Schräge Musik (German: Weird Music) was an adaptable gun mount created by Germany and Japan during World War II.
| Attributes | Values |
|---|
| rdf:type
| |
| rdfs:label
| |
| rdfs:comment
| - Schräge Musik (German: Weird Music) was an adaptable gun mount created by Germany and Japan during World War II.
- Schräge Musik was the name the Germans gave to upward firing autocannons that the Luftwaffe mounted in night fighter aircraft. A similar fitment was used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and known by a different, undocumented name in their twin-engined night fighters. The Luftwaffe and the IJN air arm had their first victories with fighter-mounted upward-firing autocannons in May 1943. The term Schräge Musik derives from the contemporary German colloquialism for "jazz music".
- This innovation allowed the night fighters to approach and attack Allied bombers from below, where they would be outside the bomber crew's usual field of view. Few bombers of that era (with the exception of the American heavy bombers fitted with ventral ball turrets) carried defensive guns in the ventral position. The ventral turret fitted to some early Avro Lancasters was sighted by periscope from within the fuselage, as with the first examples of the B-17E Flying Fortress's ventral turret (before the ball turret was adopted), and proved of little use. An attack by a Schräge Musik-equipped fighter was typically a complete surprise to the bomber crew, who would only realize that a fighter was close by when they came under fire. Particularly in the initial stage of operational use until ear
|
| sameAs
| |
| dcterms:subject
| |
| dbkwik:military/pr...iPageUsesTemplate
| |
| dbkwik:world-war-2...iPageUsesTemplate
| |
| Users
| |
| Range
| - Varies depending on weapon
|
| Partof
| |
| Date
| |
| Name
| |
| Type
| |
| Align
| |
| Caption
| - Captured Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4 showing twin-cannon Schräge Musik installation of two cannon with their muzzles just above the rear cockpit, France c. 1944.
|
| Width
| |
| Weight
| - Varies depending on number of weapons
|
| Purpose
| - Attack enemy bomber aircraft from their blindspot
|
| combatant
| - 22(xsd:integer)
- United Kingdom
|
| Place
| |
| Source
| - Air Gunner Leonard J. Isaacson.
|
| Conflict
| |
| Quote
| |
| Crew
| - Standard night fighter crew
|
| Year
| |
| abstract
| - Schräge Musik (German: Weird Music) was an adaptable gun mount created by Germany and Japan during World War II.
- Schräge Musik was the name the Germans gave to upward firing autocannons that the Luftwaffe mounted in night fighter aircraft. A similar fitment was used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and known by a different, undocumented name in their twin-engined night fighters. The Luftwaffe and the IJN air arm had their first victories with fighter-mounted upward-firing autocannons in May 1943. The term Schräge Musik derives from the contemporary German colloquialism for "jazz music". Night fighters used this device to approach and attack Allied bombers from below, outside the bomber crew's usual field of view or fire. Most of the Allied bombers types of that era which were used for nocturnal bombing missions (primarily the Avro Lancaster) lacked effective ventral armament, leaving them easy prey to attacks from below, an advantage the Luftwaffe capitalized on. An attack by a Schräge Musik equipped fighter was typically a surprise to the bomber crew, who only realized a fighter was close by when they came under fire. Particularly in the initial stage of operational use, until early 1944, Allied crews often attributed sudden fire from below to ground fire rather than a fighter.
- This innovation allowed the night fighters to approach and attack Allied bombers from below, where they would be outside the bomber crew's usual field of view. Few bombers of that era (with the exception of the American heavy bombers fitted with ventral ball turrets) carried defensive guns in the ventral position. The ventral turret fitted to some early Avro Lancasters was sighted by periscope from within the fuselage, as with the first examples of the B-17E Flying Fortress's ventral turret (before the ball turret was adopted), and proved of little use. An attack by a Schräge Musik-equipped fighter was typically a complete surprise to the bomber crew, who would only realize that a fighter was close by when they came under fire. Particularly in the initial stage of operational use until early 1944, the sudden fire from below was often attributed to ground fire rather than a fighter.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)