history · 07 April 1945 · 79 years ago
In a last ditch operation by the so-called Sonderkommando Elbe, set up by the fanatical Oberst Otto Köhnke, the pilots of 183 Fw 190 and Bf 109K aircraft flying to the strains of martial music played over the radio were ordered to deliberately ram American B-17 bombers. How many actually did so remained a mystery but 137 of the German aircraft were lost with the loss 70 pilots killed. Only eight US heavy bombers were brought down.
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