Screamin' demon

Flight Journal, Jun 1999 by Kutta, Timothy J

Soviet flak exploded among the German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers as the formation pressed toward its targetthe Baltic Sea harbor at Kronstadt. They were still 10 miles away from it when Soviet Yak fighters dived through their formation. Within minutes, the clear blue September sky was filled with smoke, flak bursts and burning Soviet and German aircraft.

Undaunted by the chaos that surrounded him, Hans-Ulrich Rudel flew his Stuka straight and level. He could already see the Soviet battleship Manat anchored in the harbor. It was a primary target-one that had to be destroyed at all costs-and Rudel was determined to sink it. In increasingly dense flak, as he closed on the ship, he was certain of his imminent destruction. Finally, about two miles short of his target, he pushed the stick forward to drop the Stuka's nose toward the ocean 9,)00 feet below. Within seconds, he was in a screaming, high-speed, 70degree dive with the 2,000-pound bomb under the nose pointing directly at the center of his target. As the Stuka nosed over, the Mariat and the other Soviet ships in the harbor added their flak to the surrounding cacophony of death.

Heavy flak buffeted the Stuka as it dropped, and Rudel knew that he could not deploy his dive brakes. If he slowed, flak would quickly destroy his aircraft. Plummeting downward, he held the aircraft steady until the ship filled his windscreen, then at 90 feet, he pushed the bomb release and struggled to regain control. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the Stuka came out of its dive and skimmed across the water. Behind him, Rudel saw the battleship go up in fire and smoke. The Moriat was finished; the bomb had crashed through several decks and exploded in the magazine.

Rudel survived this mission and went on to become the Luftwaffe's top Stuka pilot. The attack that day in 1941 proved that the singleengine Stuka could inflict damage out of all proportion to its size, and it added another achievement to its impressive wartime record.

The Stuka's design and successful use during WW II was no accident. It was a logical development that began with the specialized German attack aircraft that made their appearance over the trenches during WV 1. In the early days of 1914, German military planners had been quick to recognize the value of the aircraft. Unarmed reconnaissance planes quickly gave way to armed, offensive aircraft. Soon, specialized aircraft were designed to fight other planes, drop bombs and carry out armed reconnaissance. One of the most specialized was the heavily armed and armored groundattack aircraft assigned to the Schlathtstafj`ein, or battle squadrons; they were used to attack enemy trenches-an important mission, considering the stalemate on the Western front. 'he opposing armies occupied a large and complex trench system that stretched from the English Channel to Switzerland.

Ground attacks against an entrenched enemy proved very costly, so Germany decided to develop aircraft and tactics that would hit the trenches. The German Air Force pioneered the use of specially built ground-attack aircraft and trained its pilots to swoop in on enemy positions and drop their bomb loads on crucial points. They also strafed any enemy troops who were unfortunate enough to come into the sights of their machine guns. These lowlevel attacks, proved very effective, and infantry commanders soon demanded aircraft support for all of their missions.

The limited number of available aircraft was further reduced by heavy losses. Flying low over enemy positions proved to be very dangerous, as the airplanes were exposed to concentrated-and often lethal-defensive fire, and there were never enough aircraft or crews to go around. The success of these attacks, however, greatly impressed the infantry commanders.

When Germany began to rearm in the mid-1930s, the German Army was quick to point out the need for an aircraft that would be able to carry out ground attacks in support of its forces. The Reichsluffahrtministerium, or State Aviation Ministry, was quick to oblige, and in 1936, it put out specifications for a new aircraft that would fill the role of Sturzkampfflugzeug, or "diving battle aircraft."

The German word was later abbreviated to "Stuka." Although the Stuka exemplified a refinement of WW I groundattack aircraft theory, during the inter-War years, theorists had decided that the best and safest ground attack was through dive-bombing. Being able to dive straight down on a target would almost certainly guarantee a hit and minimize an aircraft's exposure to ground fire. The theory's implementation was risky, as the aircraft had to have tremendous structural strength to withstand the force of not only pulling out of a steep dive but also the stresses of the high speeds typical of such a maneuver. If it wasn't built strongly enough, the aircraft would simply disintegrate.

By the 1930s, aeronautical engineering and design had progressed far enough to make dive-bombing practical. The U.S. was quick to take advantage of the new technology by developing the Navy's Curtiss BFC/FllC-a highly effective dive-bomber. In 1933, Germany followed: Ernst Udet, a famous WW I ace, brought the concept to the Air Ministry's attention and demonstrated it using a recently acquired American Curtiss Hawk. Although the plane was still viewed by many as experimental, the potential accuracy of its dive-bombing endeared it to army leaders. The Air Ministry was to select the winning design in 1936.