Probably on that day, August 17, 1943, the crews of British ships from the convoy from Gibraltar to Great Britain watched one of the strangest events of World War II.
Three planes circled in a deadly duel, making maneuvers, trying to go to each other's tail with the aim of subsequent destruction.
In general, in the fifth year of the war, this would not be surprising, especially since the battles over the convoys took place constantly. Especially over the likes of this, who was carrying food to the British Isles. The Germans always tried to make life difficult for opponents by sinking supply ships.
The whole thrill of the moment was in WHAT planes were fighting in the sky!
These were the B-24 Liberator and two Focke-Wulf FW-200 Condor.
That is, can you imagine, right? Three four-engine monsters are circling in the sky, having arranged an air battle … In general, it looks like the inflamed delirium of an unscientific science fiction writer, but alas, the incident took place and was recorded by many documents.
It is a pity that there is no newsreel. I would watch a show like this.
So let's go from the beginning.
The convoy was assembled in Gibraltar and went, as I said, to Britain with a cargo of food from the African colonies.
Now it is very difficult to say where the escort ships were and why it was not possible to cover the convoy with fighters. Apparently, it was small.
The British learned that two Condors had taken off from Bordeaux to attack the convoy. Apparently, they somehow spotted German planes. In general, "Condors" is extremely unpleasant. Not only are bombs, in fact, the more terrible weapon of the Focke-Wulfs - long-range radio stations, with the help of which submarines from Lorraine could be directed to the convoy.
But all that could be opposed to the Germans was one and only "Liberator" B-24D, and even in the configuration of an anti-submarine aircraft. An aircraft with the personal name "Ark" from the 480th anti-submarine group took off from a base in French Morocco just to cover this convoy.
In general, the convoy was sailing off the coast of Portugal, there was no one to expect help in the air, since all countries were either neutral or (France) had already been occupied by the Germans. The Condors were pulling up from the north, obviously counting on a successful hunt, the Liberator flew from the south, and exactly in the area of the convoy the planes met.
Everything is clear with the Condors. Former transatlantic passenger aircraft became naval reconnaissance aircraft and bombers.
With the "Liberator" everything was more complicated. The plane for searching for submarines was maximally lightened by removing the armor and firing points, and perhaps even less than its opponents were adapted for air combat. He had two or three 12.7-mm Browning in the front hemisphere, which was relatively enough to make a fighter inadvertently ahead of the plane to reason, but it was probably not enough to pick up a plane like the Condor. The machine guns were not located very well, the only bow machine gun was supplemented with two machine guns in ball mountings on the sides of the nose cone, which did not have a positive effect on the accuracy of fire.
And the most important thing: if pilot Hugh Maxwell knew anything about the tactics of air battles of fighters, then, probably, from the stories of the pilots in the bar after the flights. And Captain Maxwell was a bomber pilot, and that says a lot, if not everything.
The crew named the plane "The Ark", hoping that the plane, following the example of the biblical freighter, would be able to survive in any trouble. Almost happened, by the way.
And in the sky above the convoy, 140 miles off the coast of Portugal, the titans met: two Condors and one Liberator.
Probably, it is worth bringing the flight characteristics of the aircraft further, just so that there is a completely complete concept of who played "hawks" there.
So, a B-24 "fighter" weighing 25 tons fell out of the clouds and began to try to get into the tail of one of the Focke-Wulfs. Since the Liberator was faster than the Condor, it almost succeeded. But it was not easy to go in, but at an angle in order to use the side machine guns.
It is worth recalling that the effective range of 12, 7-mm "Browning" in the area of one kilometer, but in air combat, this distance was halved. So the B-24 began to reduce the distance, and the crew of the Condor, as expected, thrashed the approaching "fighter" from all possible weapons.
But the "Liberator", approaching an effective firing distance, set fire to the "Condor", and the "Focke-Wulf" fell into the water.
But while the Americans were carrying the first Focke-Wulf, on the second they caught up with the grappling pair and made their contribution. Obviously, the crew of the second German aircraft was more experienced, because in a very short time they deprived the Liberator of two motors on the right wing, which also caught fire.
Since there was no armor, the Germans damaged the plane very well inside. According to the recollections of the crew, all crew members, without exception, received shrapnel wounds, the internal radio communication was disrupted, the hydraulic system was disabled, even the dashboards were broken.
The Liberator fell as majestically as it chased the first Condor. And while the plane was falling, its gallant crew, desperately cursing, shot ammunition at the enemy. The intercom was not working, so the order to "leave the plane!" nobody heard.
And - lo and behold! - after all, the Americans managed to finally set one engine on fire for the offender!
Well, then everyone dispersed. The Americans flopped into the water not far from the sinking Condor No. 1, the second Condor with a smoking engine went towards France. Later it turned out that the crew was able to bring the car, which had been perforated by the Americans, to Bordeaux, but upon landing, the plane crashed and burned down. The crew survived.
The Americans were picked up by British ships of the convoy, which desperate submarine hunters still defended. Including from submarines, which the Condors could easily send from bases in France, for example.
Only 7 out of 10 B-24 crew members survived. Four Germans from the crew of the first FW-200 were also lucky, they were also caught, and the war ended for them.
An epic case. Perhaps, perhaps, it was the only such "battle of the titans" in the entire war.
There were references to the actions of the Sunderlands crews of the British Air Force Coastal Command. The crews of these boats considered it quite normal for themselves to attack heavy enemy vehicles such as FW-200, BV-138, He-111. Eight machine guns in the nose, even a rifle caliber - this was another argument at the beginning of the war.
I read a story about such an incident when, off the coast of Norway, a Sunderland patrolman attacked five He-111 torpedo bombers who had fought off the main group and dispersed them, shooting down one. The crew of the boat claimed that they did not have enough ammunition, otherwise the Heinkels would have had a bad time.
Such bizarre grimaces sometimes take on the face of war.
