Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. [1] Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such as fast boats, using smaller-caliber weapons and targeting stationary or slowly-moving targets.[ citation needed ]
The word is an adaptation of German strafen (pronounced [ˈʃtʁaːfn̩] ⓘ ), to punish, specifically from the humorous adaptation of the German anti-British slogan Gott strafe England (May God punish England), dating back to World War I. [2] [3] [4]
Guns used in strafing range in caliber from 7.62–14.5 mm (0.300–0.571 in) machine guns, to 20–40 mm (0.79–1.57 in) autocannon or rotary cannon. Although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the last two. [5]
The term "strafing" can cover either fixed guns, or aimable (flexible) guns. Fixed guns firing directly ahead tend to be more predominant on fixed wing aircraft, while helicopters tend to use gimballed weapons which can be fired in many different directions independent of the direction the aircraft is pointing in (in most cases, flexible guns on a fixed wing aircraft are for defense purposes only, although they can sometimes be used to fire on ground targets to limited effect).
Some fixed wing aircraft, like fighter-bombers, are capable of flying either air-combat missions or ground attack missions (P-47 Thunderbolt), while others are dedicated ground-attack types (Il-2 Sturmovik). In cases where an aircraft is capable of both types of combat, when it is assigned to a ground attack role, and thus expected to be using the guns mostly for strafing, the fixed weapons are often mounted so that the convergence point is lower and at a greater range than would be used for air combat. This is helpful because it allows the pilot to aim at a target without having to dive towards the ground as steeply, decreasing the risk of collision with the ground and increasing the amount of firing time available before having to pull up, and it also increases the range from the target, helping avoid anti-aircraft fire and potential damage from exploding targets. Consequently, several types of aircraft-mounted gun pods like the Soviet SPPU-22 allowed for a mechanical depression of their barrels.
Because of the low altitude and relatively low airspeed required for accurate strafing, it is very risky for the pilot, who is exposed not only to the risk of flight-into-terrain and obstacles such as power lines, but also to anti-aircraft weapons, including surface-to-air missiles (both vehicle mounted and hand-held), anti-aircraft artillery and small caliber weapons fire (such as machine guns and small arms). Planes purposely designed for ground attack may include additional armour around and underneath the cockpit and other vulnerable areas such as engines to protect the pilot and key flight components, while aircraft designed mostly for air combat tend to have most of their armor placed to protect directly ahead or to the rear, where fire from other aircraft is most likely, leaving them more vulnerable to fire from directly below or to the sides, where much ground fire often comes from.
While the earliest use of military aircraft was for observation and directing of artillery, strafing was frequently practised in World War I. Trenches and supply columns were routinely attacked from the air in the second half of the war. Strafing with machine guns was used when precision was needed (facing small targets), but non-strafing attack methods (primarily small bombs) were preferred for larger targets, area targets, or when low-altitude flying was too risky.
The German army was the first to introduce a class of aircraft specially designed for strafing, the ground-attack aircraft. Planes built specifically for strafing include the German World War I Junkers J.I, which was armored to protect it from ground-based gunfire. The Junkers J.I. had two downward-facing machine guns that were used for strafing.
These developments continued through World War II with dedicated aircraft including the concept of the heavily protected cockpit or "bathtub" to permit the pilot to survive counterfire from anti-aircraft batteries.
The Luftwaffe's best strafing plane was the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. The Ju 87 G variant had two Rheinmetall-Borsig 37 mm (1.5 in) Flak 18 guns each mounted under the wing.
For the RAF, the best ground attack plane was the Hawker Hurricane II. It was armed with four 20 mm (0.79 in) wing-mounted cannon. [6] The Hawker Typhoon and its derivative Hawker Tempest were used in the later stages of the war. They also had four 20 mm (0.79 in) cannons, while also being able to carry up to 8 "60 lb" RP-3 rockets. [7]
For the US, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was one of the key ground attack planes. It was armed with eight .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns. Another aircraft that was important in that role was the North American B-25 Mitchell. It was used for low-altitude strafing runs in the Pacific War.
