Aerial ramming

See also: Mid-air collision

In Jules Verne's novel Robur the Conqueror, Robur almost rams his propeller-powered flying vessel Albatross into the slower blimp Goahead

Aerial ramming or air ramming is the ramming of one aircraft with another. It is a last-ditch tactic in air combat, sometimes used when all else has failed. Long before the invention of aircraft, ramming tactics in naval warfare and ground warfare were common. The first aerial ramming was committed by Pyotr Nesterov in 1914 during the First World War, and in the early stages of World War II the tactic was employed by Soviet pilots who called it taran for "battering ram"; the same word is used in the Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and Bulgarian languages.

A ramming pilot could use his entire aircraft as a ram or he could try to destroy the enemy's controls using the propeller or wing to chop into the enemy's tail or wing. Ramming took place when a pilot ran out of ammunition yet was still intent on destroying an enemy, or when his plane had already been damaged beyond saving. Most rammings occurred when the attacker's aircraft was economically, strategically or tactically less valuable than the enemy's, such as by pilots flying obsolescent aircraft against superior ones or by single-engine aircraft against multiple-engine bombers. Defenders rammed more often than attackers.

A ramming attack was not considered suicidal in the same manner as kamikaze attacks—the ramming pilot stood a chance of surviving, though it was very risky. Sometimes the ramming aircraft itself could survive to make a controlled landing, though most were lost due to combat damage or the pilot bailing out. Ramming was used in air warfare in the first half of the 20th century, in both World Wars and in the interwar period. With jet aircraft, as air combat speeds increased, ramming became disused—the probability of successfully executing (and surviving) a ramming attack approached impossibility. However, the tactic is still possible and cannot be dismissed in modern warfare.

Technique

See also: Kinetic projectile

Three types of ramming attacks were made:

• Using the propeller to go in from behind and chop off the controls in the tail of the enemy aircraft. This was the most difficult to perform, but it had the best chance of survival.
• Using the wing to damage the enemy or force a loss of control. Some Soviet aircraft like the Polikarpov I-16 had wings strengthened for this purpose.
• Direct ramming using the whole aircraft. This was the easiest but also the most dangerous option.

The first two options were always premeditated but required a high level of piloting skill. The last option might be premeditated or it might be a snap decision made during combat; either way it often killed the attacking pilot.

History

Early concepts

Presaging the 20th century air warfare ramming actions, Jules Verne imagined an apparent aerial attack made by a heavy flying machine with a prominent ram prow against a nearly defenseless lighter-than-air craft in his science fiction work Robur the Conqueror, published in 1886. H. G. Wells, writing in 1899 in his novel The Sleeper Awakes, has his main character, Graham, ram one of the enemy's aeroplanes with his flying apparatus, causing it to fall out of the sky. A second enemy machine ceases its attack, afraid of being rammed in turn.

In 1909, the airship was imagined as an "aerial battleship" by several observers who wrote about the possibility of using an extended ramming pole to attack other airships, and to swing an anchor or other mass on a cable below the airship as a blunt force attack against ground-based targets such as buildings and smokestacks, and against ship masts.

World War I

Ramming attack performed by Pyotr Nesterov

The first known instance of ramming in air warfare was made over Zhovkva by the Russian pilot, Pyotr Nesterov on 8 September 1914, against an Austrian plane. That incident was fatal to both parties. The second ramming—and the first successful ramming that was not fatal to the attacker—was performed in 1915 by Alexander Kazakov, a flying ace and the most successful Russian fighter pilot of World War I.

Polish-Soviet War

As the advancing Red Army used very few aircraft in Poland, air combat rarely took place (except for interceptions of Bolshevik observation balloons). However, during the course of the war, several pilots, having depleted their ammunition and bombs, attempted to ram Soviet cavalry with their aircraft's undercarriages. This attack would allow an opportunity for an emergency landing, but it almost always ended with the destruction of or serious damage to the aircraft.

Spanish Civil War

Ramming was used in the Spanish Civil War. On the night of 27–28 November 1937 Soviet pilot Evgeny Stepanov flying a Polikarpov I-15 for the Spanish Republican Air Force shot down one SM.81 bomber near Barcelona and emptied the rest of his bullets into another. The second SM.81 continued to fly, so Stepanov resorted to using the left leg of his Chaika's undercarriage to ram the bomber, downing the plane.

World War II

Poland

The first taran attack in World War II was carried out by the Polish pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Pamuła with his damaged PZL P.11c on 1 September 1939, over Łomianki near Warsaw.

