Flak 88 sure was heavy

[Erich]

RR yes the 8.8cm was the standard heavy flak piece. The Flakvierling 2cm was a low altitude weapon primarily to knock down single engine fighter/dive bomber types

[Reich Ruin]

Whoa.... then the 88mm must have had a real BANG to get those nasty flak shells at high altitude like a thousand feet or so.... I would hate to get hit head on while on the ground if it could turn a B-17 or a Lancaster into swiss cheese. Good thing they missed the bombers enough for the bombing campaigns to be succesful....

[Christian W.]

Good thing they missed the bombers enough for the bombing campaigns to be succesful....

The flak was always dangerous. You dont want B-17 to take a direct hit from Flak 88.

[Richard Hedlund]

Depends on where it hits. There are pictures of B 17s, Liberators, Landcasters etc returning home with hugh holes in their fuselage, wingtips missing, engines destroyed. But one shell knock out the rudders of the cockpit and that plane is history.

/Richard

[Christian W.]

Yes. A bomber could survive from a hit of Flak 88 if lucky, but nontheless, I doubt it is a nice experience for a crew member of bomber when the bomber takes a hit from such weapons.

[Unteroffizier_Tyler]

I've seen many many pictures of B-17s hit by flak, it's amazing what the flak could do. if it hit in the right spot it could almost tear off the entire wing!

[Christian W.]

Germans also had bigger Flak guns.

128mm Flakzwilling

[Lkefct]

A direct hit by an 88 is almost certain death to a bomber. Even a near miss can almost always be fatal. Most heavy bombers returned with minor flak damage from shells exploding some distance away. A larger shell would expand the distance a fatal hit would occur. Clear what part of the plane was within this range is part of the equation, but I doubt any allied plane can survive a direct hit from an 88 mm, and not just the shrapnel from the air burst.

[Richard Hedlund]

Depends on where it hits and if it explodes or not. I guess that there were several dummies. A direct hit, exploding, in the wing or in the tail was certain death. The shell would simple blow the wing into pieces. Like when you stab a finger into a gingerbread. I do not know if the fuselage of the bombers could resist the explosion, or if it would snapp in two.

/Richard

[moses]

i have a little photographic evidence to share with this discussion

from the book "Shot to Hell" by Cory Graff

b17 which took an 88 hit to its nose but made it back home safely (barely)

[Reich Ruin]

How did both the Allies and the Axis militaries aim their flak guns at high altittude targets like strategic bombers and the like ? Fire at the sky and pray ? Another curiosity, was the flak 88 that was used for anti-aircraft and the 88's used as standard artillery or anti-tank guns different variants or just the same, mass produced. Im surprised how the Allies and the Axis managed to make so much heavy ordanance quickly.....

[Erich]

8.8cm Batteries were controlled by a command center abled by searchlight and directional/sound and altitude finders. many tiems the command center was in the center of the batterie or on the outskirts. Pic is included to show a situation outside of a town.
there will be others that will add to the specifics..........

[Richard Hedlund]

Moses, that was just what I was talking about. A direct hit was not even that enough at all times. The western allied planes were extremely strongly built. About the aiming, they calculated the height of the enemy planes, then aimed towards te armada of Allied planes, then just shot and prayed I think.

/Richard

[Zygmunt]

There's a thread in the "What if" section of the forum on fuzes for AA munitions that may be of interest:

"1944: Flak Alone Blasts the Allies out of the Sky"

Specifically, on page two of that thread is a link to an external site, which features (amongst other photos) a shot of a B-17 which took a direct hit in the fuselage just aft of the wing from an 88mm:

http://www.flightjournal.com/articles/b ... ress_1.asp

The photo I'm thinking of is the last one on that first page.

Zygmunt

[Erich]

that easily could of been a rocket from a Br 21 from II/ZG 1 Bf 110G-2. I also noted the bogus caption on # 3 page of 63 B-17's going down over Merseberg...............

E ♪