Hans Ulrich Rudel destroyed 519 Soviet tanks mostly on his Stuka...He was so successful that I think he was consulted by the Americans when they designed the famous A10 Thunderbolt the worthy successor of the JU87 Stuka and Henschel H129s.
Rudel flew 2,530 combat missions claiming a total of 2,000 targets destroyed; including 800 vehicles, 519 tanks, 150 artillery pieces, 70 landing craft, nine aircraft, four armored trains, several bridges, a destroyer, two cruisers, and the Soviet battleship Marat.[1]
sory i just noticed this coment
Rudel flew not a bomber, he flew a junkers ju87G Stuka with 37 mm, this was the best flying kiler of tanks in all WW2, nothing was beter from it because two thing; it was slow flying, it had CANNONS with high velocity and penetration , the germans were best at tank hunting than any other air force at ww2 because of these, but it was only possible with air supiriority (like in easter front) to use the stukas with no problem , later they designeed different air craft beter than stuka with cannons (bombs and rocket was never used by luftwaffe in tank hunting... onl alies)
the alies used bombs and rockets, with bobm or rocket, it was a million dollar chance to kill a tank with a bomb or a rocket, the russiny later designed cluster bomb showers on the ilyushins it was very good in paper but it did not effect the germans much nor did the germans mention it's danger much, so they must have used it few times even though it was a great tank hunting tactic (many small bombs attached to airplane, drop over tanks, they will penetrate the thin roof armor and destroy the tank, many bombs means almost no miss, but still, cannon-tank hunting was much beter and deadly)
#4185592 - 10/24/1503:18 AMRe: Achtung panzer Operation star screenshots
[Re: Void]
How where all of those kills confirmed? I mean, Allied ground attack pilots routinely reported staggering scores of tanks being knocked out on their missions, but when the territory they'd flown over was in their hands it turned out that not even 1% of what they claimed could actually be considered reliable to any extent.
Seeing as how the Germans rarely had the luxury of up close examination of the tanks claimed by their side from (conveniently) when Rudel started reporting his incredible tallies, I do doubt that Rudel was quite the tankers' worst nightmare that he and Goebbels made him out to be.
Last edited by scrim; 10/24/1503:20 AM.
#4185822 - 10/25/1512:02 AMRe: Achtung panzer Operation star screenshots
[Re: Void]
the reason the germans were superior was that because of these videos u see:
it was very easy and obivious for the germans with stuka cannons, slow-speed low hight fly and shoot the tanks with clear tracers and clear damage, high accuracy and destoying penetration powers by the 37mm cannons
the allies had rocket and bombs with not even 1% accuracy of the 37mm D3 stuka, the germans over claimed too especially for rudel but they were effective , the allies over claimed but they were not effective, their air assault tactics were very poor compared to germans
#4185825 - 10/25/1512:10 AMRe: Achtung panzer Operation star screenshots
[Re: Void]
u have to remember one important thing ; direct hit was required to inflict the damage, 37mm was direct-fire projectile with long trajectory, bombs and rockets were not (bomb was throw in air, rocket was not accurate and dispersion was very high for it) the big difference was the stukas can achieve the direct hits, but the allies with rockets or bombs cannot achieve direct hits, it was 1 million dollar to get a near miss, but direct hits was rare
#4185863 - 10/25/1504:28 AMRe: Achtung panzer Operation star screenshots
[Re: Void]
Right. But what proof is there that the 37mm cannons actually were as effective as that? The Germans had almost no chances to examine any of the supposedly many hundreds of tanks knocked out by just Rudel personally. Further, the Russians also used heavier cannons on their ground attack aircraft, and their claimed tallies have been utterly debunked since. Neither did they seem very impressed by the havoc Rudel claimed that he and his fellow Stuka pilots caused with their 37mm cannons, as they never went to any great lengths to field that caliber on their Il-2s themselves.
The issue I'm pointing out is that the Luftwaffe had practically zero opportunities to properly confirm that claimed tanks had actually been destroyed, and by the pilots who claimed them. Then there's Rudel, the unrepentant Nazi who's claims about himself are the only other source which is troubling considering what sort of a light he portrays the Nazi regime, the Western Allies and the Russians in.
#4185947 - 10/25/1504:04 PMRe: Achtung panzer Operation star screenshots
[Re: Void]
Joined: Dec 2011 Posts: 3,740FlashBurn
Senior Member
When aircraft attack tanks it always looks quite impressive. Bits flying off, fuel tanks might get lit up, crews personal belongings doing odd things when hanging off tank, extra ammo carried externally on vehicle, etc.. But unless the thing is actually on fire it maybe a case where the crew pops out 5 minutes after air attack and is fixing the track, putting out the engine fire, and call the mechanics to bring a new engine for the tank. It seems everyone on every side claimed higher tank and armored vehicle kills than reality. Still vary useful if you mangle a tank with air craft. But even if the tank is a complete write off but the crew survived, at least for the allies it was just go draw another tank from the motor pool.
Funny. One of those above tanks looks like a Hungarian Turan. Was it strafed by a German pilot?
#4185983 - 10/25/1505:36 PMRe: Achtung panzer Operation star screenshots
[Re: Void]
Hey, it really does look quite a bit like that. Wouldn't be surprised if it was, it's not like they had JTACs, JFOs, TACPs, etc. back then. A summary I heard from a British officer about Allied ground attack aircraft in Normandy was that the heart was in the right place, but they were just as likely to strafe them as the Germans.