Dive Bombing and Aerial Rocket Attacks

Heroes Remember

Dive Bombing and Aerial Rocket Attacks

Transcript

Prior to January of '44, our squadron, when I say the Typhoons in general, were, you know, one morning we'd come down and we'd have long range tanks on and the next morning we'd come down and there might be two 500 pounders on and the next morning might be rocket rails so we never knew what role we were going to be playing that particular day. But when the Canadian Wing was formed, it turned out to be 143 Wing, the powers that be said, "Well, fine the Canadian Wing will operate with bombs and the RAF will operate with rockets." So from then on, we knew what role we were going to be playing so it was, and I was quite happy to get away from the bomb aspect because when you are dive bombing, we had no dive brakes or anything, so when you rolled over and you started down, in very short order you were doing 600 miles an hour, which means that you have to be doing the trim tabs and everything else and trying to concentrate on a target that's camouflaged to begin with and do your job. And so with all those things going on, I was quite happy to go with rockets because you went in at a much shallower angle, and you could concentrate. You didn't have to make the adjustments that you did with excessive speeds because we, our speeds would maybe be between 400 and 450 so you can adjust very easily for that sort of thing and if you got skidding aircraft you are not going to hit the target, so that's why you are doing all this adjusting. So my feeling was that I was in a much better position to concentrate and hit the target that I was going for whereas the other way was a little more haphazard, and I think that this is why the rockets were used so often with close support because, well as I have mentioned, I did a, we did a job at Carpiquet Airdrome, and as I am leaving the target on my fourth attack I'm down to ground level, and the, as I am going around this building, here's this soldier standing, waving his tin hat, you know, and appreciation for what we had been doing because the target we were attacking was tanks that had dug into the floor of the hangars with the hangar doors open and all that was showing was the turrets. So, you know, we never knew until we got a report back from the Army how well we'd done because by the time you fire your rockets and then break away because the debris comes up, and we were low enough that we could suffer damage from debris.

Description

Mr. Hanna describes the different types of attacks that could be mounted from a Typhoon. Specifically, he explains the difference between the techniques known as dive bombing and aerial rocket attacks.

Kenneth Charles Hanna

Mr. Hanna was born in Prescott, Ontario but spent the majority of his childhood in Brockville. He was the oldest of four children and worked as an apprentice tool- maker after graduation from High School. In 1941, Mr. Hanna joined the Air Force in Ottawa. He chose the Air Force, as opposed to the Army or Navy, because he had "illusions of grandeur" and wanted to fly. Living up to his own expectations, Mr. Hanna was a successful pilot flying the Typhoon. He flew many missions in support of the Army over France and the Netherlands and his decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:19
Person Interviewed:: Kenneth Charles Hanna
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 181 RAF Squadron
Rank:: Sergeant
Occupation:: Pilot

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Dive Bombing and Aerial Rocket Attacks

Heroes Remember