Strafing

"Strafe" redirects here. For the fictional character, see Strafe (Transformers).

For gaming movement, see Strafing (gaming).

A strafing maneuver performed by an F-16 aircraft at the Smoky Hill ANG Range open house on Saturday, August 1, 2009.

A German vehicle column destroyed by Ground-attack aircraft close to Arnhem, 23 September 1944.

Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that 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.

Less commonly, the term can be used—by extension—to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft (e.g. fast boats) using smaller-caliber weapons and targeting stationary or slow-moving targets.^{[citation needed]}

Etymology

The word is an adaptation of German strafen, to punish, specifically from the World War I humorous adaptation of the German catchphrase "Gott strafe England".

History

Although the earliest use of military aircraft was for observation and directing of artillery, strafing was frequently practiced in World War I. The trenches and supply columns were routinely attacked from the air. 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.

For example, American ace Eddie Rickenbacker attacked a German artillery column at the Battle of St. Mihiel. More importantly, the war saw the advent of entire class of German ground-attack aircraft specifically designed for the task of strafing.

This essentially continued through the World War II. In 1960s, when precision-guided weapons became popular, strafing temporarily fell out of favor as unnecessarily risky—some American fighter aircraft or attack aircraft of that time had by design neither cannon nor machine gun. Most known examples are F-4 Phantom and A-6 Intruder. Vietnam War experiences proved this was a dead end—at that time, the military had to employ improvised "gunships" in strafing missions. More recently, NATO pilots in Iraq and Afghanistan have begun using strafing runs to support ground forces in areas where explosive ordnance could cause unacceptable civilian casualties.

Planes built specifically for strafing include the German World War I Junkers J.I, the World War II Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 and the modern American A-10 Thunderbolt.

See also

• Ground-attack aircraft
• Military aviation

External links

• AROUND THE WORLD; Manila Acknowledges Strafing Japanese Ship, January 19, 1982, The New york Times.
• Major Andrew Duncan DFC, SAAF no. 103023V, Biplane fighter aces : The Commonwealth 16 May 1920 – 31 May 1942, surfcity.kund.dalnet.se
• Slaughterhouse Five,\, November 18, 2009, lettersofnote.com