It may not have played as significant a role in WW2 as the Martin Baltimore
but it did see some action...
From: (CDB100620)
Subject: Re: bombers in dogfights
Date: 23 Jul 1997
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
Duel between a B-17 and He-177:
Feb. 20, 1944, a weather recon B-17 flying out of Scotland encountered an He-177 that was orbiting over the North Sea transmitting a false homing radio beam to lure American planes flying the Atlantic off course so that they would run out of fuel far out at sea. When his radio operator picked up the signal, the B-17 pilot, Guy Reed, assumed it was being broadcast from a submarine close by and decided to follow the beam and send a
location report.
Visibility was about a quarter mile when the crew spotted not a sub but a big He-177. Reed decided to try to shoot the
He-177 down and a maneuver fight began. At one point the B-17 actually collided with the He-177, smacking the belly of the German with its tail fin. The two bombers traded gunfire for some minutes. At one point Reed was able to position his plane behind and below the German and his gunners ripped it with heavy fire.
The He pilot threw his plane into a dive. The B-17 followed, then, at low altitude the He-177 deployed its dive brakes and dropped its gear, slowing dramatically as it pulled up. The B-17 shot past it and it was the turn of the He-177 gunners to rake the B-17
with fire. The top turret plexigas was shattered. The right waist gunner was killed. At that point, the two planes, flying at about 3,000 feet flew alongside each other blazing away like two battleships trading broadsides.
The He-177 pilot decided to break away to the right. As he
did so, the ball turret gunner on the B-17 was able to pour gunfire into the right engine nacelle (housing two engines), apparently knocking them out. The He pilot lost control and the plane went into a spin and crashed into the sea. No one got out. Reed was able to nurse his plane home with some judicious throttle jockeying---the collision had damaged the rudder
so that the plane wanted to turn to the left and would not flying straight and level. This story is recounted in "Big Week" by Glen Infield.
Charon
