The Soviets used lend-leased A-20 Havocs and P-40 Tomahawks as well as Il-2 Shturmoviks (also used for air defence suppression). These were supported by heavily armed Royal Australian Air Force Bristol Beaufighters, which would suppress Japanese antiaircraft fire with their machine guns and cannon. Various aircraft types were used for skip-bombing attacks, including B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, and A-20 Havoc attack bombers. The Battle of the Bismarck Sea would demonstrate that this was the more successful of the two tactics. Practice missions were carried out against the SS Pruth, a liner that had run aground in 1923. The two techniques were not mutually exclusive: a bomber could drop two bombs, skipping the first and launching the second at mast height. They would release their bombs at around 300 yards (270 m), aiming directly at the side of the ship. Unlike " Upkeep" or " Highball", this technique used standard types, although only bombs with a round nose would bounce off the water surface properly.Ī similar technique was mast-height bombing, in which bombers would approach the target at low altitude, 200 to 500 feet (61 to 152 m), at about 265 to 275 miles per hour (426 to 443 km/h), and then drop down to mast height, 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) at about 600 yards (550 m) from the target. The bombs would "skip" over the surface of the water in a manner similar to stone skipping and either bounce into the side of the ship and detonate, submerge and explode next to the ship, or bounce over the target and miss. They would release a "stick" of two to four bombs, usually 500 lb (230 kg) or 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs preferably equipped with four- to five-second time delay fuses from the side of the target ship.
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