Loco busters

[Wildcat]

Gents, just came across this pic in one of my books which shows the kill tally of Mossie pilot SqnLdr G Panitz of 456 sqn RAAF. It shows 13 loco's destroyed plus some boats, a/c, radio installations and enemy transport. Apparently on the 6th of May 1943, he destroyed 6 locos in 6 minutes! Does anyone have any more info on this?

[Concorde247]

Hi Folks,

I've recently posted a lot of profiles of the British 2nd Tactical airforce,
The majority of the Loco busters in the ETO seemed to be P51B's,Typhoons & Tempests and Spits.

Have a look at the profiles picture album

Regards

[Concorde247]

Whoops...I meant to say the majority of the BRITISH loco busters

sorry

[Wurger]

In an article about Lightnings of 8AF I've recently read I've found info that before the 20FG was re-equipped with new a/c (P-51) had destroyed 315 locomotives,100 carriages with ammo, 1000 cargo carriages, 87 railway tanks and 370 mechanized vehicles.

[Locobuster1]

The celebration that followed Jack's promotion to Major led to his being busted back to 2nd Lieutenant for multiple infractions (using a Jeep without permission, trying to outrun the Military Police, one of the fellow partiers took a swing at an MP...) He remained in command of the squadron, however, and his claim to fame...or infamy... (as he was fond of saying) is he was the only 2nd Lieutenant to ever lead a Combat Squadron during the war. He soon returned to the rank of Captain however, as Gen. Doolittle, now in command of the 8th Air Force, was once again persuaded to overlook the infractions by 20th Fighter Group C.O., Colonel Cy Wilson.

If I am not mistaken Jack was officially credited with three locomotives, the last one being on the day he was shot down, June 12, 1944. He evaded back to Allied held territory, but that is another story...

[Twitch]

P-47s alone flew half a million sorties dropped 132,000 tons of bombs, fired 135 million rounds of ammo, 60,000 rockets, destroyed 9,000 locomotives, 86,000 rail cars, 68,000 trucks, 6,000 armored vehicles and 60,000 horse-drawn vehicles.

[Erich]

I do believe that the 352nd fg had a high scorer in the group with 40 kills while flying the P-51

[Tony Williams]

An extract from Flying Guns – World War 2: Development of Aircraft Guns, Ammunition and Installations 1933-45:

"For most purposes, the fighter bombers were very effective at ground strafing. British tests revealed that in practice conditions about 25% of 20 mm cannon ammunition fired could be expected to strike a 3 m2 target on the ground, and a War Office study of camera gun footage revealed that of attacks on locomotives, 42% inflicted serious damage and 46% some damage, with only 12% missing. Against motor transport, the scores were 32% (listed as probably destroyed), 47% damaged and 21% missed. The optimum attack profile was a shallow dive of 10-20º, firing bursts of one to three seconds between ranges of 600-250 m, with the most effective shooting at the shortest range as this was the distance the guns were usually harmonised for."

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[syscom3]

Just trivia...... all it takes is a single tiny hole in the high pressure steam section of the engine and the train is out of service for a bit.

Just doing simple maintence on those steam engines was a labor and time consuming endeavor.

[WEISNER]

Originally Posted by Erich

gotta somehow enlarge and then break dwon the pdf file that I have to post some interesting stats and materaisl on Hauptmann Fach

Hey E~, was wondering if you had any luck getting this done? or forgot about it? if so, here is a reminder.
I really would like to see this info, as info on Luftwaffe Train Busters is almost Nil....
Kevin

[Marshall_Stack]

Originally Posted by Twitch

P-47s alone flew half a million sorties dropped 132,000 tons of bombs, fired 135 million rounds of ammo, 60,000 rockets, destroyed 9,000 locomotives, 86,000 rail cars, 68,000 trucks, 6,000 armored vehicles and 60,000 horse-drawn vehicles.

Man, how many locomotives and rail cars did the Axis have in the war (rhetorical question)? If just one type of aircraft can destroy this many locos / railcars.....

[Erich]

Kev still looking, lost some data when firefox did an auto update, some things are tweaked badly .......

[Tony Williams]

Originally Posted by Marshall_Stack

Man, how many locomotives and rail cars did the Axis have in the war (rhetorical question)? If just one type of aircraft can destroy this many locos / railcars.....

Those look suspiciously like the kind of big, round, figures based (at best) on initial claims rounded up by the publicity machine - if not actually just their best guess.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

[WEISNER]

Originally Posted by Twitch

P-47s alone flew half a million sorties dropped 132,000 tons of bombs, fired 135 million rounds of ammo, 60,000 rockets, destroyed 9,000 locomotives, 86,000 rail cars, 68,000 trucks, 6,000 armored vehicles and 60,000 horse-drawn vehicles.

Yes, these figures seem "Rounded Up" as Mr. Williams stated, Or total Fiction? Perhaps if a Zero was dropped from each figure it may then be (Still Unbeleivable) fathomable? 9,000 Locos???? that would average out to 9.55 rail cars per Loco?????? so in this case still not believable? Where do these figures come from if you don't mind posting your scource? That totals 229,000 different types destroyed by one aircraft (P-47) type.
I just cant make it add up in my mind Twitch. perhaps you can help?
Kevin
Erich, perhaps Firefox owe's you, If this file is lost and I were you!!!!!!

[syscom3]

Its quite possible that the 9000 figure is correct. Remember that the Germans took over the rail systems of all of Europe, so they had a pretty large number or engines and rolling stock. Then add to the numbers for new construction and the numbers get even more impressive.