was hailed as a great success and vindication of the USAAF's policies.

Lt Burbridge's squadron (the 414th) was soon sent to North Africa. To get there the planes were stripped of everything, including guns, and had extra fuel tanks installed. A long flight, very low to the water and under the Germans radar then followed to get to Gibraltar. Low on fuel, with tired pilots, it can't have been fun landing at Gibraltar airfield. They did come under some light AA fire from the Spanish during this flight. Then from Gibraltar the B-17's flew to Biskra, North Africa. Once there the planes were re-equipped and began to launch raids on the Germans.

During one of these raids, on 1st February 1943, the incident happened that catapulted All American into the limelight. The target was the Tunis dock area, as they approached the target, they came under extremely dense AA fire which was soon made worse by German fighters attacking them through the flak! After their payload had been dropped, the bombers turned for safety, when Lt Burbridge spotted two more German fighters climbing to attack them.

One fighter made a head on pass on the lead bomber, the other came straight in against All American, who was flying to the left of the lead plane. At this time the B-17's only had the cheek guns, one a .50 and the other a .30. Lt Burbridge was on the .30 and began to fire at the approaching fighter, while the navigator began to shoot at the plane attacking the lead B-17.

The combined firepower sent the first fighter down with a trail of smoke. Meanwhile Lt Burbridge began to fire at his target. Lt Burbridge would later say that the worst thing about the job was firing his machine gun. Often the hot casings would fall in the tops of their boots and burn them through their flight suits. You couldn't stop firing because your life, and the lives of you squadron were on the line, so you just had to endure the pain and keep firing.

At 300 yards distance the German pilot stopped firing, and began to roll away, to pass underneath All American. At the apex of the roll one of the many machine guns firing at the plane must have hit something critical, the pilot or a control surface, as the fighter never completed its manoeuvrer to pass beneath the B-17. Instead it skimmed along the top of the All American, Lt Burbridge heard the swoosh as it passed, and it crashed through the tail section ripping the left tail plane off. The entire plane juddered, and there was an almighty WHOOMP.

All American, still flying.

Miraculously All American was still flyable, albeit loosing speed. The rest of the bomber formation, having seen what had happened, moved into a tight formation round the crippled plane, and reduced speed, escorting their damaged friend. Once over friendly lines the rest of the squadron sped up and returned to base. All American had lost so much speed that it took her so long to return to base, most of the ground crew thought she had been shot down. Not one of the B-17's crew had been injured in the entire flight.

All American on the ground.

There is an alternative version of the story, an example of which can be found here. Which is largely made up.

Ralph Burbridge would go on to fly a total of 52 missions, two more than required. On these he had many near misses including one time when a German fighter attacked and its 7.92mm bullets hit an ammunition box and began an ammo fire. Luckily the navigator had the presence of mind and time enough to pitch the burning container over the side. After his tour of duty was complete Lt Burbridge became an instructor for the rest of the war. He died aged 93 in 2013.

Image credits:
airandspace.si.edu, www.aviation-history.com and warfarehistorynetwork.com

More Cow gun

There has always been an appeal to military types of the ability to place the firepower of artillery on the mobility and positioning of aircraft. The idea of being able to use direct fire artillery from above to destroy enemies is certainly an attractive one. Early planes, however, were flimsy things and woefully underpowered. This meant that almost all attempts failed. In July 1913 the Coventry Ordnance Company decided to make another attempt. They obtained a Shorts Brothers Ltd pusher plane and mounted a naval 2-pounder quick firing cannon to the front of it. Once done they suspended it from the ceiling of a hangar and fired a few rounds from it to see what effect the recoil would have. The plane seemed, to an extent, act as a recoil buffer. The next logical step was to fire the plane in flight, but whom to fly the plane? Every previous test had resulted in the plane being disassembled in mid-flight due to the recoil of the gun firing, usually with fatal results for all aboard. Luckily, this was before the Great War thinned out the numbers of Edwardian manhood, and so a product of Empire was found to fly and fire this contraption.

Robert Clark-Hall was born on 21st June 1883 and had enlisted in the Royal Navy aged just 14. A year later he was attached to the China Station as a Midshipman, then posted to HMS Aurora. During the Boxer Rebellion he was part of the Naval Brigade detached to Tongshan, and may have been back on board HMS Aurora for the battle of Tientsin. In 1907 he qualified as a gunnery officer and would go on to serve as gunnery officer of HMS Illustrious. In March 1913 he was attached to the Central Air Office for armament duties with aircraft, and in July he took the modified Shorts Brothers aircraft up into the sky and opened fire.

