Just moments ago an older gentleman and his family stopped by the museum (I’m at work). I noticed he had several unit pathces for Marauders and Invaders attached to his wind breaker. It turns out he flew both types in the ETO and had some interesting stories. He told me how the Germans would string up heavy gauge wire between obstacles to snare allied aircraft during low level runs. He described one particular mission when he was making a strafing run near the Ruhr, and as he lined up on his target he flew between two large chimneys where much to his dismay he nearly ran into a wire spanned between the two obstructions - missed it by “inches”…
I have heard about the Japanese doing this in valleys to snare Beaufighters and Mitchells, but this ETO practice is news to me. Oh well, I thought it was worth sharing…
BTW - this guy liked the Invader much more than the Maruader. I guess it was a more stable airframe?
Ray
Ray, Thanks for sharing that bit of history. It is always neat to hear from someone who actually flew the things we model. My adpoted grandad flew for the Luftwaffe and said of the FW 190 “It flew like a 2x4.”
Cheers,
Eric
The germans also did this on roads. THey’d string up piano wire about neck high so when the G.I.'s would be rolling right along in their jeeps slice. You can imagine the rest…
Wild! Thanks for sharing. I think.lol
As for the wires strung across roads, notice that bar that runs up vertically from the bumper of a jeep? That’s what it’s for. Also, the A/B-26 Marauders, which worked as night intruders in North Korea, faced the dreaded wires strung between railroad cuts and small canyons in that war as well. Also, some He-111’s were equipped with wire cutting bars for protection against barrage balloons during the Blitz. In fact, I’ve seen these modified 111’s modeled before as conversions of stock kits, but not lately.
Here’s another use of wire to trap planes: Bomber crews have been known to tow long cables behind them to snag fighters coming up fast from behind. Even up into the modern age, interceptor pilots flying, say, F-106’s were taught to be careful running up fast behind Tu-95’s and the like because they were known to drag cable a mile or more behind them to catch some unlucky fighter jock plowing into it going full bore. At those speeds, you’d only need to graze it to rip an airplane wide open.
TOM
This guy mentioned that his squadron CO in WWII was killed in Korea when his A-26 hit a line. Thanks for the info Tom.
Ray