Ww2 tank buster aircraft12/29/2023 (Antiaircraft artillery was of little hazard to bombers flying above 30,000 feet, though few early World War II bombers would fly this high, the B-17 being the exception.) During the Battle of Britain (July–September 1940), a typical formation of German He-111, Ju-88, and Do-17 bombers would cross the English Channel at about 15,000 feet. The key to bombing during the day was to provide an escort of fighters adequate to turn back defending fighters. The big, slow-moving bombers operated in formations (sometimes numbering 1,000 or more) that were intended not to evade enemy defenses but to beat them back or simply swamp them with numbers. World War II saw massive bombing of military targets and major cities. Learn about the beginning of aerial bombardment in Europe during World War II See all videos for this article This system, by concentrating maximum force at decisive points as the desert campaigns unfolded, achieved a flexibility of employment that later emerged as the central tenet of air power. In North Africa in 1942–43, the Royal Air Force (RAF) perfected close-air support by concentrating its air power under a centralized control that was exercised jointly by the senior ground and air commanders in the theatre of operations. Pilots of the P-51, after escorting bombers into Germany (see section immediately below), often freely attacked ground targets while racing back to England at treetop level. P-51 Mustangs and P-38 Lightnings, flying very low to avoid radar detection, bombed and strafed countless airfields and infantry columns. Taking advantage of their speed, British Spitfires and Mosquitos and U.S. Ground attack was most devastating when conducted by fighter-bombers, which were often converted air-superiority fighters. Spitfire pilots of the RAF made such short work of unescorted Stukas that they referred to these one-sided dogfights as “Stuka parties.” Because dive-bombers generally had top speeds in level flight of less than 300 miles per hour, they were most effective where air superiority had been secured by fighters such as the Zero or the U.S. dive-bombers helped compensate for the flat trajectories of naval guns in disabling Japanese shore defenses. During the assault phase of amphibious landings, U.S. Dropping straight down from a cruising altitude of about 15,000 feet and releasing their bombs from below 2,000 feet, these planes destroyed or damaged many battleships and aircraft carriers. ![]() Dauntless and Helldiver and the Japanese Type 99 “Val” applied this maneuver to naval warfare. In the Pacific Theatre, carrier-based dive-bombers such as the U.S. In a typical Stuka attack, several planes would circle above the target, then one plane after another would peel off to dive almost vertically before releasing its bombs, pulling up, and returning to the circle to dive again. The German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, was configured primarily to fly in support of ground forces, and, in the Spanish Civil War and the first years of World War II, the Ju-87 Stuka dive-bomber was its principal ground-attack craft. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today. ![]()
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