Only of Interest to WWII air war buffs

[Nickodell]

The RAF's top-scoring air gunner just died, aged 87.

Wallace McIntosh flew 55 missions as a tail gunner between February 1943 and June 1944, during which he was credited with eight confirmed kills and one "probable."

To put this in perspective; the overwhelming majority of RAF rear gunners never had the opportunity of firing their guns in anger. The lucky few completed their "tour" of 30 missions (and, often, after a "rest" training new aircrews, a further tour) without encountering any enemy plane. For the majority, flying at night, they never saw the attacking fighter until it opened fire, and in their exposed position almost invariably they would be the first to die.

Perhaps one in 100, peering into the black of night, managed to spot the incoming fighter before it got in range to attack and got off an accurate burst of fire, usually without fatally damaging it but driving it off to look for a less alert victim. Maybe one tenth of these actually destroyed a fighter. McIntosh shot down eight; possibly nine, giving him arguably the record for an air gunner in all air forces in all wars.

His greatest achievement came during the D-day operation, when he was creditied with downing three German fighters during a single mission in his Lancaster bomber, June 7 1944.

For this, he received the rare accolade of a telegram of congratulations from Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command. Only three such telegrams were ever sent.

Mr. McIntosh was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal and twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the RAF's highest medal for bravery. That in itself was a singular achievement. Medals for air gunners were rare indeed; most of them went to pilots and navigators and, occasionally, bombardiers. To receive three "DFs" (the DFM was awarded to enlisted ranks, the DFC to officers - McIntosh was commissioned after receiving the DFM), even as a pilot, would be amazing. Only a handful received so many.

 

[P. Scofield]

Seems to be a theme here..............


http://www.gazette.com/articles/olds_24254___article.html/air_force.html

 

[Nickodell]

In answer to a couple of PMs:

The RAF's 4-engined heavy bombers - Stirling, Halifax and Lancaster - were equipped with the finest gun turrets (designed by sports car man Archie Frazer-Nash) in WWII, but were deficient in their guns which were rifle-caliber .303 Colt-Brownings. The accepted theory was that at night the gunner would have three or four seconds, at most, to spot and track an incoming fighter, apply the correct lead and fire, and maybe four or five seconds "on target" before the fighter sheared off or killed the gunner, so four .303s gave a better chance of a hit than two heavier-caliber guns (it's often called the "spray and pray" theory).

True as far as it goes, if we assume similar caliber weapons by the fighters, and their conveniently lining up astern to attack. Problem was that the Luftwaffe fighters - mostly Me110 or Ju88 - were armed with 20mm cannon and 13mm (.5 in) machine guns, so they could open fire out of range of the gunner's .303s. Only a few Lancaster rear turrets were fitted with twin .5 machine guns later in the war.

And the Luftwaffe night fighters soon adopted the practice of approaching beneath the bomber, where they were invisible against the dark ground, and firing upward, generally between the fuselage and inner port engine. Interviewed after the war, when we were all friends again (!!!) many of them said this was to simply cripple the bomber and give the crew a chance to bail out, which was, of course, complete bullshirt. The real reason was to hit the wing fuel tank and also avoid detonating the bombs in the fuselage and being blown up themselves.

As very few crews survived to tell the tale, this method of attack, which rendered the night fighters virtually invulnerable to the bomber's gunners, was slow in reaching the Air Ministry, and when it did, the non-flying bureaucrats dismissed it as speculation. Sadly, the original Lancaster design included the provision of a ventral turret (rather similar to the B17 and B24 ball turret) which would have been the answer by guarding the vulnerable underside, but virtually none were ever fitted. The reason was that by the time the "underside attack" was finally recognized, the bombers were being fitted with the new H2H radar scanners, permitting blind bombing through cloud and on moonless nights, which were installed exactly where the ventral turret would have gone.

The RAF "boffins" (Brit. slang for scientists) came up with a tail-warning radar (code name "Fishpond") that showed an approaching fighter on a small radar display and both warned the gunners of the bearing of an incoming fighter and allowed the bomber to perform evasive action that usually threw it off.
This worked for a few months until, unfortunately, the Germans examined some wrecked bombers and worked out what Fishpond was. They then fitted the fighters with a homing device tuned to Fishpond's frequency, turning it from a warning to a fatal location device. The boffins then changed Fishpond's frequency, and a few weeks later the Germans copied that.

Until the end of the war, this technological warfare continued in many areas. One other example: the German V1 "Flying Bomb" (essentially, the world's first cruise missile) was fitted with a radio transmitter that operated when it began its dive onto the target. This allowed the Germans to alter the range setting so as to correct the impact point. The British electronics mavens, at that time the best in the world, quickly produced transmitters that broadcast spurious location signals, causing the Germans to set the ranges so that many of the bombs fell in open fields.

 

[howard]

The B-17 ball turret gunners were almost considered a suicide position. Because of the location on the underbelly, they were prime tagets. Not only did they have to contend with the enemy, but a lot of times gunners were left stuck in the turret for the duration of the mission because the hydraulics that operated the turret (and swiveled to allow exit from the bowl) were either damaged in battle or malfunctioned.

I recall reading about a gunner trapped in the turret and the crew couldn't even get the landing gear down manually. When the plane finally ran out of gas, they had to slide in on the belly...

I'm amazed and humbled at the bravery that generation displayed. For what it's worth, my hat's off to anyone brave enough to serve in the military.

 

[Nickodell]

Reply to another PM: "Why didn't McIntosh get the VC?" In all of WWII, 1939 to 1945, of a total of 364,514 missions, and 55,573 KIAs, only 19 Victoria Crosses were awarded to Bomber Command personnel. The VC is the highest award for valor in the British services, only given for extraordinary acts of conspicuous gallantry. For example, Guy Gibson was awarded the VC for leading the Dam Busters raid. As could be expected, a high proportion of VCs are awarded posthumously. So the answer is that the selection for this award are extremely rigid

Incredibly, one man won two VCs: Captain Charles Upham of the New Zealand Military Forces, the first in Crete, May 1941, the second in the Western Desert in 1942.