Aerial ramming
Encyclopedia
Aerial ramming or air ramming 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 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 eager to destroy an enemy, or when his plane had already been damaged beyond saving. Most ramming 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 stands 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 War
s 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.
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.
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.
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 Austria
n plane. That incident was fatal to both parties.
. 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 Chaikas undercarriage to ram the bomber, downing the plane.
was carried out by the Polish
pilot, Lieutenant Colonel
Leopold Pamuła with his damaged PZL P.11
c on 1 September 1939, over Łomianki near Warsaw
.
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 considerably 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 tasked with 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.
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 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-gaurd 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...".
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.
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 109
s and Bf 110
s. 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.
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 . 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 I. G. Statham AFC and Pilot Officer K. C. Briffett of No. 27 Squadron RAF
were both killed.
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.
Starting in August 1944, several Japanese pilots flying Kawasaki Ki-45
and other fighters engaging B-29 Superfortress
es 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-61
s 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.
n 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.
, the Sonderkommando Elbe used ramming to try to regain control of the air. Although some pilots succeeded in destroying bombers, Allied numbers were not significantly reduced.
, 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 25000 feet (7,620 m), but the "Nick" began climbing higher. Two of the FG-1D Corsairs
ceased their pursuit at 36000 feet (10,972.8 m), but Marine Captain Kenneth Reusser and his wingman Klingman continued to 38000 feet (11,582.4 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 (15.2 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 15000 feet (4,572 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 dead-stick landing. He was awarded the Navy Cross
.
, 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.
, Vu Xuan Thieu, a North Vietnam pilot, is said to have rammed his Mig-21 into an American B-52, accounting for the second loss of a B-52 to an enemy interceptor (the first one was shot down by Pham Tuan). Thieu subsequently crashed; however, the reason for his crash is disputed. He might have been downed by the fireball of the destroyed B-52.
plane that had intruded USSR airspace, resulting in the crash of both aircraft. 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.
Air combat
Air combat may refer to:*Aerial warfare, or aerial combat, the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare**Dogfight, or dog fight, a common term used to describe close-range aerial combat between military aircraft...
, sometimes used when all else has failed. Long before the invention of aircraft, ramming
Ramming
In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in air, sea and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram's momentum...
tactics in naval warfare
Naval warfare
Naval warfare is combat in and on seas, oceans, or any other major bodies of water such as large lakes and wide rivers.-History:Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Land warfare would seem, initially, to be irrelevant and entirely removed from warfare on the open ocean,...
and ground warfare
Ground warfare
Ground warfare or land warfare is the process of military operations eventuating in combat that take place predominantly on the land surface of the planet....
were common. The first aerial ramming was committed by Pyotr Nesterov
Pyotr Nesterov
Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov was a Russian pilot, an aircraft technical designer and an aerobatics pioneer.-Life and career:The son of a military academy teacher, Pyotr Nesterov decided to choose a military career. In August 1904 he left the military school in Nizhny Novgorod and went to the...
in 1914 during the First World War, and in the early stages of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the tactic was employed by Soviet pilots who called it taran for "battering ram"; the same word is used in the 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 eager to destroy an enemy, or when his plane had already been damaged beyond saving. Most ramming 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
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attacks—the ramming pilot stands 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 War
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
s and in the interwar period. With jet aircraft
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered 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
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-16Polikarpov I-16The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first cantilever-winged monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear. The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II...
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.
Early concepts
Presaging the 20th century air warfare ramming actions, Jules VerneJules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
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
Robur the Conqueror
Robur the Conqueror is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne, published in 1886. It is also known as The Clipper of the Clouds. It has a sequel, The Master of the World, which was published in 1904.- Plot summary :...
, published in 1886. H. G. Wells, writing in 1899 in his novel The Sleeper Awakes
The Sleeper Awakes
The Sleeper Awakes is a dystopian novel by H. G. Wells about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest on his bank accounts, he has become the richest man in the world...
, 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
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
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
Zhovkva
Zhovkva is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, north of Lviv. It is the administrative center of the Zhovkivskyi Raion . The current estimated population is 13,500.-History:...
by the Russian pilot, Pyotr Nesterov
Pyotr Nesterov
Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov was a Russian pilot, an aircraft technical designer and an aerobatics pioneer.-Life and career:The son of a military academy teacher, Pyotr Nesterov decided to choose a military career. In August 1904 he left the military school in Nizhny Novgorod and went to the...
on 8 September 1914, against an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n plane. That incident was fatal to both parties.
