The quotes below by Lt. Franz Stigler of JG 27 were originally printed in an article entitled Defending the Reich, in the September, 1975 edition of Airpower magazine.
The intervening years have tended to blur my combat missions together, but one attack against the bombers stands out in my memory. It was early 1944 and an unescorted formation of B-17s came up from the Mediterranean to bomb Germany. Our group (36 aircraft) was ordered off to intercept...We made contact just north of the Alps, a few miles from Munich. No escorting fighters were around and I radioed the group commander, informing him that we could attack at will.
For some reason, unknown to me, the group commander ignored my information. The other two squadrons continued to fly around the bomber formation of approximately 100 planes, just out of range. Finally, after repeated calls to my commander...I initiated the attack.
I led my twelve plane squadron down in a screaming dive...We flashed past the high combat box in an overhead pass, continuing on through in a breakaway, before climbing back up for another attack.
With no escort fighters to challenge us, we swept through the B-17 formation five times. Twenty-four of them sagged from their boxes and although we suffered hits, not one fighter was lost and no pilots were even scratched.
In addition to our success, the attack impressed upon me the absolutely critical need for fighter escort which even heavily armed bombers like the B-17 required. In the ensuing months I learned the hard way never to attack a heavy bomber from the rear, even though the Luftwaffe high command gave out orders stating that this was the best way to do the job. After following orders and being shot down several times, I decided to go in from above whenever possible. With high speed built up in a dive, my aircraft made a very fleeting target and the more vertical my descent, the more difficult it was for the top turret gunner to get an angle on me. Most of the time I was through the formation before he even saw me and would be climbing back up for another pass.
On this type of approach, the firing time allotted to me was extremely limited. I could get in only one short burst. But I was going so fast that I was also harder to hit...
When diving down from above, a few hits from your 20mm cannon was all that was necessary. Your target was usually made up of the pilots' cabin, the engines and the wing's oil and fuel tanks. Diving from above really eliminated a great deal of the enemy's potential for defense. In many instances you were going so fast, his top gunner never sawy you, and if he did, it was difficult for him to fire straight up. The target that the (bomber) presented in this attitude was the widest possible and after making your pass, you could usually break past without any other guns, from the ship being attacked, shooting at you. Guns from from bombers on either side, however, could reach you quite well, but here again your speed aided you, and as you apprached their sistership, fire would have to be withheld for fear of hitting their own bomber.
Before the coming of the chin-turreted bombers, a headon pass was a good choice, if you broke down low, but they could see you coming from a long way out, and you could be hit by other ships in the formation
Hope you guys enjoy reading this. More to come later.
Regards, Shuckins
