THE DEADLY RAILROAD BRIDGES

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 09:28:54 +1030, "The CO"
wrote:


"Mike Marron" wrote in message
.. .
Ed Rasimus wrote:

"Soften up the AA with fighter strafes".... First rule is never duel
with a gun bigger than your own.

Just cuirous, how do divebombers get around this rule? (e.g: Stukas
and SBD Dauntlesses in WW2, Skyraiders in Southeast Asia and
Warthogs in Southwest Asia).

I believe courage is the major factor.

The CO

Courage is good and foolishness ranks a close second. Luck helps as
well. Throw in a bit of "big sky" theory and you get to do it
occasionally.

Virtually all tactical aircraft in SEA were "dive bombers". Skyraiders
worked close and were decidedly slow. They didn't regularly work big
gun areas, but occasionally in the Sandy (SAR) role were forced to.

I recount in When Thunder Rolled, an attack in which the 85mm
projectiles could be seen in flight, coming straight up the dive bomb
pass like glowing red footballs. There were also instances of losing
sight of the remainder of a tactical spread formation because of so
much air bursting flak between us.

Bottom line is that a stable, large caliber, high-rate-of-fire ground
gun is more likely to be successful at hitting its target than a
mobile, smaller caliber, fast-mover strafing. Change the weapon to a
string of half a dozen mk-82s or better yet, a quartet of CBU-52 and
the odds shift in favor of the airplane.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8