AmerikaBomber strikes New York

There seems to be a lot of anger and disbelief the Germans could get anywhere close to the USA but remember Pearl Harbor and 9/11 and I
think it's entirely possible the Germans could take the US by surprise
and affect one strike against the USA but it's clear the Germans don't
have the logistics to maintain further strikes.

I would doubt the timetable for the defeat of Germany for the War department would not be so impacted out of emotion to grossly affect timetables for war unless the Germans had a nuke or used Chemical weapons to kill thousands of people. I doubt the death of 43 women and 12 kids would cause such emotion.

The primary flaw with your arguement is that with both December 7th and September 9th the US was at peace. 1943 is in the middle of the Second World War. I would be a little surprised that such an attack by a single aircraft would be anywhere successful - not in bombing New York which is possible, but successfully completing the mission which would be to return to Germany.
 
Question: Radar capabilities on the E.Coast circa 1943? also for sake of argument any sources on precisely what USAAF assests would be stationed in said time frame? In any case unless these napkinwaffe are carrying an A-Bomb (which would require ASB Intervention) its nothing in the long run; in fact perhaps now that I think of it, perhaps this 'act of outrage by fascists, bla bla' might be good for hardening resolve or even end up causing more public anger towards the Axis. A Propaganda Coup
 
1. USAAF devotes more resources (B-29s) to burning Germany to the ground, Germany is ruined by end of 1944
2. As others have said, Yes. Very easily. 15-20 large, slow low-altitude bombers are target practice even for obsolete aircraft, which the US has in large numbers
3. A. No. Given what was already allocated to civil defense in the US at the time, the next (or even the first, if the air force is alert) air raid is wiped out, and the Luftwaffe is shown to be weak, in that they cannot strike at the US, while the US can bomb them at will.
___B. No, the war in Europe will be over 4-6 months sooner, as the Germans get to feel the full weight of American industrial and military might. The war in the pacific lasts until late 1945, then Japan gets nuked anyways.

B-29s were just being delivered to squadrons in July 1943. I wonder if the snags were worked out by then.
Still, even a failed attempt to bomb America will shake morale.
 

burmafrd

Banned
Late 1943 is not EARLY war.

It would have just made us madder and want to destroy Germany just the way Pearl Harbor made us want to destroy Japan.

Remember that many war time decisions are made for political purposes as well- if the outcry and anger reached a big enough point then there could be more resources allocated to Germany= but we were already on the Germany first train, and most of the effort was indeed earmarked for the ETO so it is really doubtfull more could be done. By the way, the first operational B-29 squadron I do believe was activated in December 1943.
 

Markus

Banned
This is early world war 2. America was paranoid as hell about German and Japanese planes.

Indeed oin Dec 7th, 1941 american AA-gunners actually saw airplanes with swastikas on their wings participating in the attack. At least that´s what they told, when the attack was over.
 
I think the US did what it could during the war, if a small air raid or two occured in NYC I don't think it would or could change US war aims, production scedules or invasion planning much. It would just annoy millions of Americans and harden their resolve, not that they like everyone else weren't keen to finish this war once and for all.

It's not like the situation in Germany, where bombing perverted production priorities etc, they had to withstand heavy bombing for 3-4 years, even the Brits copped it for close to a year.
 

hammo1j

Donor
Thank you for your responses.

Yes, the Ju390 would have been a better plane since it actually flew and may have carried out the mission.

Obviously the raids are to be of little more than a nuisance to the US and the raiders will face a suicide mission once the US authorities become alerted. OTH I think that, given the will, the Luftwaffe could have inflicted minor damage on US cities. The concept is meant to be similar to the Dootlittle raid in that it relies on surprise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_raid

The article mentions that the US had a big boost in morale so might not the bombed citizens of the Reich get a similar filup.

One consequence that might be possible is that the USAAF abandons precision daylight bombing and joins the night time area bombing campaign of the RAF since opinion at home is no longer against raids against civilians.

The precedent is there since at the height of the BoB the Luftwaffe switched away from the successful tactic of bombing the RAF airfields to a night time blitz of UK cities after RAF Bomber command sent a few Wellingtons to attack Berlin.

This would have a major bearing on the conduct of the War - whether it would be in the Allies' favour I am not sure.

As an aside anyone know how to get rid of that thumbs down - have I been red carded or something? It is not meant to express my own opinion of what others have said :)

It does not look like you can edit it out.
 
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Did the US have fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns protecting the East Coast? Or was an air raid considered so remote that there were no defenses?
 
Did the US have fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns protecting the East Coast? Or was an air raid considered so remote that there were no defenses?

