Living History. The Story of B-17 "My Darling Also" by Darrel Besser.

This post is just a copy of email which one I received from Darrel Besser, after Cesar Winklemann text about Sonderkommando Elbe. Im very grateful for contacting us and telling this story.

"Hi Jarek, 

I am replying to you with a little family history that I have done over the past few years. It gets a little detailed, so please feel free to use any or all of the information provided.

Major Heinz-Gunter von Kornatski

 With the increased pressure caused by American bombing raids through late 1943 - early 1944, Major Heinz-Gunter von Kornatski, an associate of Adolph Galland, proposed a new method of attack by using specially armoured fighters. These were FW190A-8/R8's with additional steel plates (3-4) bolted to the fuselage around the cockpit and armored glass added to the windscreen as well as wing-mounted 30mm Mk-108 cannon. The method used was to get as close as possible to the rear of the bomber before opening fire and even as a last resort to deliberately ram the target. This was not seen as a suicide mission, but rather it was expected that a tough built fighter could cause sufficient damage to the relatively lightly built tail surface to bring down the bomber.