USAAF Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress straggler under sustained attack by a Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-2 in 1944



by jacksmachiningreveng

20 comments

  1. This is probably one of the best known B-17 interceptions and has been featured in countless documentaries but the raw footage worth examining in detail in its entirety.

    0:00 As the Bf 110 pilot fires an burst, ineffective due to insufficient deflection, puffs smoke can be seen coming from the bomber’s ventral ball and tail turrets as the gunners return fire. This fails to dissuade the attacking pilot who continues to approach his target, while in the distance the main bomber formation can be seen.

    The [combat box](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_box) was no doubt an effective tactic in terms of maximizing firepower and protection, and there was a significant effort made to break up these formations, employing for example the [Werfer-Granate 21](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werfer-Granate_21) to this end.

    The Luftwaffe used a system of points to award decorations on the Western Front detailed below and it’s worth noting that the “Herausschuss” – for example damaging a B-17 sufficiently that it would separate from the formation – is given the same value and shooting down a single-engined fighter, this gives some idea of its importance what a challenge it was considered to be. Downing a four-engined bomber already separated from the formation was less laudable than separating it in the first place.

    >*Abschuss* (Destroyed)

    >Single-engined plane destroyed: 1 point
    >
    >Twin-engined plane destroyed: 2 points
    >
    >Three-engined plane destroyed: 3 points
    >
    >Four-engined plane destroyed: 3 points
    >
    >*Herausschuss* (Separation)
    >
    >Twin-engined plane damaged: 1 point
    >
    >Three- or four-engined plane damaged: 2 points
    >
    >*Endgueltige* (Final Destruction)
    >
    >Final destruction of a damaged twin-engined plane: 0.5 point
    >
    >Final destruction of a damaged four-engined plane: 1 point

    For some reason, perhaps due to previous damage or mechanical trouble, this particular B-17 was unable to keep up with the rest of the squadron and has therefore found itself singled out for attack. There definitely appears to be some damage around the top of the vertical stabilizer.

    0:22 As the Bf 110 settles on the B-17’s 6 o’clock, the tail gunner continues to return fire with no apparent effect. The attacking pilot also pulls the trigger and starts landing concentrated hits on the B-17 with debris flying off. This illustrates the mechanism by which the German high capacity “Minengeschoß” shells were effective. Unlike armor piercing incendiary projectiles that needed to strike critical components like engines, fuel tanks and crew members in order to being an aircraft down, these explosive shells would detonate within a few inches of penetrating the aircraft skin and blow off parts of the aircraft structure itself, either making it unflyable or tearing open fuel tanks beyond what self-sealing systems could protect against. Judging by the footage the shells are from 20mm cannon, each containing almost 20 grams of high explosive. At the 30 second mark a shell impacts the wing outboard of the #4 engine and the size of the hole made by this single impact is clearly visible.

    There is a good number of strikes landing around the tail gun position but it still appears to fire briefly, then falls silent after a couple of further cannon shell impacts by about the 40 second mark.

    0:53 The ventral ball turret starts to rotate with the guns pointing straight down as another burst of cannon fire hits the aircraft in the #3 engine nacelle and wing root. This is the position the ball turret would need to be in for the gunner to exit his post and enter the fuselage. It is possible that he was preparing to bail out. At the one minute mark a shell impacts the ball turret directly and blows off a panel. A small fire has also started in the trailing edge of the port wing.

    1:08 Now at point blank range, the Bf 110 pilot continues to rake the bomber with cannon shells, walking his fire across the fuselage and port wing. The bombers engines appear to continue functioning and from this angle the shells would be detonating in the aircraft structure well before reaching them. As the Bf 110 closes in the damage to the B-17 becomes more apparent. The rear fuselage and starboard wing are riddled with holes and the starboard horizontal stabilizer is in tatters. The tail gunner’s bullet resistant window appears to have been shattered by a direct hit. The port waist gun hangs upwards as it would if no one was holding it, although there does appear to be some movement on the starboard gun. With the attacking fighter having been able to approach to bomber at such close range with impunity, it is clear that the gunners are either dead or incapacitated.

    It’s also worth nothing that the Bf 110’s rear gunner would have been equipped with a [MG 81 Z](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_81_machine_gun) twin-barreled 7.92mm machine gun with a rate of fire of over 50 rounds per second, and he would doubtless have taken the opportunity to add to the B-17 crew’s misery as his aircraft overtook the bomber.

    Unfortunately the exact date and location and therefore the identity of the crew involved appears to have been lost to history, but this remains one of the most harrowing gun camera clips ever filmed and a poignant illustration of the horrors young men faced in the skies over Europe during the Second World War.

  5. Thanks for posting, never seen the complete video. Really shows how much damage the B17 could take.

  6. In the Fly Fortress case no armor is best armor

  8. I couldn’t imagine being on board one of these. Would the shots at the rear pass right through and hit the cabin crew or was the armor thick enough to break the projectile apart enough?

  9. You can see the tail gunner shooting back, but perhaps he was hit because there’s no way a fighter could simply approach that straight on while being fired on

  11. How far are they from the b17 on the last few seconds?

  13. Don’t want to get blown to pieces by 20mm cannon shells? Stay in America*

    *Or does this worldview only work for Russians and Ukraine?

  14. Meanwhile at gaijin:

    ‘And then *one* 20mm shell scratches the pain and the entire bomber explodes’

    ‘Yeah, that will teach those stupid bomber players’

  15. Any time I see footage like this, it seems like the big bomber isn’t attempting any kind of evasion at all. Do they just lumber along, flying straight and hoping for the best, or are they attempting to evade and it’s hard to tell?

  16. Great breakdown of footage I’m sure we’re all very familiar with by now.

    I want to ask this here since you seem to be pretty knowledgeable about battle damage and AARs of bombing missions, and I’ve never seen this question answered anywhere else; do you know or have documentation of any case where enemy fire caused the detonation of a bomber’s payload?

  18. Having just finished watching the series Masters of the Air, it really blows my mind that some folk actually survived moments like this. Where is this footage held? I need access

  19. If he had put all those rounds into the same wing or the stabilizer instead of sprinkling them across the whole plane the part should have come off and made the plane immediately unflyable

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