Schräge Musik
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Schräge Musik, derived from the German propaganda word for Jazz Music (literally, "slanted", in the context it means something like 'off-key' or 'abnormal'), was the name given to installations of upward-firing cannons mounted in night fighters by the Luftwaffe during World War II. This allowed them to approach and attack British bombers from below, where they were basically invisible and there were no defensive guns to fire back at them.
Prior to the introduction of Schräge Musik, night fighters were simply heavy fighters equipped with radar in the nose. This meant that the fighter had to approach the target bomber from the rear in order to shoot at them, and RAF bombers were all equipped with fairly powerful rear turrets to help fend off such attacks. The main use of the turret was in fact surveillance: when a night fighter was seen approaching, the gunner would call for the bomber to execute a sharp maneuver, which was typically successful in making the bomber disappear from the fighter's radar.
Night fighter pilots then developed a new tactic to avoid the turrets. Instead of approaching directly from the rear, they would approach about 1500 ft below the plane. They would then pull up sharply and start firing when the nose of the bomber appeared in the gunsight. As their plane slowed and the bomber passed over them, the wing mounted fuel tanks were sprayed with fire. This maneuver was effective, but quite difficult to arrange and there was both a significant risk of collision and the exploding bomb-load taking down the night figher too.
Oberleutnant Rudolf Schönert decided to experiment with upward firing guns in 1941. The first installation was made late in 1942, in a Do 17Z-10 that was also equipped with Lichtenstein radar. Apparently the tests were not terribly successful, and the matter was dropped. Schönert nevertheless fitted his next aircraft, a Bf 110, with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons attached to the rear wall of the cockpit, and shot down a bomber with them in May 1943. That summer he took command of the II/NJG 5 night fighter unit, and received three Do 217J's for testing with his system.
Wide-scale adoption followed in late 1943, and in 1944 a third of all German nightfighters carried upward-firing guns. An increasing number of these installations used the more powerful 30 mm MK 108 cannon, such as those fitted to the He 219. The definitive night fighter version of the Me 262, the Me 262B-2, was also meant to carry such an installation, but none were built before the end of the war.
Similar systems were tested on day fighters as well, known as Sondergeräte and Jägerfaust. In these cases, the aim was to provide the fighters with a very powerful single-shot weapon, as opposed to one that allowed them to operate unseen.
An attack by a Schräge Musik equipped fighter was typically a complete surprise to the bomber crew, who would only realise a fighter was close by when one of the wings or engines would burst into flame. Had it not been for the ever-increasing abilities of the British anti-radar efforts and the introduction of newer aircraft designs, Schräge Musik would have seriously depleted RAF Bomber Commands forces.
Typical installations
- Do 217N: 4x 20 mm MG151/20
- Fw 189: 1x 20 mm MG151/20 (used mainly on eastern front)
- He 219: 2x 30 mm MK108
- Ju 88C/G: 2x 20 mm MG151/20
- Ju 388J: 2x30 mm MK108
- Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4: 2x 20 mm MG FF/M
- Me 262B-2: 2x 30 mm MK108
- Ta 154: 2x 30 mm MK108
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