Tenacious EJ
Horton Ho 409 Blutsauger (Vampire Bat)
The Horton Ho 409(b) Blutsauger (Vampire Bat) was the rarest aircraft in WWII to be utilized as a fighter and score a confirmed kill. Only six 409b’s were assembled with the turbofans installed before the German factory was leveled by an Allied bomb, destroying the remaining twenty-five 409a’s awaiting conversion. In addition to being rare, the Blutsauger is one of the more interesting German fighters to see combat during the War.
The 409 was begun as essentially identical in purpose to the American P-61 Black Widow, utilizing RADAR in its infancy to attack unsuspecting Allied planes at night. However, its design was clearly unique. A RADAR operator sat forward and below a pilot, while a gunner led a solitary lifestyle in the rear turret. A large portion of the plane’s body stored fuel, which allowed the Blutsaugers to hide out in the clouds for hours awaiting their RADAR screens to pick up unsuspecting enemy craft. On more than one occasion, the Luftwaffe used bait planes to lure Allied wings into a Blutsauger’s kill zone.
409a’s were able enough, but the emergence of the P-55 Pit Viper saw the need for a faster, more efficient response. Six 409b’s were converted from prop engines to the just-introduced turbofans with astonishing results. Using their bait technique coupled with the wolfpack, a favored German U-boat tactic, the 409’s quickly decimated the small P-55 squadron. Hauptmann Kristoff Schultz, flying in a 409b he called “Death Comes Calling,” shot down four P-55’s in the last month Germany of fighting, including the famed “Plane Jane” piloted by Capt. E.J. Gold. Seen above is Hauptmann Schultz’s younger brother Oberleutnant Erich Schultz’s ride, “Shadow of Death.”
Horton Ho 409 Blutsauger (Vampire Bat)
The Horton Ho 409(b) Blutsauger (Vampire Bat) was the rarest aircraft in WWII to be utilized as a fighter and score a confirmed kill. Only six 409b’s were assembled with the turbofans installed before the German factory was leveled by an Allied bomb, destroying the remaining twenty-five 409a’s awaiting conversion. In addition to being rare, the Blutsauger is one of the more interesting German fighters to see combat during the War.
The 409 was begun as essentially identical in purpose to the American P-61 Black Widow, utilizing RADAR in its infancy to attack unsuspecting Allied planes at night. However, its design was clearly unique. A RADAR operator sat forward and below a pilot, while a gunner led a solitary lifestyle in the rear turret. A large portion of the plane’s body stored fuel, which allowed the Blutsaugers to hide out in the clouds for hours awaiting their RADAR screens to pick up unsuspecting enemy craft. On more than one occasion, the Luftwaffe used bait planes to lure Allied wings into a Blutsauger’s kill zone.
409a’s were able enough, but the emergence of the P-55 Pit Viper saw the need for a faster, more efficient response. Six 409b’s were converted from prop engines to the just-introduced turbofans with astonishing results. Using their bait technique coupled with the wolfpack, a favored German U-boat tactic, the 409’s quickly decimated the small P-55 squadron. Hauptmann Kristoff Schultz, flying in a 409b he called “Death Comes Calling,” shot down four P-55’s in the last month Germany of fighting, including the famed “Plane Jane” piloted by Capt. E.J. Gold. Seen above is Hauptmann Schultz’s younger brother Oberleutnant Erich Schultz’s ride, “Shadow of Death.”