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Offensive Tools of the Air War
The most famous of the RAF's heavy bombers, the Avro Lancaster entered service in 1942. It possessed a maximum speed of 280 mph and a range of 2,700 miles. A full load consisted of about 14,000 lbs. Protection consisted of ten .303 cal. machine guns.
Entering service in 1940, the Short Stirling was the first of the RAF's heavy strategic bombers produced during World War II. The Short Stirling could manage a maximum speed of 270 mph, a range of 2,300 miles, and a load of 14,000 lbs. It also carried eight .303 cal. machine guns.
An RAF ground crew loads a Short Stirling for a bombing run over Europe. Notice the large number of heavy bombs. This is not the kind of job where you want to make a mistake.
The Handley Page Halifax rounded out the starting line up of RAF's Bomber Command during World War II. Maximum speed was 285 mph, maximum load consisted of 13,000 lbs, and maximum range was 1,800 miles. The Handley Page Halifax also carried eight .303 cal. machine guns.
Designed for daylight bombing, the American B-17, or "Flying Fortress," had to be much more rugged and more heavily armed than its British counterparts which flew at night. Some B-17's carried as many as fifteen .50 cal. machine guns. These bombers were faster (at about 300 mph) than their British counterparts, but their load (6,000 lbs.) was much smaller. This B-17 could manage about 2,000 miles.
This photo shows American B-17's in formation over Germany. Flying in formation not only prevented accidents and funnelled as many planes over the target as possible in a short amount of time, it also helped the bombers defend one another from enemy fighters by providing interlocking fields of fire.
Defensive Tools in the Air War
As allied bombing became more of a threat, the Germans built a line of radar dishes that covered almost the entire coast of Northwestern Europe, from France to Denmark to Norway. Using these radar, coupled with a complex command and control system, they hoped not only to detect the size, speed, and direction of bombers, but direct units of fighters to destroy them.
A German crew loads an 88mm cannon. Originally designed as an anti-aircraft gun, it also proved very effective as an anti-tank weapon.
Here, a battery of 88mm cannon fires at night against an air attack.
Here is what anti-aircraft artillery, otherwise known as flak (short for "fliegerabwehrkanonen," roughly translated as "flight defense cannon") looked like to bombing formations. Shells from anti-aircraft artillery had a fuse set to explode at a certain altitutde. By peppering a certain area in which the formation flew, the gunners hoped to down some bombers. As you can see, these B-17s have to contend with a pretty dense layer of flak.
The Messerschmitt Me-109 was Germany's leading fighter upon the outbreak of war in 1939. The Germans produced variants of this model throughout the conflict to serve a wide variety of roles, including the interception of bombers.
The Focke-Wulfe FW-190 became Germany's leading interceptor in the later years of the war. Both this plane and the Messerschmitt were fairly small, fast, and nimble.
As the RAF's Bomber Command turned to night bombing, Germany had to develop a number of specialized fighters that could hunt British bombers at night. Due to their haste and the limitations of German industry, the Luftwaffe often turned to existing planes and modified them for service as nightfighting interceptors. The Junker Ju-88G represented just such a modification. Unable to take on allied fighters head to head, it was still very effective at hunting down allied bombers.
The Messerschmitt Me-110G represents another effort to modify an existing platform to fill the role of nightfighter. Notice the radar in the nose (to find enemy bombers) and the heavy cannon beneath the nose.
The Heinkel He-219 was a purpose-built nightfighter. These aircraft were very heavily armed, including a mounting of 20mm cannon on the dorsal part of the fuselage known as Schräge Musik ("slanting music," a German expression for "jazz"). The object of these fighters was to fly beneath enemy bombers—usually a blind spot for the bombing crew—and rake the bombers' belly with cannon fire. In this role, the Heinkel He-219 was very successful.
The Cost: Hamburg (1943)
For a week, British and American bombers attacked Hamburg, starting a tremendous firestorm that consumed several square miles of the downtown area. Over the course of the attack, some 30,000 German civilians perished and much of the city was laid to wase. This is the view from an American bomber as it drops 500lb general purpose bombs over the city. To the left, one can see the docks of this great port city. In the upper right, one can see the great firestorm raging.
Here is a view of the firestorm from the suburbs of Hamburg.
This is what the Hamburg docks looked like after the raid. Cranes have collapsed and melted due to the intense heat.
This view depicts downtown Hamburg after the raid. The destruction is entirely characteristic of a firestorm. The walls of the buildings still stand, but everything within them has burned to cinders.
This is a view of the downtown area from the ground. Again one sees the empty shells of buildings. Note the rubble in the street from several of the structures that have collapsed.
The Cost: Dresden (1945)
The View from Below: In the war's closing weeks, allied bombers launched an assault on Dresden, then crammed with refugees fleeing the Soviet army. The resulting firestorm devastated the city. No one has figured how many Germans perished in the attack, but estimates vary from 30,000 to 80,000. This is what B-17 bombers looked like from the ground in Dresden during the attack.
This is what downtown Dresden looked like after the attack. Notice the similarities with Hamburg.
Another view of the damage from atop a church.
German civil defense officials collect bodies and start sifting through the rubble in the aftermath of the attack.
Overwhelmed by the scope of the attack, German officials could not bury the dead fast enough to prevent the outbreak of disease. They resorted to large pyres in an attempt to dispose of the great numbers of dead.
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Copyrighted by Hugh Dubrulle, 2003.