Yes. There was an integrated network of radars and anti-aircraft guns defending all US cities including those well-inland. These included both 3-inch and 90mm anti-aircraft guns. In fact, so many 90mm guns were allocated to this role that they seriously limited the number of 90mm anti-tank guns available to the Army. The fighter groups up and down the coats served the dual role of training and defense units.

As to the alleged Ju-390 flight, this has been conclusively disproven - the Ju-390s were elsewhere atr the time it was alleged to have happened. It traces back to a single PoW story that never had any support and was never taken seriously.

The following is quoted from Wikipedia.

New York flight
William Green notes that, in June 1944, Allied Intelligence learnt from prisoner interrogations that a Ju 390 had been delivered in January 1944 to FAGr 5 (Fernaufklarungsgruppe 5), based at Mont-de-Marsan near Bordeaux, and that it had completed a 32-hour reconnaissance flight to within 12 miles (19 km) of the US coast, north of New York City.[6][7] This was, however, rejected just after the war by British authorities.[8]

The first public mention of the alleged flight occurred in the November 11 1955 issue of the British magazine RAF Flying Review. The editors of the magazine were sceptical of the claim, which claimed that two Ju 390s had made the flight, and in March 1956 they published a letter from a reader which claimed to clarify the account. This letter stated that one aircraft had made the flight and that it had reached a point about 12 miles (19 km) miles off the US east coast, just north of NYC. According to aviation historian Dr. Kenneth P. Werrell, the story of the flight originated in two British intelligence reports from August 1944. Based in part on the interrogation of prisoners, and titled General Report on Aircraft Engines and Aircraft Equipment, the reports claimed that the Ju 390 had taken photographs of the coast of Long Island. These photos have never been discovered.[2]
The claimed flight was mentioned in many books following the RAF Flying Review account, including William Green's respected Warplanes of the Second World War (1968) and Warplanes of the Third Reich (1970) but without ever citing reliable sources. Further authors then cited Green's books as their source for the claimed flight. Green himself told Werrell many years later that he no longer placed much credence in the flight.[2]

Kenneth P. Werrell later went on to examine the available details regarding the Ju 390's range and concluded that although a great circle round trip from France to St. Johns, Newfoundland was possible, adding another 2,380 miles (3,830 km) for a round trip from St. Johns to Long Island made the flight "most unlikely".[9]

Karl Kössler and Günter Ott, in their book Die großen Dessauer: Junkers Ju 89, 90, 290, 390. Die Geschichte einer Flugzeugfamilie ("The Big Ones from Dessau...History of an Aircraft Family"), also examined the claimed flight, and thoroughly debunked the flight to Long Island. Most importantly, it was nowhere near France at the time when the flight was supposed to have taken place. According to Hans Pancherz' logbook, the Ju 390 V1 was brought to Prague on November 26, 1943. While there, it took part in a number of test flights, which continued until late March, 1944. Secondly, they also pointed out that the Ju 390 V1 was unlikely to have been capable of taking off with the fuel load necessary for a flight of such duration (unless assisted by rockets on take off - a fairly standard Luftwaffe procedure), which could have required a takeoff weight of 72 tons, while the maximum takeoff weight during its trials had been 38 tons. According to Kössler and Ott, the Ju 390 V2 could not have made the US flight either, since they indicate that it was not completed before September/October 1944.[4]

As to the prospect of an Amerikabomber raid on New York actually succeeding, its ridiculous. The lumbering bombers would have been shot out of the sky long before they ever got in sight of the target. Even the medium bombers on the East Coast would have been having a field day, up to and including B-25G Mitchells with 75mm guns in their nose.

Another thing, plot the Great Circle route and it takes the aircraft almost directly over Halifax, the largest naval base in the North Atlantic. The whole idea is absurdly impossible,
 
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OK, while I agree with posters who say the whole idea is almost poppycock based on OTL developments, is there a way to imagine a fairly recent PoD which would allow Germany to mount a fairly substantial air raid on New York or someplace else on the eastern US seaboard by 1943, in a WW2 which was basically similar to the one in our TL. To do this you have to go back well before the war...and forget planes like the Me-264 and Fw-300.

I offer this:

Shortly after Hitler's assumption of power, the German air ministry was seriously pursuing 4-engine long-range strategic bombers ("Ural Bombers") as a high priority, resulting in two prototypes, the Do-19 and Ju-89. Shortly after the first prototypes flew, the main supporter of the strategic bomber, General Walther Wever, died, and all Luftwaffe focus went to medium bombers and ground support aircraft. The Ju-89 and Do-17 were cancelled. The followup "Bomber A" heavy bomber program was a fairly low priority and, because the RLM demanded high maneuverability and dive-bombing ability, the resulting He-177 was a failure and Germany never has an meaningful long- range bomber force. But what if Wever had not died, and the development of larger and ever more capable strategic bombers remained at the core of German aviation strategy?

