Zajímavé letecké projekty

Worchester napsal v č. 1216:
"Jejich otec byl taky u námořního letectva, jestli se nemýlím?"

Twelve B-17Ds of the 5th Bombardment Group were parked on the ground at Hickam Field during the attack. Five of these B-17s were destroyed, and eight were damaged.

B-24 (Project Anvil):
Two PB4Y-1s of VB-110 were modified as pilotless flying bombs to be launched against high-priority targets in occupied Europe. Known as *Project Anvil*, the initial goal was to take out a German V-2 installation in occupied France. A PB4Y-1 was fitted with remote control gear, a forward-looking television camera to be used in the final run in to the target, and 25,000 pounds of explosives. Since there was no time to develop remotely-controlled takeoff equipment, the aircraft was to be flown to an altitude of 2000 feet by a pilot, who would arm the explosives, hand the aircraft over to remote control, and then bail out.

The first operation took place on August 12, 1944. The two pilots flying the PB4Y-1 were Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr (JFK's older brother) and Lt. Wilford J. Willy. The PB4Y-1 was accompanied by a Lockeed PV-1 control aircraft and a USAAF B-17 to monitor the television transmissions. However, the PB4Y-1 exploded 20 minutes after takeoff, killing both pilots. A fusing system malfunction was apparently to blame for the accident.

The second try took place on September 3, 1944, this time against an airfield in Heligoland, the original French V-2 site having by this time been overrun by Allied troops. Lt. Ralph Spaulding piloted the takeoff of the modified PB4Y-1 and was able to parachute to safety after having armed the explosives. Control was handed over to the PV-1, and the aircraft was flown at low altitude across the North Sea. The crew in the B-17 had a clear view via television of the approach to the target. Although the TV camera was put of action by flak just before the PB4Y-1 struck, the observers in the other planes saw a massive explosion as the Liberator struck its target.

B-17:
The first mission took place on August 4. The target was a V-1 site in Pas-de-Calais. In the first phase of the mission, two motherships and two drones took off. Unfortunately, one of the drones went out of control shortly after the first crewman had bailed out. It crashed near the coastal village of Orford, destroying two acres of trees and digging an enormous crater. The body of the other crewman was never found. The second drone was successfully dispatched toward the Pas-de-Calais. Unfortunately, clouds obscured the television view from the nose just as the drone approached the target site, and the plane missed the target by 500 feet. The second phase of the mission fared little better. One robot BQ-7 had a control malfunction before it could dive onto its target and was shot down by German flak. The other one missed its target by 500 yards.

On August 6, another task force of two robots and four command ships was sent out against V-1 targets in France. The crews parachuted clear of the aircraft without incident, but within minutes one of the drones went out of control and crashed into the sea. The other drone decided to develop a mind of its own and the explosives-packed aircraft began to circle the industrial area of Ipswich before flying out to sea, where it was harmlessly ditched.

After these early failures, General Doolittle decided that it might be a good idea to suspend further missions until it could be determined what was going wrong. Most of the advisers pointed the finger at the Double-Azon radio control system and recommended conversion to a new system known as Castor.

The first *Castor* raid was an attack on targets at Heligoland. Again, it started badly--the parachute of the pilot of one of the drones failed to open when he bailed out, and he was killed. Nevertheless, the drone made it all the way to Heligoland, but it crashed some 100 yards short of the target, probably a victim of flak. The next mission was against targets on Heide/Hemmingstedt. The first robot crashed short of its target because of director disorientation caused by image distortion in the television monitor, whereas the second robot malfunctioned and had to be ditched at sea.

Further sorties against Heligoland took place in October, but yielded little success. One drone was shot down by flak, whereas another went out of control and ended up over the North Sea where it finally ran out of fuel and crashed into the water. A third drone failed to locate its target due to low visibility. The exasperated director crew pointed the BQ-7 in the general direction of Berlin and let it go. The fourth drone actually crashed near its target and caused some serious damage and fairly heavy casualties.

On October 27, the headquarters of the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe concluded that these attacks by BQ-7s against hard targets were not yielding much success.

Algernon napsal v č. 1220:
"Ty operace s B-17 byly USAAF, zatímco ty s B-24 (resp. PB4Y) provádělo USN."

guano napsal v č. 1217:
"Myslim, ze cilem mel byt bungr v Mimoyecques (nebo jak se to pise ) , kde bylo delo V3"

Algernon napsal v č. 1215:
"Jinak Joseph Patrick Kennedy "

Algernon napsal v č. 1212:
"nemůžu si vzpomenout, co to slovo znamená… "

Algernon napsal v č. 1210:
"Ten Kennedy (nejstarší, Joseph Patrick Kennedy jr.) při oné akci USN zahynul (jeho letadlo, B-24, explodoval)."

Algernon napsal v č. 1206:
"Čemu říkáš „spojenecký mistel“? Že by dálkově řízené B-17 a B-24 ... ??"

Worchester napsal v č. 1193:
"Koncem dubna bylo velení letky Leonidas rozpuštěno. Pilot z letky , který se vyhnul bojovému nasazení, smrt svých spolubojovnku považuje za zbytečnou."Běghem několika hodin po zničení mostu ho Rusové opět obnovili," řekl bývalý pilot letky Leonidas."