Soviet Union

In World War II, ramming was a widely reported technique of lone VVS pilots against the Luftwaffe, especially in the early days of the hostilities in the war's Eastern Front. In the first year of the war, most available Soviet machines were markedly inferior to the German ones and the taran was sometimes perceived as the only way to guarantee the destruction of the enemy. Early Soviet fighter engines were relatively weak, and the underpowered fighters were either fairly well armed but too slow, or fast but too lightly armed. Lightly armed fighters often expended their ammo without bringing down the enemy bomber. Very few fighters were equipped with radios—the pilot had no way to call for assistance and he was expected to solve the problem alone. Trading a single fighter for a multi-engine bomber was considered economically sound. In some cases, pilots who were heavily wounded or in damaged aircraft decided to perform a suicidal attack against air, ground or naval targets. In this instance, the attack becomes more like an unpremeditated kamikaze attack (see Nikolai Gastello).

German air tactics early in the war changed in a way that created conditions ripe for ramming attacks. After clearing much of Soviet airpower from their path, the Luftwaffe stopped providing fighter escort for bombing groups, and they split their forces into much smaller sorties including single aircraft making deep penetration flights. One quarter of German aircraft on the Eastern Front were given the task of performing strategic or tactical reconnaissance. These reconnaissance or long-range bombing flights were more likely to encounter lone Soviet defenders. Soviet group tactics did not include taran, but Soviet fighters were often sortied singly or in pairs rather than in groups. Soviet pilots were prohibited from performing taran over enemy-held land, but enemy reconnaissance penetrations over the homeland could be rammed.

Nine rammings took place on the very first day of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, one within the first hour. At 0425 hours on 22 June 1941, Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov drove his Polikarpov I-16 into the tail of an invading Heinkel He 111. Ivanov did not survive but was posthumously awarded the gold star, Hero of the Soviet Union. Yekaterina Zelenko, who dove her Sukhoi Su-2 into a Messerschmitt Bf 109 in the third month of battle, an action fatal to both pilots, is the only woman known to have performed an aerial ramming.

After 1943, more Soviet fighters were equipped with radios, and Chief Marshall Alexander Novikov developed air control techniques to coordinate attacks. The fighters had more powerful engines and, in the last year of battle, they carried sufficiently heavy armament. As Soviet air attack options improved, ramming became a rare occurrence. In 1944, Air Marshall Alexander Pokryshkin officially discouraged the taran, limiting it to "exceptional instances and as an extreme measure."

Lieutenant Boris Kobzan survived a record four ramming attacks in the war. Alexander Khlobystov made three. Seventeen other Soviet pilots were credited with two successful ramming attacks. About 200 taran attacks were made by Soviets between the beginning of Operation Barbarossa and the middle of 1943, when enough modern aircraft had been produced to make the tactic uncommon. Some 270 ramming attacks were made by the Soviets during the whole war. However, Evgeny Stepanov stated in an interview that the VVS made more than 580 taran attacks.

United Kingdom

On 18 August 1940, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Sergeant Bruce Hancock of No.6 SFTS from RAF Windrush used his Avro Anson aircraft to ram a Heinkel He.111P; there were no survivors.

Also on this day Flight Lieutenant James Eglington Marshall of No. 85 Squadron RAF used his Hawker Hurricane to ram the tail unit of a Heinkel He 111 after he had expended the last of his ammunition on it. The Hurricane's starboard wing tip broke off in the attack and the Heinkel was assessed as 'probably destroyed.'

On 15 September 1940, Flight Sergeant Ray Holmes of No. 504 Squadron RAF used his Hawker Hurricane to destroy a Dornier Do-17 bomber over London by ramming but at the loss of his own aircraft (and almost his own life) in one of the defining moments of the Battle of Britain. Holmes, making a head-on attack, found his guns inoperative. He flew his plane into the top-side of the German bomber, cutting off the rear tail section with his wing and causing the bomber to dive out of control. The German crew were killed in the crash, while the injured Holmes bailed out of his plane and survived. As the R.A.F. did not practice ramming as an air combat tactic, this was considered an impromptu manoeuvre.

