Dornier tail flamethrower
 

I was watching the National Geographic channel which was showing a programme about the guy who rammed a Dornier with his Hurricane because he thought it was heading for Buckingham Palace.

What interested me was what happened when he tried to attack another Dornier earlier in the battle- his cockpit window was sprayed with oil from an experimental flame-thrower installed in the Dornier's tail. Although the fuel failed to ignite by the time it had cleared from his window he was a good distance away from the battle- which is when he spotted the other aircraft on its way to the palace.

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

Funny. Never heard of flamethrowers mounted on planes before!

Any more info?

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

In the programme the pilot said he thought he could see smoke coming from the Dornier but it was in fact fuel that splattered all over his windscreen. Although the flamethrower didn't work it helped the Dornier escape as by the time the fuel had cleared from the Hurricane's screen the pilot has no idea where he was in relation to the battle.

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

I dont know about this, maybe another plane/AAA shot at the enemy plane, causing it to leak fuel/oil.

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

I don't know where I read this from, might have been Rudel's "Stuka Pilot" or Mike Spick's "Luftwaffe Fighter Aces", anyhow, the writer wrote that some IL-2 tailgunners adopted a tactic of throwing hand grenades at the following enemy planes trying to shoot them down.

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

I'm pretty sure someone posted a suggestion pertaining to having flamethrowers in the back of planes and he did post some proof, so they did exist in RL, but probably weren't used very often

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

They did exist, but they weren't used very much at all due to being highly ineffective.

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

Ju-88 with it.


Key word would be: experimental, one plane in only a few classes of planes were ever modified. I doubt it would be added.

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

Thank you, King Nothing. Appreciate it. :)

Re: Dornier tail flamethrower
 

Damn, those guys have an impressive tally going....