The Great World War 1914–1945: 1. Lightning Strikes Twice. John Bourne

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СКАЧАТЬ swing on to that, one short burst and he stops firing… A long column of artillery limbers… I zoom [climb] then switchback along the column spraying short bursts in each little dive.’

      Gould Lee then became hopelessly lost, and landed alongside some men in a field, hoping to discover his location. Unfortunately, the men were German. He took off swiftly, and machine-gunned them:

      ‘I swung over, dived and let them have it. Some horses and men tumbled, the rest scarpered. I went down the sunken road they’d come from. It was full of horsed traffic. I dived on them and let them have it too, and saw men falling off stampeding horses. My dive carried me on to another road, with a column of marching troops. As I fired, they bumped into one another, then broke into the side fields.’²⁵

      Gould Lee recorded that the latter part of his attacks were easy, as there was no ground fire. This was unusual, and was a significant difference from the experiences of pilots in the Second World War, when there almost always seemed to be some retaliation from the ground. Gould Lee in fact found returning to base most difficult, as his compass failed and he could not navigate in the appalling weather. As a result he had to forced-land. The strain of ground-attack began to tell on his nerves. By 28 November his strain showed in his reference to the work as a ‘gardening spree’. His diary entry for the next day recorded:

      ‘This trench-strafing is all becoming rather a strain. In air fighting, chance is only one of the factors. But trench-strafing is all chance, no matter how skilled you are. To make sure of your target you have to expose yourself to the concentrated fire of dozens of machine-guns and hundreds of rifles… Of course, strafing behind the lines is different, the odds against you aren’t nearly so great.’

      Although trench-strafing of German troops may have enhanced the morale of British infantry, it did nothing for the morale of the pilots. Attacks behind the lines, on the other hand, were usually a complete success, causing panic and confusion, even if they did not cause any injury to the enemy. The emphasis on trench-strafing saw aircraft casualties at Cambrai average 30 per cent. This could not be sustained, but did not dissuade the RFC from continuing such operations, which, in fact, made a substantial contribution to halting the German Spring Offensives of 1918, and in battles during the Hundred Days that brought the war to an end. By this time, air superiority was largely in the hand of the Allies, with the exception of a final German challenge in September. As a result, more ground attack work was carried out, and RAF fighter squadrons became highly proficient in the role. Number 73 Squadron, equipped with Sopwith Camels, specialised in attacking anti-tank guns, and did much to reduce the effectiveness of German field artillery pieces, which otherwise caused the advancing armour considerable difficulties.²⁶

      Having seen the effectiveness of ground-attack operations, the German armed services perfected air-ground co-operation after the Luftwaffe was formed, while the Royal Air Force forgot all the lessons learned. It was compelled to re-learn them in the Western Desert in 1941, again resorting to the use of fighter aircraft. The capability of virtually all fighters to carry bombs and later rocket projectiles was exploited to the full, and by 1945 the Spitfires of 2nd Tactical Air Force were being used as dive-bombers. The most famous ground-attack aircraft in British service at this time, the Hawker Typhoon, originated as a fighter, and was re-roled when it proved inadequate at higher altitudes. Its qualities of speed, firepower and toughness meant that it proved almost ideal for the job. The fame that the type won perhaps disguises the fact that, by 1945, the gaining of air superiority by the Allies meant that virtually all fighter types could be spared for ground-support operations and armed reconnaissance. Such work, however, was made extremely dangerous by the likelihood of liberal amounts of flak.

      This is vividly recalled by many RAF fighter pilots, especially those who flew the Hawker Tempest. A development of the Typhoon, the little-known Tempest was one of the best fighter aircraft of the war at medium to low altitudes, and was a stable gun-platform. Although it did not normally carry bombs or rocket projectiles, it was still an ideal tool for ground-attack operations. This meant that the pilots regularly encountered heavy flak, as the former commanding officer of 486 Squadron, C. J. ‘Jimmy’ Sheddan, noted when recalling an incident early in 1945:

      ‘Towards the end of the war trains often had flak carriages spaced throughout their entire length and it does nothing for your nerves when your aircraft seems surrounded by tracer and you know that for every one you can see there is at least four that are invisible. The Germans also used heavily armed trains as flak traps. One of my worst moments was when [Squadron Leader Warren] “Smokey” Schrader drew my attention to a train which I was trying hard not to see, as I knew in my heart that it was a plant – too much smoke, too little movement… I was between the devil and the deep blue sea. I had been at this game for longer than I cared to remember and knew that this was one train that I should keep away from, but with Smokey… watching and waiting for my decision, I just had to take the risk and attack.

      No sooner had I committed myself then all hell broke loose as the flak came showering up in waves. Crunch! About a foot of the end of my port wing folded over. Now I was in real trouble! Any sudden change of direction and that wing would stall, causing a spin. Down below was what looked like a train full of guns and all firing at a single aircraft… There was no way that my plane should have passed through the wall of lead without receiving further damage. However, I survived – just!’²⁷

      It was not only RAF pilots who suffered from this. One of the leading exponents of the P-47 Thunderbolt, Francis Gabreski (28 victories), was shot down when attacking ground targets, as were a number of other highly experienced men. Just as in the First World War, skill and experience could do little to save them from a well-aimed – or even a lucky – burst of flak. The random nature of ground-attack operations meant that they were often disliked intensely by fighter pilots. Pilots knew that, in aerial combat, skill, judgement and experience could greatly increase their chances of survival, whereas flak did not discriminate between good or bad flying. By 1945 all sides had the ability to make ground-attack a decidedly hazardous mission for participants. The most obvious example of this occurred on New Year’s Day 1945 with ‘Operation Bodenplatte’, the Luftwaffe’s attempt to cripple the Allied air forces on the ground. The operation saw the use of a large number of fighters, with somewhere between 700 and 800 aircraft being used. Although the mission saw the destruction of nearly 200 Allied aircraft, ‘Bodenplatte’ was a disaster for the Luftwaffe. Unbriefed German flak gunners shot down a number of their own aircraft as they headed to and from the lines, and the Allies were not caught totally by surprise, as some aircraft were already airborne. At the end of the operation, an estimated 300 German aircraft had been lost, along with over 230 of the pilots.²⁸

      This was perhaps the most extreme example of a fighter force suffering from its employment for ground-attack. The Luftwaffe especially was unable to sustain such losses since its fighter pilots were in almost constant action. Unlike the Allies, where pilots served an operational tour and were then sent to a second-line posting, German fighter pilots continued to fly until they were shot down and either killed or wounded badly enough to ground them. While this system meant that German pilots gained immense amounts of operational experience and scored enormous victory tallies, it also ensured that they became fatigued and less effective. Furthermore, they were generally unable to pass their experience on to new pilots at training schools. Although Allied pilots frequently felt that teaching new recruits how to fly and fight could hardly be described as a ‘rest tour’, they were at least able to pass on some of their experience (even if ‘Johnnie’ Johnson was moved to note that ‘the right senior officer was not present’ to explain how to win at air combat²⁹). Thus the Germans were forced to throw inexperienced pilots into battle, where they proved to be hugely vulnerable to marauding American escort fighters. The pilots of the latter were becoming progressively more experienced, and as the quality of their opponents decreased, they were less likely to be shot down themselves. As Adolf Galland was moved to remark. ‘A steadily increasing percentage of the young and inexperienced pilots were shot down before they reached their tenth operational flight.’³⁰

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