HMS Aurora

There was a blinding flash, and the plane seemed to stand still in mid-air, Clark-Hall later reported, but otherwise there was no damage to the plane. As the weapon was just a deck cannon off a ship it had to be manually loaded in mid-flight, after firing several rounds Clark-Hall landed successfully.

Clark-Hall would go on to serve in the First World War, with posting amongst other things, as commander of a seaplane tender at Gallipoli. In between the wars he would retire and emigrate to New Zealand. At the outbreak of World War Two he re-enlisted and served in several staff posts throughout that conflict before retiring in September 1945.

The next round of tests was less successful, although why is not recorded. This was a shame for the Coventry Ordnance Works, as there was an observer from the US Navy in attendance. The company stopped work on the 2-pounder and instead concentrated on a lighter, semi-automatic, 37mm gun firing a 1lb shell.

The Cow gun loaded and ready for action.

Once completed the weapon was handed over for testing at Shoeburyness. Here at the end of a pier, three guns were elevated to 85 degrees and fired, out of three, two functioned perfectly and fired their entire five round clip. In the other example the gun jammed as the spring proved insufficient to return the gun to battery. Now the same tests were repeated with the two remaining guns pointing straight down. Unsurprisingly each shot at point blank range into the water threw up plumes of water and drenched everyone on the pier. Despite this soaking the guns performed perfectly. Unsurprisingly the personnel who became involved with the gun took the initials of the Coventry Ordnance Works and called it the 'Cow Gun'. Work would continue on the weapon throughout the First World War, with the weight of the projectile increasing to 1.5lbs.

During the war the Cow Gun was fitted to several aircraft experimentally. One early version of the weapon was mounted on a Voisin III plane for testing. During the initial burst the plane’s wings detached and the aircraft plummeted to the ground killing all on board. However, by the end of the Great War plane development had improved to the point that it was able to enter service on a DH.4. But after two guns were so fitted, the armistice was signed and the project halted.

Westland's Cow gun fighter

Vickers Cow gun fighter

The Cow Gun next appears when Westland and Vickers decided to fit it in a bomber interceptor to meet the Air Ministry's specification F.29/27. The Cow Gun was fitted pointing upwards at an angle, next to the cockpit. Thus, the pilot of the interceptor would fly underneath the bomber and smash it with several 37mm rounds, shooting it down. However, the idea was dropped

 In 1933 the Cow Gun was more successfully fitted to the Blackburn Perth flying boat, which served until just before the start of the Second World War. The Cow Gun would find its final service as an airfield defence weapon with the RAF in the Second World War. Several RAF Armadillo armoured trucks would be fitted with them.

A Bedford Armadillo, armed with at least two Lewis guns as well as the Cow gun. Protected by slabs of PPP and armour plate portions of this vehicle would have been able to happily resit 20mm cannon, and even 28 mm panzerbüchse 41 rounds. Making it a perfect weapon for use agaisnt any German fallschirmjagers or strafing attacks from aircraft.

While the Cow Gun does keep appearing until the mid 1940's, the weapon played a more important part than it would first seem. At some point it seems that Vickers obtained a copy or details of it. This may be linked to the closing of the Coventry factory in 1925. From the designs that Vickers obtained they produced the 40mm S-Gun. In 1938 this was chosen as a bomber defensive weapon and was planned to be fitted to power operated turrets on Wellington bombers. While this never came to fruition, Coastal Command took an interest in the S-Gun and continued to fund its development. It eventually was fitted to some coastal commander B-17's.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Aircraft Production issued a requirement for one of the world’s first tank busters. It was a single engine monoplane, with a Rolls Royce Model 45 low-altitude engine. This engine was to be mounted in the rear of the plane and act as a pusher arrangement. The entire plane was to be encased in as much armour as possible and have a speed of just 250mph. The main weapons would be a pair of S-guns in the nose, each modified to be belt fed.
This project never seems to have materialised, and with the less than perfect results from the Jeffries 9lb Anti-Tank bomb, named Puffball, the RAF turned to mounting a pair of S-guns in the Hawker Hurricane. These served throughout the war in Africa and the Far East.

Image credits:
www.gracesguide.co.uk, www.quarryhs.co.uk and www.ibiblio.org