Polish-Soviet War
As the advancing Red Army used very few aircrafts 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 give the crewmen opportunity for emergency landing, but it'd almost certainly end with aircraft's destruction or at least serious damage.Spanish Civil War
Ramming was used in the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. On the night of 27–28 November 1937 Soviet pilot Evgeny Stepanov flying a Polikarpov I-15
Polikarpov I-15
The Polikarpov I-15 was a Soviet biplane fighter aircraft of the 1930s. Nicknamed Chaika because of its gulled upper wings, it was operated in large numbers by the Soviet Air Force, and together with the Polikarpov I-16 monoplane, was one of the standard fighters of the Spanish Republicans during...
for the Spanish Republican Air Force
Spanish Republican Air Force
The Spanish Republican Air Force, , was the air arm of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939...
shot down one SM.81
Savoia-Marchetti SM.81
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrello was a three-engine bomber/transport aircraft serving in the Italian Regia Aeronautica during World War II...
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 Chaikas undercarriage to ram the bomber, downing the plane.
Poland
The first taran attack in World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was carried out by the Polish
Polish Air Force
The Polish Air Force is the military Air Force wing of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej...
pilot, Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Leopold Pamuła with his damaged PZL P.11
PZL P.11
The PZL P.11 was a Polish fighter aircraft, designed in the early 1930s by PZL in Warsaw. It was briefly considered to be the most advanced fighter aircraft design in the world...
c on 1 September 1939, over Łomianki near Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
.
Soviet Union
In World War II, ramming was a widely reported technique of lone VVSSoviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
pilots against the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
, especially in the early days of the hostilities in the war's Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
. In the first year of the war, most available Soviet machines were considerably 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
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attack (see Nikolai Gastello
Nikolai Gastello
Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello , Russian aviator, Hero of the Soviet Union. He is one of the best known Soviet war heroes, being the first Soviet pilot to conduct a "fire ram" - a suicide attack by an aircraft on a ground target.-Biography:...
).
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 tasked with 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
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, one within the first hour. At 0425 hours on 22 June 1941, Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov drove his Polikarpov I-16
Polikarpov I-16
The Polikarpov I-16 was a Soviet fighter aircraft of revolutionary design; it was the world's first cantilever-winged monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear. The I-16 was introduced in the mid-1930s and formed the backbone of the Soviet Air Force at the beginning of World War II...
into the tail of an invading Heinkel He 111
Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
. Ivanov did not survive but was posthumously awarded the gold star, Hero of the Soviet Union
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
. Yekaterina Zelenko
Yekaterina Zelenko
Yekaterina Ivanovna Zelenko was a Soviet war pilot. She is the only woman ever to have performed an air ramming....
, who dove her Sukhoi Su-2
Sukhoi Su-2
-External links:***-Related content:*List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS...
into a Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
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
Alexander Novikov
Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov was the Chief Marshal of Aviation for the Soviet Air Force during Russia's involvement in the Second World War...
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
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
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, RAFVR SergeantSergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Bruce Hancock of No.6 SFTS from RAF Windrush
RAF Windrush
RAF Windrush was a World War II Royal Air Force station near Windrush, Gloucestershire. It was opened in 1940 and closed on 12th July 1945. Initially it was a Relief Landing Ground for RAF Chipping Norton, later coming under the control of RAF Little Rissington.The airfield consisted of two...
used his Avro Anson
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was...
aircraft to ram a Heinkel He.111P; there were no survivors.
Also on this day Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
James Eglington Marshall of 85 Squadron RAF used his Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
to ram the tail unit of a Heinkel He 111
Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
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
Flight Sergeant
Flight sergeant is a senior non-commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structure...
Ray Holmes
Ray Holmes
Raymond Towers "Ray" Holmes was a British fighter pilot who was feted by the press as a war hero who saved Buckingham Palace from being severely damaged by German bombing during the Battle of Britain....
of No. 504 Squadron RAF
No. 504 Squadron RAF
No. 504 Squadron was one of the Special Reserve Squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force. It was integrated into the AAF proper in 1936. Based at RAF Cottesmore, Rutland, 504 Squadron used a variety of light bombers before being re-tasked to fighters with the Hawker Hurricane in 1939. It subsequently...
used his Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
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
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
. 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
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
Ken W. Mackenzie of No.501 Squadron RAF used his Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
to destroy a Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
. His Combat Report read "... I attacked the three nearest machines in vic formation from beneath and a fourth enemy aircraft doing rear-gaurd 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...".
Greece
On 2 November 1940, Greek Air Force pilot Marinos MitralexisMarinos Mitralexis
Marinos Mitralexis was a Greek Air Force pilot during World War II. He became legendary when he managed to bring down an enemy bomber by ramming its tail, on November 2, 1940.-Career:...
shot down one Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero was a three-engined Italian medium bomber with a wood and metal structure. Originally designed as a fast passenger aircraft, this low-wing monoplane, in the years 1937–39, set 26 world records that qualified it for some time as the fastest medium bomber in the...
bomber, then, out of ammunition, brought another down by smashing its rudder with the propeller of his PZL P.24
PZL P.24
|-References:NotesCitationsBibliography* Axworthy, Mark. Third Axis, Fourth Ally. London: Arms and Armour, 1995. ISBN 1-85409-267-7.* Bernád, Dénes. Rumanian Air Force: The Prime Decade 1938-1947. Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications Inc, 1999. ISBN 0-89747-402-3.* Cynk, Jerzy B. Polish...