February, 1937, the Ju-89 is selected over the Do-19 and an initial production run of 200 machines is ordered, the first entering service with KG15 in October 1937. At the same time, attempting to ensure Germany remains in the forefront of the field, the RLM issues a request for proposals from Junkers, Dornier, and Heinkel for a new follow on 4-engine heavy bomber which must be capable of expansion to a larger 6-engined bomber by the fairly simple expedient of adding fuselage bays and wing sections. Even this early, the RLM was envisioning a possible war with the USA and wanted to have a plane capable of at least one-way strikes on US territory from bases in Europe, resulting in the secret and unofficial term "Amerikabomber" for the program.

October 1939, the first of the "Amerikabomber" prototypes, the Ju-189, flies, followed by the Dornier Do-217, and the Heinkel He-222. After exhaustive tests, the Do-217 is selected for production, with the Ju-189 accepted as a backup.

May, 1940, the first production Do-217A enters service. The Do-217 is a high wing, deep bodied plane, powered by 4 BMW-139 radial engines. The bomber looks, in fact, like a flying boat, which is not surprising because it was closely based on a prewar transatlantic flying boat design, which also reaches production as the Do-217B. The Do-217 is thus unique, in that throughout its service life, it was produced in both landplane and flying boat variants, the two finally being merged in the Do-217E of 1942.

Both the aging Ju-89 and a few squadrons of the new Do-217 serve during the Battle of Britain. The Ju-189 never entered service. The brunt of the offensive is born by 1000's of Ju-89's, supplemented by He-111 medium bombers. Although the Ju-89 is capable of bombing targets anywhere on the British Isles, its extremely slow speed and limited defensive armament render it completely helpless outside the much more limited range of the Luftwaffe's Bf-109 and He-112 fighters. The few Do217's committed to the Battle do quite well, being faster then either other German bomber and having an effective defensive armament of 10 heavy machine guns and 20 mm cannon in power-operated turrets.

February, 1942. The US finally enters the war and the RLM realizes that the basic Do-217 lacks the endurance to reach North America and return, and - even on a one-way trip - the offensive load would be very limited. At RLM request, Dornier offers two alternative designs for a true transatlantic bomber: (1) the Do-317, a very advanced pressurized 6-engined bomber based only loosely on the the landplane Do-217D, and (2) the Do-217Z, a Zwilling, or twin, version of the basic Do-217E amphibious floatplane bomber just being introduced in prototype form. The RLM accepts the Do217Z, citing the success of Heinkel's similar He-111Z glider tug, and the fact design and construction of the Do-217Z would be simplified due to its commonality with the production Do-217E. The RLM also found merit in the Do-217Z's amphibious capability - it was essentially a floatplane and could land in emergency in sheltered waters - a capability which formed the basis of the audacious plans which followed.

November, 1942. The first Do-217Z takes to the air in floatplane form, and Hitler declares the project his "Vengeance Weapon 1" or V1. The program receives highest priority for production and deployment. The Do-217Z is a 6-engined plane combining two complete Do-217E fuselages, mated together by a completely new nacelle where the outside 4th engine of each plane would be, this nacelle carrying two engines and a small internal weapons bay to supplement the external hard points under the wings and other engine nacelles. With a wingspan approaching 200 feet, the Do-217Z is the largest airplane built in Germany. The plane is a poor performer, with a service ceiling of little more than 15,000 feet, a maximum speed barely over 200 mph, and a negligible defensive armament. Virtually everything has been sacrificed to obtain the greatest possible range, and with its deep fuselages filled with temporary fuel tanks to supplement the standard wing tanks, it is calculated the plane can easily reach targets throughout northern and eastern north America. At such ranges its bomb load is quite limited, but bombs are bombs, and Hitler is demanding some be dropped on the US by the end of 1943 or heads will roll!

August, 1943.
Only 31 Do-217Zs, out of the total production order of 250 have been completed, and have been delivered to the Luftwaffe "Horst Wessel Vengeance Weapon 1 base" in an isolated Norwegian fiord. They have been effectively hidden from RAF aerial recon by camouflage netting...and the existence of the Do-217Z is completely unknown to Allied intelligence. Otto Skorzeny, the famous SS officer, has been placed in charge of the overall operation.