On 7 October 1940, Pilot Officer Ken W. Mackenzie of No. 501 Squadron RAF used his Hawker Hurricane to destroy a Messerschmitt Bf 109. His Combat Report read, "I attacked the three nearest machines in vic formation from beneath and a fourth enemy aircraft doing rear-guard flew across the line of fire and he developed a leak in the glycol tank... I emptied the rest of my ammunition into him from 200 yards but he still flew on and down to 80, to 100 feet off the sea. I flew around him and signalled him to go down, which had no result. I therefore attempted to ram his tail with my undercarriage but it reduced my speed too low to hit him. So flying alongside I dipped my starboard wing-tip onto his port tail plane. The tail plane came off and I lost the tip of my starboard wing. The enemy aircraft spun into the sea and partially sank...".

On 11 November 1940, Flight Lieutenant Howard Peter Blatchford of No. 257 Squadron RAF used the propeller of his Hawker Hurricane to attack a Fiat CR.42 near Harwich, England. Blatchford had used up his ammunition during the mêlée with the Italian fighters and upon returning to base discovered that he was missing nine inches from two of his propeller blades. Although he did not see the results of his attack and only claimed the Italian fighter as 'damaged', he did report that his damaged propeller was also splashed with blood.

Greece

On 2 November 1940, Hellenic Air Force pilot Marinos Mitralexis shot down one Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber, then, out of ammunition, brought another down by smashing its rudder with the propeller of his PZL P.24 fighter. Both aircraft were forced into emergency landings, and Mitralexis used the threat of his pistol to take the four-man bomber crew prisoner. Mitralexis was promoted in rank and awarded medals.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

On 6 April 1941, the first day of Invasion of Yugoslavia 36th group of the 5th fighter regiment of the Yugoslav Royal Air Force, equipped with obsolete Hawker Fury biplanes scrambled to defend their airfield, Režanovačka Kosa, from a strafing attack by approximately 30 Messerschmitt Bf 109s and Bf 110s. In the ensuing uneven dogfight at least three Yugoslav pilots—Captain Konstantin Jermakov, Captain Vojislav Popović and Lieutenant Milorad Tanasić—each rammed a German fighter with fatal results on both sides.

Japan

The Japanese also practiced ramming, both by individual initiative and by policy. Individual initiative was involved in the bringing down of a lone B-17 Flying Fortress The Flying Swede on 8 May 1942 by a Nakajima Ki-43 fighter plane. After three of the Japanese fighters had each made two attack passes without decisive results, the bomber's pilot, Major Robert N. Keatts, made for the shelter of a nearby rain squall. Loath to let the bomber escape, Sgt. Tadao Oda executed a head-on ramming attack, known as taiatari (体当たり, tai-atari, "body strike"). Both aircraft were destroyed with no survivors. Sergeant Oda was posthumously promoted to lieutenant for his sacrifice.

On 26 March 1943, Lieutenant Sanae Ishii of the 64th Sentai used the wing of his Nakajima Ki-43 to ram the tail of a Bristol Beaufighter, bringing it down over Shwebandaw, Burma. Squadron Leader Ivan G. Statham AFC and Pilot Officer Kenneth C. Briffett of 27 Squadron RAF were both killed.

On 1 May 1943, Sergeant Miyoshi Watanabe of the 64th Sentai used his Nakajima Ki-43 to ram the rear turret of a B-24 Liberator after a drawn-out battle with the American bomber over Rangoon. Sergeant Watanabe survived the attack and made a forced landing.

On 26 October 1943, Captain Tomio Kamiguchi of the 64th Sentai used his Nakajima Ki-43 to ram a B-24 Liberator when his guns failed to fire. Already heavily damaged by the other Japanese fighters in the 64th, the bomber (belonging to the 429nd Bomb Squadron) crashed near Rangoon.

On 6 June 1944, having expended his ammunition in an extended dogfight, Sergeant Tomesaku Igarashi of the 50th Sentai used the propeller of his Nakajima Ki-43 to bring down a Lockheed P-38 Lightning near Meiktila, Burma. After the pilot bailed out, Igarashi attacked him in his parachute. The P-38 may have belonged to 5-kill ace Lieutenant Burdette C. Goodrich or 10-kill ace Captain Walter F. Duke of the 459th Fighter Squadron; both men were lost in battle that day.

Starting in August 1944, several Japanese pilots flying Kawasaki Ki-45 and other fighters engaging B-29 Superfortresses found that ramming the very heavy bomber was a practical tactic. From that experience, in November 1944 a "Special Attack Unit" was formed using Kawasaki Ki-61s that had been stripped of most of their weapons and armor so as to quickly achieve high altitude. Three successful, surviving ramming pilots were the first recipients of the Bukosho, Japan's equivalent to the Victoria Cross or Medal of Honor, an award which had been inaugurated on 7 December 1944 as an Imperial Edict by Emperor Hirohito. Membership in the Special Attack Unit was seen as a final assignment; the pilots were expected to perform ramming attacks until death or serious injury stopped their service.