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 YugoslaviaInvasion of Yugoslavia
The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...
36th group of the 5th fighter regiment of the Yugoslav Royal Air Force
Yugoslav Royal Air Force
The Yugoslav Royal Air Force was formed in 1918 in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and existed until Yugoslavia's surrender to the Axis powers in 1941 following the Invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II....
, equipped with obsolete Hawker Fury
Hawker Fury
The Hawker Fury was a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was originally named the Hornet and was the counterpart to the Hawker Hart light bomber.-Design and development:...
biplanes scrambled to defend their airfield, Režanovačka Kosa, from a strafing attack by approximately 30 Messerschmitt Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
s and Bf 110
Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often called Me 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, and nicknamed it his Eisenseiten...
s. 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-43Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II...
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 . 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
Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II...
to ram the tail of a Bristol Beaufighter
Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design...
, bringing it down over Shwebandaw, Burma. Squadron Leader I. G. Statham AFC and Pilot Officer K. C. Briffett of No. 27 Squadron RAF
No. 27 Squadron RAF
No. 27 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Boeing Chinook HC2 from RAF Odiham.-The Great War:27 Squadron formed at Hounslow Heath Aerodrome on 5 November 1915, soon being equipped with Martinsyde Elephant fighter aircraft, hence the use of an elephant for the squadron badge...
were both killed.
On 26 October 1943, Captain Tomio Kamiguchi of the 64th Sentai used his Nakajima Ki-43
Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II...
to ram a B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
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
492d Bombardment Squadron
The 492d Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 4228th Strategic Wing, stationed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. It was inactivated on 1 February 1963.-History:...
) crashed near Rangoon.
Starting in August 1944, several Japanese pilots flying Kawasaki Ki-45
Kawasaki Ki-45
The Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu was a two-seat, twin-engine fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. The army gave it the designation "Type 2 Two-Seat Fighter"; the Allied reporting name was "Nick"....
and other fighters engaging B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
es 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-61
Kawasaki Ki-61
The Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien was a Japanese World War II fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force...
s 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
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
or Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
, an award which had been inaugurated on 7 December 1944 as an Imperial Edict by Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
. 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
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
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 were performed by BulgariaBulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n fighter pilots defending Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
against Allied bombers in 1943 and 1944. The first one was poruchik (Senior Lieutenant
Senior lieutenant
Senior lieutenant is a military grade between a lieutenant and a captain. Sometimes senior lieutenant is called a first lieutenant....
Dimitar Spisarevski
Dimitar Spisarevski
Dimitar Spisarevski was a Bulgarian fighter pilot known for taking down an American bomber by ramming it during the bombing of Sofia in World War II....
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
Late in World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Sonderkommando Elbe used ramming to try to regain control of the air. Although some pilots succeeded in destroying bombers, Allied numbers were not significantly reduced.
United States
On 10 May 1945 over OkinawaBattle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
, Marine Lieutenant Robert R. Klingman and three other pilots of VMF-312
VMFA-312
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 312 is a United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet squadron. Also known as the "Checkerboards", the squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina and falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 31 and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing .-World...
climbed to intercept a Kawasaki Ki-45
Kawasaki Ki-45
The Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu was a two-seat, twin-engine fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. The army gave it the designation "Type 2 Two-Seat Fighter"; the Allied reporting name was "Nick"....
Toryu ("Nick") twin-engined heavy fighter flying reconnaissance at 25000 feet (7,620 m), but the "Nick" began climbing higher. Two of the FG-1D Corsairs
F4U Corsair
The Vought F4U Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and...
ceased their pursuit at 36000 feet (10,972.8 m), but Marine Captain Kenneth Reusser and his wingman Klingman continued to 38000 feet (11,582.4 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 (15.2 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 15000 feet (4,572 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 dead-stick landing. He was awarded the Navy Cross
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...
.
Cold War
In the 1960 U-2 incident, Soviet pilot Igor Mentyukov was scrambled with orders to ram the intruding Lockheed U-2Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency . It provides day and night, very high-altitude , all-weather intelligence gathering...
, 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
Gary Powers
Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.- Early life :...
; however, Sergei Khrushchev
Sergei Khrushchev
Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev , son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, now resides in the United States where he is a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.-Career:...
asserted in 2000 that Mentyukov failed even to gain visual contact.
Vietnam War
During the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, Vu Xuan Thieu, a North Vietnam pilot, is said to have rammed his Mig-21 into an American B-52, accounting for the second loss of a B-52 to an enemy interceptor (the first one was shot down by Pham Tuan). Thieu subsequently crashed; however, the reason for his crash is disputed. He might have been downed by the fireball of the destroyed B-52.
After 1980
In 1981, a Soviet Su-15 fighter jet rammed an Iranian CL-44 reconnaissanceReconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
plane that had intruded USSR airspace, resulting in the crash of both aircraft. 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.