August 25, 1943.
The raid commences. Skorzeny's plan is to fly his entire force of 31 Do-217Z's in groups of twos and threes on a high polar route over northern Greenland and the largely unpopulated Canadian Northwest Territories and attempt a water-borne rendezvous near the northern Coast of Ontario on Hudson Bay. At Hitler's express orders, the ultimate target is New York City, hated symbol of American capitalism, racial impurity, and world Jewry. Being a realist, Skorzeny modifies those orders to allow planes to attack any target of opportunity along the way, should they be discovered or have mechanical problems. The final run to New York from Hudson Bay is scheduled so that as much of the flight as possible will occur at night, and each plane's radioman is a fluent english speaker to hopefully help confuse any Canadian or US traffic controllers should the planes be discovered by radar before they reach strategic targets. Skorzeny's plan is based on the hope that US and Canadian radars and air defenses will deployed to watch for attacks from the Atlantic, not a squadron of lumbering heavy bombers coming in from the northwest over some of the most densely occupied areas of the US Midwest. Although he tells no one, Skorzeny is not hopeful that any men on this mission will make it home...death or, at best, prison will await them. His only hope is he will make the Americans pay.

The raid begins inauspiciously, as one Do-217Z suffers a catastrophic structural failure on takeoff, the twin planes separating at the central nacelle and both crashing into the water and exploding. The rear engine in the central nacelle of another plane catches fire and its crew is ordered to return to base.

Flying in the allotted small formations, the remaining Do-217Z's fly over the frigid arctic wastes and begin arriving undetected at the rendezvous point on Hudson Bay during the early morning hours of August, 26. Skorzeny is pleased to see that the sea is smooth as glass and there is no sea ice to worry about in the planned landing zone. Nonetheless, one Do-217Z suffers an engine failure on the outside starboard engine while touching down, the pilot overcompensates driving the port wingtip into the water, and his huge bomber flips over and disintegrates into the icy sea, its entire crew dying of hypothermia as their mates watch. So, even before seeing any enemy action, the strike force is down to 27 planes.

August 26. Skorzeny's force begins its final leg at dusk. All 27 planes make it off the sea and claw toward their operating ceiling of 13,000 feet, crossing the Ontario coast near the mouth of the Severn River. They are flying in a very loose formation, with each plane separated by several miles. As Skorzeny hoped, the raiders are able to reach the north coast of Lake Superior without being spotted or challenged. The planes then fly southeast over the Great Lakes on a course intended to minimize overland flight, crossing only the tip of the Michigan northern peninsula. From here on out, Skorzeny knows things will get extremely tricky once he has to proceed overland. Not only will he now be in a densely populated area, daybreak will occur shortly after he crosses Lake Eire and enters the US near the Pennslyvania-New York border.

Yet his luck holds. Amazingly, all 27 planes make it over southern Ontario unchallenged, and as he crosses into the US, it is beginning to look like the Americans really have not considered the potential of any air raids from Canada!

As the sun rises, showing a low overcast covering the western Pennsylvania hills, Skorzeney's spirits rise even further. As long as the ground-level visibility remains poor, he only has to worry about radar contacts or encountering another plane. He begins to think his mission may actually succeed and at least a few of his men may get home, one way or, another.

Near Scranton, however, things suddenly go terribly wrong. Rear engines on the central nacelles of two lumbering Do-217Z's overheat and catch fire. One plane tumbles out of the sky as the burning nacelle holding the two twin components together disintegrates; the other is able to extinguish the fire, but on only five engines, the heavily loaded Do-217Z gradually loses altitude and disappears into the cloud layer 5000 feet below. Skorzeny winces. "Damn," he mutters, "Americans may be mongrel fools, but even an ape will see those planes when they hit the ground." Knowing the element of surprise will soon be lost, Skorzeny orders 20 of his planes to disperse and seek out one or more of the pre-planned secondary targets identified in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. He splits the remaining 5 planes into two groups, one containing two planes which will head toward Washington and three under his command will head toward New York. Hopefully, this tactic will confuse the Americans as they pursue the scattering attackers and at least somebody will get through. Unfortunately for Skorzeny, the low overcast which helped him earlier is now a hindrance. Flying at 13,000 feet, his pilots cannot see any landmarks and are essentially trying to find their way blind. Skorzeny only hopes the low fog and clouds dissipate as the summer sun rises so they can find their targets.

Fifteen minutes later, the Germans in Skorzeny's flight see their first American planes - a loose gaggle of three P-40's and what looks to be several P-38's breaking through the cloud cover below them and several miles behind. His only chance is to dive the huge bombers to the clouds himself and hope that he can reach them before the fighters do.

