B-17F
By November 1942, the Luftwaffe fighter pilots had realized that they could attack a B-17F head-on and be safe from return fire from the actual plane. The fitted 0.30-calibre michine gun in the plexiglass nose was ineffective so individual Bomber Groups decided to replace it with the more destructive 0.50-calibre guns. A nose gun installation kit was provided by 8th Air Force Service Command and the importance of a forward mounted turret on a B-17 was impressed upon the manufacturers. The work on converting the nose turret was very slow and could be only be carried on when the aircraft was free from combat commitments. It was not until May 1943 that B-17F's with a factory fitted nose gun mount landed in Britain.
"The Germans got to the beginning of the war from the side or behind. But they got for a lot counter-intelligence fire at 25 to 30 B-17s. When they found out that the B-17 had less fire strength in the nose, they changed the tactics. You came in V formations of the front. For us it looked like a line, now and then, however, they came in the inverted V and we shot onto the middle which, however, wasn't in range yet. At the next trace it was a normal V perhaps again and the middle was nearer than the outer positions. These came toward us with really high speed. You came with 400 miles and we flew 160 and fired her with her 20 mm cannons on the cockpits as soon as we were within range in the hope to meet something. One could see coming the 20 mm and one hoped that they didn't meet. After the attack they shifted and came back. Only if they found a single machine, they were not effective from the front, they then came back from the side or behind. A machine at which one or two engines had failed was alone put on herself and the guys of the air force took their time to hit the fuel tanks on the two fuselage sides."
Robert Davila, Pilot der USAAF
"At the beginning only the Fw 190 attacked the bombers and the Bf 109 only was used as escort. Most attacks were flown from the front. If the bombers noticed that the 190s came, they often flew a curve from 10 or 15 degrees. This made it hard to come flying up from the front again."
Walter Krupinski