ADS NOT DISPLAYED TO REGISTERED USERS
+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 70

Best strafing aircraft in WWII???

Aviation Discuss Best strafing aircraft in WWII??? in the World War II - Aviation forums; Dear all, I came across to the article by MGen. Richard B.H. Lewis (ret.) giving an overview of strafing in ...

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    32
    Country
    Czech Republic

    Best strafing aircraft in WWII???

    Dear all, I came across to the article by MGen. Richard B.H. Lewis (ret.) giving an overview of strafing in the history of warfare. He also wrote: Among World War II strafing aircraft, few if any were more effective than the American B-25 Mitchell bomber. In the Pacific, it was used frequently on treetop-level missions against Japanese airfields and shipping, with great impact.
    Source: http://www.afa.org/magazine/July2007/0707strafing.asp
    What was in your opinion the best/most effective strafing aircraft in World War II?
    Regards, Filip

    *** Blog on strafing missions in then Czechoslovakia in the years of 1944 and 1945 - http://hloubkari.bloguje.cz ***

  2. #2
    Senior Member mosquitoman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Saffron Walden/Sheffield
    Posts
    2,990
    Country
    United Kingdom
    B-25, A-20 or A-26 probably.
    Honrable mentions to Beaufighter and Mosquito

    When you realise that the light at the end of the tunnel is actually an oncoming train, you know it's time to run for your life

  3. #3
    Senior Member twoeagles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Chambersburg
    Posts
    683
    Country
    United States
    It is hard to argue with a B-25 firing fourteen .50's forward and all activated
    by the push of a button on the pilot's control.

  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    32
    Country
    Czech Republic
    There was a version of B-25 armed with a cannon so that the efectiveness even increased, isn't it?
    *** Blog on strafing missions in then Czechoslovakia in the years of 1944 and 1945 - http://hloubkari.bloguje.cz ***

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    London
    Posts
    5,018
    Beaufighter

  6. #6
    Older Than Dirt ccheese's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Virginia Beach, Va.
    Posts
    10,204
    Country
    United States
    My vote goes to the B-25. It's a shame we didn't have the C-47 and C-130
    gunships in WW-II ! They were awesome in 'Nam".

    Charles




    "Yesterday is but today's memory....
    Tomorrow is today's dream."

    Kahlil Gibran

  7. #7
    Senior Member Marcel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Dordrecht
    Posts
    4,647
    Country
    Netherlands
    Quote Originally Posted by filnorm View Post
    There was a version of B-25 armed with a cannon so that the efectiveness even increased, isn't it?
    Hmm, I think the B25 almost stalled when the 7.5 mm fired, something you don't want while strafing which always is at low altitude. Althoug a crashing airplane is of course very destructive

    Don't know if the guns really were effective in any role, but I'm sure some other members can tell something about that.

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Vantaa, Finland
    Posts
    310
    Country
    Finland
    Last edited by Cyrano; 07-21-2011 at 12:53 AM.

  9. #9
    Senior Member ToughOmbre's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Jersey Shore, USA
    Posts
    4,084
    Country
    United States
    B-25J. They used to say that it could saw a boxcar in half.

    Honorable mention to the P-47 with it's eight wing mounted 50s.


    “Let's get Enterprise and Hornet turned into the wind."

  10. #10
    the old Sage Erich's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Platonic Sphere
    Posts
    12,538
    Country
    United States
    I'll take the 8th AF P-51D for their wild work done on German AF during spring of 45. Some unbelievable record of ground kills for each group. Bill will have stats on the 355th fg records bar none

  11. #11
    Senior Member trackend's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Canvey Island, Essex
    Posts
    4,040
    Country
    England
    Fire power wise I agree the B25J was a mighty beast and probably does deserve the title that amount of fire power against soft targets is pretty overwhelming, but I still think the Beaufighter was close behind as the dumpy nose gave superb forward vision and made for hedge hopping accurate runs at lower angles hence (how true I'm not sure) the "whispering death" nick name given by the Japanese. (not whistling death as for the Corsair)
    Initially the mk1 with just the four 20mm under nose cannons suffered a pronounced dip when fired causing target drift but after various stages of development this problem was overcome and the addition of six wing mounted .303s increased the planes fire power.

  12. #12
    Senior Member comiso90's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    FL
    Posts
    3,670
    Country
    United States
    Quote Originally Posted by Marcel View Post
    Hmm, I think the B25 almost stalled when the 7.5 mm fired, something you don't want while strafing which always is at low altitude.

    Don't know if the guns really were effective in any role, but I'm sure some other members can tell something about that.
    The 75 mm cannon on the B25 was designed for anti-shipping in the pacific. In my mind, that is not strafing. Thats anti-shipping attack.

    fourteen .50 cals.... now thats staffing!

  13. #13
    Senior Member Bernhart's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    311
    Country
    Canada
    throw in 8 rockets on the beaufighter and that is alotof lead coming at you

  14. #14
    Senior Member comiso90's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    FL
    Posts
    3,670
    Country
    United States
    Quote Originally Posted by Bernhart View Post
    throw in 8 rockets on the beaufighter and that is alotof lead coming at you
    Perhaps we should decide what strafing is....
    \
    Strafing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


    Strafing (adaptation of German strafen, to punish, specifically from the World War I humorous adaptation of the German catchphrase "Gott strafe England"), is the practice of firing on a static, or mobile targets of opportunity on land, sea, or air from a flying platform. The term is usually applied to machine gun or cannon fire from a variety of aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, or unmanned aerial vehicles.

    The thread is not about ground attack in general.. it is about strafing.

    ...

  15. #15
    Senior Member Negative Creep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    895
    Country
    United Kingdom
    Would the better strafing aircraft be one that could destroy enemy targets, or one that could disrupt and disorientate them?

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82