Thus began the only successful German air attack on the US during the Second World War. Of Skorzeny's remaining force of 25 Do-217Z, six were shot down by fighters before they could find good targets of opportunity, and one was destroyed by 90mm AA fire as it attempted to bomb a US Steel complex near Allentown, Pennsylvania. Two planes successfully bombed a railyard in Reading, Pennsylvania, causing several hundred thousand dollars worth of damage and killing 25 people, all civilians. The planes then crash-landed nearby and all survivors were taken prisoner. Three made it to Philadelphia where they dropped their bombs over the central downtown district, causing substantial damage to several downtown buildings, killing 76 people, and narrowly missing Independence Hall, which may have been their intended secondary target. All three planes were shot down by AA and, with the exception of a few lucky crewmen who bailed out and avoided being lynched, all perished. Another thee bombers crossed into New Jersey and were shot down by AA as they attempted to bomb dock facilities along the Hudson River in Newark. Five more planes were intercepted and shot down by fighters at various locations in eastern Pennsylvania as they were looking for targets of opportunity. The group Skorzeny sent toward Washington never made it, falling to concentrated AA fire as the crossed the Maryland border into the District of Columbia. It remained for Skorzeny to strike the final blow. Bouncing in and out of the low cloud cover, his three planes finally emerged over the Hudson River near midtown Manhattan. Rather than fly low and fast over the city and randomly drop their minuscule bomb loads with little real effect, and knowing that the possibility of making it back across the Atlantic to France alive was virtually impossible, Skorzeny ordered his three planes to pick the most visible landmarks they could see and try to ram them, regardless of whether or not the crews could bail out. One plane set its course toward the lower end docks, which were jammed with troopships, converted liners, and a few destroyers. Although hit by AA, the flaming plane struck a docked troopship amidships, its flaming fuel and bombs igniting a massive fire and killing as many as 1,500 military personnel and 150 civilian dockworkers. The remaining two planes headed toward the Empire State Building. Flak had become very intense, setting both planes ablaze. However, both were able to strike the target, and after their crews had successfully bailed out, including Skorzeny. The first plane was disintegrating as it clipped the building at approximately the 75th floor, causing negligible damage to the structure but sending flaming debris into the cleared streets below. Skorzeny's crippled plane plowed directly into the building near the base of the mooring tower. In the resulting explosion and fire, the tower and at least ten uppermost storys of the building were totally destroyed, but thanks to effective civil defense measures, the building had been vacated and there were no casualties. A number of Luftwaffe crewmen were killed as they parachuted down into the sides of buildings and other obstructions, six others were mobbed and killed by an angry crowd before the NYPD or National Guard could arrive. All told, Skorzeny and 12 other crewmen assigned to this mission survived. The enlisted Luftwaffe personnel spend the rest of the war in a POW camp. Skorzeny and 3 other SS officers were tried by a military tribunal, convicted of violating the rules of war, and executed on December 7, 1943.
 
OK, while I agree with posters who say the whole idea is almost poppycock based on OTL developments, is there a way to imagine a fairly recent PoD which would allow Germany to mount a fairly substantial air raid on New York or someplace else on the eastern US seaboard by 1943, in a WW2 which was basically similar to the one in our TL. To do this you have to go back well before the war...and forget planes like the Me-264 and Fw-300.

I offer this:

Shortly after Hitler's assumption of power, the German air ministry was seriously pursuing 4-engine long-range strategic bombers ("Ural Bombers") as a high priority, resulting in two prototypes, the Do-19 and Ju-89. Shortly after the first prototypes flew, the main supporter of the strategic bomber, General Walther Wever, died, and all Luftwaffe focus went to medium bombers and ground support aircraft. The Ju-89 and Do-17 were cancelled. The followup "Bomber A" heavy bomber program was a fairly low priority and, because the RLM demanded high maneuverability and dive-bombing ability, the resulting He-177 was a failure and Germany never has an meaningful long- range bomber force. But what if Wever had not died, and the development of larger and ever more capable strategic bombers remained at the core of German aviation strategy?

February, 1937, the Ju-89 is selected over the Do-19 and an initial production run of 200 machines is ordered, the first entering service with KG15 in October 1937. At the same time, attempting to ensure Germany remains in the forefront of the field, the RLM issues a request for proposals from Junkers, Dornier, and Heinkel for a new follow on 4-engine heavy bomber which must be capable of expansion to a larger 6-engined bomber by the fairly simple expedient of adding fuselage bays and wing sections. Even this early, the RLM was envisioning a possible war with the USA and wanted to have a plane capable of at least one-way strikes on US territory from bases in Europe, resulting in the secret and unofficial term "Amerikabomber" for the program.