The Russian Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik was one of the key Russian ground attack planes. It had heavy armour around the engine, underside and canopy. It was armed with 20, 23, or 37 mm (0.79, 0.91, or 1.46 in) cannon, depending on the model. [8]
An RCAF Spitfire of 412 Squadron piloted by Charley Fox strafed the command car of Erwin Rommel on 17 July 1944 near Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery, affecting his possible participation in the 20 July 1944 Operation Valkyrie coup.
In the Korean War (1950–1953), US Air Force planes strafed targets deep behind the front line and had a perceptible impact on the progress of the ground war, but the concept of strafing was already in decline.
In the 1960s, when precision-guided weapons became widespread, strafing temporarily fell out of favor as unnecessarily risky and some American fighter aircraft or attack aircraft (such as the F-4 Phantom II and A-6 Intruder) then did not have built-in cannon or machine guns. In the Vietnam War, that was found to be a deficiency, and improvised "gunships" had to be used in strafing missions. Gunships like the AC-47 Spooky, AC-119 Specter, and early models of the AC-130 Spooky gunship proved to be devastating defenders of besieged US Special Forces camps.
The A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s which is the only United States Air Force aircraft designed solely for close air support of ground forces. The A-10 was built to attack tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets with limited air defenses, often through strafing.
The A-10 was designed around the GAU-8 Avenger, a 30 mm (1.2 in) rotary cannon, which is the airplane's primary armament and the heaviest such automatic cannon mounted on an aircraft. The A-10's airframe was designed for survivability, with measures such as 1,200 pounds (540 kg) of armor for protection of the cockpit and aircraft systems that enables the aircraft to continue flying after taking significant damage. The A-10's official name comes from the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt of World War II, a fighter that was particularly effective at close air support. The A-10 is the main US plane designed to do strafing runs.
Since 2001, Coalition pilots in Iraq and Afghanistan have used strafing runs to support ground forces in areas where explosive ordnance could cause unacceptable civilian casualties. Strafing runs done by F-16s are very risky for the pilot. The cities of Damascus and Aleppo were strafed by helicopter gunships in the Syrian civil war. [9] [10]
In 2004, the United States Air Force accidentally strafed one of its own country's middle schools while training in the strafing of the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School incident.
The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, navigation, and fire-control systems. Unlike other modern military fixed-wing aircraft, the AC-130 relies on visual targeting. Since its large profile and low operating altitudes around 7,000 feet make it an easy target, its close air support missions are usually flown at night.
The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in every theater of World War II, and after the war ended, many remained in service, operating across four decades. Produced in numerous variants, nearly 10,000 B-25s were built, It was the most-produced American medium bomber and the third most-produced American bomber overall. These included several limited models such as the F-10 reconnaissance aircraft, the AT-24 crew trainers, and the United States Marine Corps' PBJ-1 patrol bomber.
The Henschel Hs 129 was a World War II ground-attack aircraft fielded by the German Luftwaffe. The aircraft saw combat in Tunisia and on the Eastern Front.
An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pressing the attack. This class of aircraft is designed mostly for close air support and naval air-to-surface missions, overlapping the tactical bomber mission. Designs dedicated to non-naval roles are often known as ground-attack aircraft.
The Ilyushin Il-2 is a ground-attack plane that was produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War. The word shturmovík, the generic Russian term for a ground-attack aircraft, became a synecdoche for the Il-2 in English sources, where it is commonly rendered Shturmovik, Stormovik and Sturmovik.
An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bullets) fired by a machine gun. Autocannons have a longer effective range and greater terminal performance than machine guns, due to the use of larger/heavier munitions, but are usually smaller than tank guns, howitzers, field guns, or other artillery. When used on its own, the word "autocannon" typically indicates a non-rotary weapon with a single barrel. When multiple rotating barrels are involved, such a weapon is referred to as a "rotary autocannon" or occasionally "rotary cannon", for short.
