North Africa, Italy and Northern Europe low level attack images

Most of these images were taken from 'gun cameras' installed in the attacking aircraft. These aircraft were often travelling at 400mph only a few feet of the ground or water! Please excuse the quality of some of the images, I'm sure the pilots had other things on their minds than capturing a 'picture perfect' image!!

Photos courtesy of Ron Mackay, National Archives, NARS, USAF, Steve Hutton, Robert Krauss, 352nd FG Assn.


Click on a thumbnail to view the full size image

Picture #1 A Beaufighter looses it's rockets at a German naval vessel. Note the two other Beaufighters rolling away in the top left and right hand corners of the picture.


Picture #2 An RAF Beaufighter pilot 'walks' his 20mm cannon fire (center splashes) and his rockets towards a German escort vessel off the coast of Norway


Picture #3 Brazilian P47 Thunderbolts leave a German convoy blazing in Northern Italy, 1945.


Picture #4 German horse drawn artillery races to escape a low level Brazilian Airforce P47 strafer, after being caught on an open road.


Picture #5 P47's of 79th Ftr Grp attack a German motor convoy near the Brenner Pass and Verona in Northern Italy, 1945.


Picture #6 This 364th Ftr Grp P51 Mustang made it home despite this severe tail damage.


Picture #7 A six engined Me. 323 'Gigante' transport is going down off the coast of Corsica, after being jumped by B26 Marauders of 14 Squadron, RAF. This massive aircraft was the result of an idea to put engines on a Messerschmitt glider to try to improve the desperate shortage of German transport planes.


Picture #8 This 9th Air Force P47 pilot ran out of luck while attacking a storage building. An ammunition dump exploded and threw his aircraft 2000 feet into the air. A French couple buried him next to the wreckage of his plane and decorated the grave with a crude cross, flowers and .50 cal cartridges.


Picture #9 This Ju 290 transport is another victim of 14 Squadron, RAF, off the coast of Corsica.


Picture #10 Top Mustang ace, Major George E. Preddy, Jr. of 352nd Ftr Grp, was also a daring strafer. He is below the roof of the distant hanger while strafing a JU 88. The plane in the hanger at top left is an Arado 234 jet.

Picture #11 Major George E. Preddy Jr, was credited with over 26 air combat kills and 5 ground kills. Here a Heinkel 177 receives his unwanted attention. Major Preddy was mistakenly shot down and killed by a U.S. Army AA unit during his tree-top chase of a German fighter near Koblenz, Germany on Christmas Day 1944.


Picture #12 An FW190 is hit by 4th Ftr Grp P51 while trying to take off. Note that the attacking P51 is less than 20 feet of the ground!!


Picture #13 A Heinkel 111 takes hits from another 4th Ftr Grp P51 during an attack on a German airfield in Holland. Note again the extremely low angle of attack. It seems as if the P51 is on the ground taxiing towards the Heinkel!!


 Picture #14 In this picture a pair of freighters, Lynx and Tryirfjrd , are caught by RAF Mosquitoes in Askevold Fjord. The ship in the lead draws the attention of this 'Mossie'.


Picture #15 In this second picture, the gun camera of another 'Mossie' shows it's cannon strikes and inbound rockets on the same ship.


Picture #16 Lt. Benton Millar, 94th Ftr Sq, learnt the meaning of 'too low'. His P38 tangled with a Tunisian telephone pole while strafing, but despite the damage the P38 limped back to it's base in Algeria!


Picture #17 In the early days of the desert campaign, the RAF used lend-lease P40 'Tomahawks' such as this 112 Squadron P40 that crashlanded after a mission.


Picture #18 On 1st August, 1943, 177 B24 Liberators from 44th, 93rd, 98th, 376th and 389th Bomb Groups, carried out a (very) low level attack on the oil refinery at Ploesti in Eastern Rumania. 54 B24's and 530 U.S. airmen were lost were lost to flak, fighters, fuel limitations and mechanical problems. A staggering 31% of the force!


Picture #19 The giant B24's flew at less than 500 feet during the 2000 mile round trip Ploesti mission.


Picture #20 40% of the Ploesti refinery capacity was damaged for six months after the costly raid.


Picture #21 Royal Canadian Air Force Beaufighters of 404 Sqn, attack an armed ship in the Skagerrak Straits, Norway, on Oct 15 1944.


Picture #22 The 6100 ton flak ship and minesweeper, Speerbrecher 6, is racked by explosions during an attack by Beaufighters of 236 Sqn Royal Air Force, and 404 Sqn Royal Canadian Air Force.


Picture #23 Although the desert offered little cover from attacking aircraft, ground units such as this German tank crew often fought back with considerable success.


Picture #24 This RAF ground attack Hurricane has been downed by it's victim (perhaps the tank crew in picture #23),and has been well picked over by German souvenir hunters!


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