October 1939, the first of the "Amerikabomber" prototypes, the Ju-189, flies, followed by the Dornier Do-217, and the Heinkel He-222. After exhaustive tests, the Do-217 is selected for production, with the Ju-189 accepted as a backup.

May, 1940, the first production Do-217A enters service. The Do-217 is a high wing, deep bodied plane, powered by 4 BMW-139 radial engines. The bomber looks, in fact, like a flying boat, which is not surprising because it was closely based on a prewar transatlantic flying boat design, which also reaches production as the Do-217B. The Do-217 is thus unique, in that throughout its service life, it was produced in both landplane and flying boat variants, the two finally being merged in the Do-217E of 1942.

Both the aging Ju-89 and a few squadrons of the new Do-217 serve during the Battle of Britain. The Ju-189 never entered service. The brunt of the offensive is born by 1000's of Ju-89's, supplemented by He-111 medium bombers. Although the Ju-89 is capable of bombing targets anywhere on the British Isles, its extremely slow speed and limited defensive armament render it completely helpless outside the much more limited range of the Luftwaffe's Bf-109 and He-112 fighters. The few Do217's committed to the Battle do quite well, being faster then either other German bomber and having an effective defensive armament of 10 heavy machine guns and 20 mm cannon in power-operated turrets.

February, 1942. The US finally enters the war and the RLM realizes that the basic Do-217 lacks the endurance to reach North America and return, and - even on a one-way trip - the offensive load would be very limited. At RLM request, Dornier offers two alternative designs for a true transatlantic bomber: (1) the Do-317, a very advanced pressurized 6-engined bomber based only loosely on the the landplane Do-217D, and (2) the Do-217Z, a Zwilling, or twin, version of the basic Do-217E amphibious floatplane bomber just being introduced in prototype form. The RLM accepts the Do217Z, citing the success of Heinkel's similar He-111Z glider tug, and the fact design and construction of the Do-217Z would be simplified due to its commonality with the production Do-217E. The RLM also found merit in the Do-217Z's amphibious capability - it was essentially a floatplane and could land in emergency in sheltered waters - a capability which formed the basis of the audacious plans which followed.

November, 1942. The first Do-217Z takes to the air in floatplane form, and Hitler declares the project his "Vengeance Weapon 1" or V1. The program receives highest priority for production and deployment. The Do-217Z is a 6-engined plane combining two complete Do-217E fuselages, mated together by a completely new nacelle where the outside 4th engine of each plane would be, this nacelle carrying two engines and a small internal weapons bay to supplement the external hard points under the wings and other engine nacelles. With a wingspan approaching 200 feet, the Do-217Z is the largest airplane built in Germany. The plane is a poor performer, with a service ceiling of little more than 15,000 feet, a maximum speed barely over 200 mph, and a negligible defensive armament. Virtually everything has been sacrificed to obtain the greatest possible range, and with its deep fuselages filled with temporary fuel tanks to supplement the standard wing tanks, it is calculated the plane can easily reach targets throughout northern and eastern north America. At such ranges its bomb load is quite limited, but bombs are bombs, and Hitler is demanding some be dropped on the US by the end of 1943 or heads will roll!

August, 1943.
Only 31 Do-217Zs, out of the total production order of 250 have been completed, and have been delivered to the Luftwaffe "Horst Wessel Vengeance Weapon 1 base" in an isolated Norwegian fiord. They have been effectively hidden from RAF aerial recon by camouflage netting...and the existence of the Do-217Z is completely unknown to Allied intelligence. Otto Skorzeny, the famous SS officer, has been placed in charge of the overall operation.

August 25, 1943.
The raid commences. Skorzeny's plan is to fly his entire force of 31 Do-217Z's in groups of twos and threes on a high polar route over northern Greenland and the largely unpopulated Canadian Northwest Territories and attempt a water-borne rendezvous near the northern Coast of Ontario on Hudson Bay. At Hitler's express orders, the ultimate target is New York City, hated symbol of American capitalism, racial impurity, and world Jewry. Being a realist, Skorzeny modifies those orders to allow planes to attack any target of opportunity along the way, should they be discovered or have mechanical problems. The final run to New York from Hudson Bay is scheduled so that as much of the flight as possible will occur at night, and each plane's radioman is a fluent english speaker to hopefully help confuse any Canadian or US traffic controllers should the planes be discovered by radar before they reach strategic targets. Skorzeny's plan is based on the hope that US and Canadian radars and air defenses will deployed to watch for attacks from the Atlantic, not a squadron of lumbering heavy bombers coming in from the northwest over some of the most densely occupied areas of the US Midwest. Although he tells no one, Skorzeny is not hopeful that any men on this mission will make it home...death or, at best, prison will await them. His only hope is he will make the Americans pay.