A gunship is a military aircraft armed with heavy aircraft guns, primarily intended for attacking ground targets either as airstrike or as close air support.
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky was the first in a series of fixed-wing gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. It was designed to provide more firepower than light and medium ground-attack aircraft in certain situations when ground forces called for close air support.
The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the Soviet Air Force, and enabled individual Soviet pilots to score the highest number of kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type flown by any air force in any conflict. Other major users of the type included the Free French, the Royal Air Force, and the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force.
The Beechcraft XA-38 "Grizzly" was a World War II-era ground attack aircraft, developed by Beechcraft, but never put into production. The Grizzly was to have been fitted with a forward-firing 75 mm cannon to penetrate heavily armored targets.
In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of all forces involved. CAS may be conducted using aerial bombs, glide bombs, missiles, rockets, autocannons, machine guns, and even directed-energy weapons such as lasers.
A gun pod is a detachable pod or pack containing machine guns, autocannons, revolver cannons, or rotary cannons and ancillaries, mounted externally on a vehicle such as a military aircraft which may or may not also have its own guns.
A rotary cannon, rotary autocannon, rotary gun or Gatling cannon, is any large-caliber multiple-barreled automatic firearm that uses a Gatling-type rotating barrel assembly to deliver a sustained saturational direct fire at much greater rates of fire than single-barreled autocannons of the same caliber. The loading, firing and ejection functions are performed simultaneously in different barrels as the whole assembly rotates, and the rotation also permits the barrels some time to cool. The rotating barrels on nearly all modern Gatling-type guns are powered by an external force such as an electric motor, although internally powered gas-operated versions have also been developed.
The Vickers 40 mm Class S gun, also known simply as the Vickers S or S gun, was a 40 mm (1.57 in) airborne autocannon designed by Vickers-Armstrongs for use as aircraft armament.
A pylon turn is a flight maneuver in which an aircraft banks into a circular turn, in such a way that an imaginary line projecting straight out the side of the aircraft points to a fixed point on the ground. The maneuver originated early in the 20th century in air racing.
The Boeing GA-1 was an armored triplane. Designed in 1919, it was powered by a pair of modified Liberty engines driving pusher propellers. The first of the Engineering Division's heavily armored GAX series aircraft, the ponderous airplane was intended to strafe ground troops while remaining immune to attack from the ground as well as from other enemy aircraft. It was so well armored that its five-ton weight proved excessive.
The Ilyushin Il-20 was a Soviet prototype for a heavily armored ground-attack aircraft to replace the Ilyushin Il-10. It featured a number of innovative concepts including a cockpit mounted on top of the engine, directly behind the propeller, and wing-mounted autocannon that could be adjusted on the ground to fire level or depressed 23° to allow the aircraft to strafe ground targets while remaining in level flight. However it was slower than the Il-10, and its M-47 engine was problematic in flight tests in 1948–49. It was not placed into production. The test pilots called the aircraft the Gorbach (Hunchback).
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named after the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, but is commonly referred to as the "Warthog" or simply "Hog". The A-10 was designed to provide close air support (CAS) to friendly ground troops by attacking armored vehicles, tanks, and other enemy ground forces; it is the only production-built aircraft designed solely for CAS to have served with the U.S. Air Force. Its secondary mission is to direct other aircraft in attacks on ground targets, a role called forward air controller-airborne; aircraft used primarily in this role are designated OA-10.
Counter-insurgency aircraft or COIN aircraft are a specialized variety of military light attack aircraft, designed for counter-insurgency operations, armed reconnaissance, air escort of ground forces, and ground support against "low-intensity engagements"; usually irregular groups of insurgents armed with aircraft artillery and/or portable rockets.
In aerial gunnery, gun harmonisation, convergence pattern, convergence zone, convergence point or bore-sight point refers to the aiming of fixed guns or cannon carried in the wings of a fighter aircraft.
strafing — The delivery of automatic weapons fire by aircraft on ground targets.