The Japanese practice of kamikaze may also be viewed as a form of ramming, although the primary mode of destruction was not physical impact force, but rather the explosives carried. Kamikaze was used exclusively against Allied ship targets.

Bulgaria

Two rammings (Bulgarian language: Таран taran ) were performed by Bulgarian fighter pilots defending Sofia against Allied bombers in 1943 and 1944. The first one was poruchik (Senior Lieutenant) Dimitar Spisarevski on 20 December 1943. Flying a Bf 109 G2 fighter, he rammed and destroyed American B-24 Liberator #42-73428 of the 376th Bomb Group, though it is unknown whether the collision was intentional. The Bulgarian military said it was deliberate, and increased his rank posthumously. The second ramming was performed by poruchik Nedelcho Bonchev on 17 April 1944 against an American B-17 Flying Fortress. Bonchev succeeded in bailing out and surviving after the ramming. After the fall of the Fascist government in Bulgaria 9 September 1944 he went on flying against the Germans. His Bf 109 was shot down during a mission and he was wounded and taken captive. After several months in captivity, he was killed by a female SS guard during a POW march which he could not take, owing to his critical health condition.

Germany

B-17 flying after ramming

Late in World War II, the Luftwaffe used ramming to try to regain control of the air. The plan was to dissuade Allied bomber pilots from conducting bombing raids long enough for the Germans to create a significant number of Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters to turn the tide of the air war. Only a single dedicated unit, Sonderkommando Elbe was ever formed to the point of being operational, and flew their only mission – only a month before the end of the war in Europe – on April 7, 1945. Although some pilots succeeded in destroying bombers, including one ramming during the sole mission that took out two B-24s at once with one Bf 109G, Allied numbers were not significantly reduced.

Projects of aircraft such as the Zeppelin Rammer were intended to use the ramming technique.

United States

On 10 May 1945 over Okinawa, Marine Lieutenant Robert R. Klingman and three other pilots of VMF-312 climbed to intercept a Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu ("Nick") twin-engined heavy fighter flying reconnaissance at 25,000 feet (7,600 m), but the "Nick" began climbing higher. Two of the FG-1D Corsairs ceased their pursuit at 36,000 feet (11,000 m), but Marine Captain Kenneth Reusser and his wingman Klingman continued to 38,000 feet (12,000 m), expending most of their .50 caliber ammunition to lighten their aircraft. Reusser scored hits on the "Nick's" port engine, but ran out of ammunition, and was under fire from the Japanese rear gunner. Klingman lined up for a shot at a distance of 50 feet (15 m) when his guns jammed due to the extreme cold. He approached the "Nick" three times to damage it with his propeller, chopping away at his opponent's rudder, rear cockpit, and right stabilizer. The Toryu spun down to 15,000 feet (4,600 m) where its wings came off. Despite missing five inches (13 cm) from the ends of his propeller blades, running out of fuel and having an aircraft dented and punctured by debris and bullets, Klingman safely guided his Corsair to a deadstick landing. He was awarded the Navy Cross.

Cold War

In the 1960 U-2 incident, Soviet pilot Igor Mentyukov was scrambled with orders to ram the intruding Lockheed U-2, using his unarmed Sukhoi Su-9 which had been modified for higher altitude flight. In 1996, Mentyukov claimed that contact with his aircraft's slipstream downed Gary Powers; however, Sergei Khrushchev asserted in 2000 that Mentyukov failed even to gain visual contact.

After 1980

In 1981, a Soviet Su-15 fighter jet piloted by Cpt. V. A. Kulyapin rammed an Iranian CL-44 reconnaissance plane that had intruded USSR airspace, saving himself by ejecting. There have been at least three other Soviet ramming attacks between the early 1970s and 1988.

A 1986 RAND Corporation study concluded that the ramming attack was still a viable option for modern jets defending their airspace from long-range bombers if those bombers were carrying atomic weapons. The study posited that defending fighters might expend their weapons without downing the enemy bomber, and the pilots would then be faced with the final choice of ramming—almost certainly trading their lives to save the thousands who might be killed by a successful nuclear attack.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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