The raid begins inauspiciously, as one Do-217Z suffers a catastrophic structural failure on takeoff, the twin planes separating at the central nacelle and both crashing into the water and exploding. The rear engine in the central nacelle of another plane catches fire and its crew is ordered to return to base.

Flying in the allotted small formations, the remaining Do-217Z's fly over the frigid arctic wastes and begin arriving undetected at the rendezvous point on Hudson Bay during the early morning hours of August, 26. Skorzeny is pleased to see that the sea is smooth as glass and there is no sea ice to worry about in the planned landing zone. Nonetheless, one Do-217Z suffers an engine failure on the outside starboard engine while touching down, the pilot overcompensates driving the port wingtip into the water, and his huge bomber flips over and disintegrates into the icy sea, its entire crew dying of hypothermia as their mates watch. So, even before seeing any enemy action, the strike force is down to 27 planes.

August 26. Skorzeny's force begins its final leg at dusk. All 27 planes make it off the sea and claw toward their operating ceiling of 13,000 feet, crossing the Ontario coast near the mouth of the Severn River. They are flying in a very loose formation, with each plane separated by several miles. As Skorzeny hoped, the raiders are able to reach the north coast of Lake Superior without being spotted or challenged. The planes then fly southeast over the Great Lakes on a course intended to minimize overland flight, crossing only the tip of the Michigan northern peninsula. From here on out, Skorzeny knows things will get extremely tricky once he has to proceed overland. Not only will he now be in a densely populated area, daybreak will occur shortly after he crosses Lake Eire and enters the US near the Pennslyvania-New York border.

Yet his luck holds. Amazingly, all 27 planes make it over southern Ontario unchallenged, and as he crosses into the US, it is beginning to look like the Americans really have not considered the potential of any air raids from Canada!

As the sun rises, showing a low overcast covering the western Pennsylvania hills, Skorzeney's spirits rise even further. As long as the ground-level visibility remains poor, he only has to worry about radar contacts or encountering another plane. He begins to think his mission may actually succeed and at least a few of his men may get home, one way or, another.

Near Scranton, however, things suddenly go terribly wrong. Rear engines on the central nacelles of two lumbering Do-217Z's overheat and catch fire. One plane tumbles out of the sky as the burning nacelle holding the two twin components together disintegrates; the other is able to extinguish the fire, but on only five engines, the heavily loaded Do-217Z gradually loses altitude and disappears into the cloud layer 5000 feet below. Skorzeny winces. "Damn," he mutters, "Americans may be mongrel fools, but even an ape will see those planes when they hit the ground." Knowing the element of surprise will soon be lost, Skorzeny orders 20 of his planes to disperse and seek out one or more of the pre-planned secondary targets identified in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. He splits the remaining 5 planes into two groups, one containing two planes which will head toward Washington and three under his command will head toward New York. Hopefully, this tactic will confuse the Americans as they pursue the scattering attackers and at least somebody will get through. Unfortunately for Skorzeny, the low overcast which helped him earlier is now a hindrance. Flying at 13,000 feet, his pilots cannot see any landmarks and are essentially trying to find their way blind. Skorzeny only hopes the low fog and clouds dissipate as the summer sun rises so they can find their targets.

Fifteen minutes later, the Germans in Skorzeny's flight see their first American planes - a loose gaggle of three P-40's and what looks to be several P-38's breaking through the cloud cover below them and several miles behind. His only chance is to dive the huge bombers to the clouds himself and hope that he can reach them before the fighters do.

Thus began the only successful German air attack on the US during the Second World War. Of Skorzeny's remaining force of 25 Do-217Z, six were shot down by fighters before they could find good targets of opportunity, and one was destroyed by 90mm AA fire as it attempted to bomb a US Steel complex near Allentown, Pennsylvania. Two planes successfully bombed a railyard in Reading, Pennsylvania, causing several hundred thousand dollars worth of damage and killing 25 people, all civilians. The planes then crash-landed nearby and all survivors were taken prisoner. Three made it to Philadelphia where they dropped their bombs over the central downtown district, causing substantial damage to several downtown buildings, killing 76 people, and narrowly missing Independence Hall, which may have been their intended secondary target. All three planes were shot down by AA and, with the exception of a few lucky crewmen who bailed out and avoided being lynched, all perished. Another thee bombers crossed into New Jersey and were shot down by AA as they attempted to bomb dock facilities along the Hudson River in Newark. Five more planes were intercepted and shot down by fighters at various locations in eastern Pennsylvania as they were looking for targets of opportunity. The group Skorzeny sent toward Washington never made it, falling to concentrated AA fire as the crossed the Maryland border into the District of Columbia. It remained for Skorzeny to strike the final blow. Bouncing in and out of the low cloud cover, his three planes finally emerged over the Hudson River near midtown Manhattan. Rather than fly low and fast over the city and randomly drop their minuscule bomb loads with little real effect, and knowing that the possibility of making it back across the Atlantic to France alive was virtually impossible, Skorzeny ordered his three planes to pick the most visible landmarks they could see and try to ram them, regardless of whether or not the crews could bail out. One plane set its course toward the lower end docks, which were jammed with troopships, converted liners, and a few destroyers. Although hit by AA, the flaming plane struck a docked troopship amidships, its flaming fuel and bombs igniting a massive fire and killing as many as 1,500 military personnel and 150 civilian dockworkers. The remaining two planes headed toward the Empire State Building. Flak had become very intense, setting both planes ablaze. However, both were able to strike the target, and after their crews had successfully bailed out, including Skorzeny. The first plane was disintegrating as it clipped the building at approximately the 75th floor, causing negligible damage to the structure but sending flaming debris into the cleared streets below. Skorzeny's crippled plane plowed directly into the building near the base of the mooring tower. In the resulting explosion and fire, the tower and at least ten uppermost storys of the building were totally destroyed, but thanks to effective civil defense measures, the building had been vacated and there were no casualties. A number of Luftwaffe crewmen were killed as they parachuted down into the sides of buildings and other obstructions, six others were mobbed and killed by an angry crowd before the NYPD or National Guard could arrive. All told, Skorzeny and 12 other crewmen assigned to this mission survived. The enlisted Luftwaffe personnel spend the rest of the war in a POW camp. Skorzeny and 3 other SS officers were tried by a military tribunal, convicted of violating the rules of war, and executed on December 7, 1943.


The empire state building would have survived a bomber hitting it. A bomber did hit it during world war 2 and caused little or no structural damage. The 911 hijackers considered hitting the empire state building but decided against it because of its toughness.
 

CalBear

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....

I offer this:

...

A fun read, extremely impractical and somewhat unrealistic regarding the damage inflicted on the Empire State building but fun.

I can not see the U.S executing the officers commanding the mission. Not only would it violate the Geneva Accords, it would have exposed thousands of allied flyers to the same fate.

As far as the damage to the structures...


A bit of back of the envelope figuring:

The proposed design of the Do-217 is close to that of the Japanese H8K "Emily" flying boat. That design maxed out at 30,000 kg (66K pounds) fully loaded "wet" (17,000 kg empty). Adding an additional 40% to the empty weight as a reasonable baseline (accounting for the double fuselage, two extra engines and wing spurs) puts the airframe at an empty weight of 24,000 kg, leaving 9,500 KG for fuel, weapons, etc. (max takeoff load with the specified engines is 33,500 kg). That makes a max of 28,000 kg (assuming half the alloted fuel is gone, if it is a one way trip, the aircraft will be much lighter since most fuel would be gone) traveling at 320 kph/200 MPH to impact the Empire State Building.

The 757 that hit the Towers on 9/11 tipped the scales at 123,500 kg (272,000 pounds) with a speed close to 870 kph/540 MPH, with the 767 weighing slightly more (but at a very similar speed) on that dreadful day. Even with the massive difference in kinetic energy (four times the weight moving 2.5 times as fast) between the real 9/11 crashes and the proposed one discussed here, both towers survived the mechanical damage inflicted with the agent of destruction being the exceptionally hot fire stoked by several thousand gallons of jet fuel. Had the same collision befallen the Empire State or Chrysler buildings, they would have survived thanks to their poured reinforced concrete exoskelton.

A 320 kph, 28,000 kg object isn't going to scalp the structure.
 
Calbear,

It was a fun write. Yes, impractical, but what is AH about, really?

Regarding the executions, the zealous Army prosecutor successfully made the case that, because the attackers intended to use English-speaking radiomen to mask their true nationality and purpose if challenged by air fraffic controllers, they were in violation of the rules of war and deserved to be treated as spies, not regular combat troops protected by the Geneva convention. It was believed that by executing only the surviving officers (ie: those who had authority to make decisions) there would not be widespread reprisals against US POWs by the Germans.

Regarding damage to the Empire State Building, only the mooring tower was permanently destroyed. I believe it was not built to the same standards as the rest of the building. The 10 floors immediately beneath were gutted by fire, bur remained structurally sound. Since the Do-217Z was intended to at least attempt a round trip flight, approximately 45% of its fuel remained on board, enough to fuel a major conflagration.
 
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