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Benedict Arnold

Why did the Germans put sirens on their Stuka Dive bombers?

Posted - January 29, 2017
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Responses


  • The objective of any fight is to win... you can do that either by physically  making the other person incapable of fighting or by sapping their will to fight ... why kill just ten guys when you can also scare another 500 at the same time for no other cost
      January 29, 2017 7:32 AM MST
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  • 53509
    For the psychological fear factor.  (And it worked, too.)
    ~
      January 29, 2017 7:38 AM MST
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  • That's the answer I was looking for! Yes, it did work in the early years! Good job!
      January 29, 2017 7:40 AM MST
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  • 53509
    Only in the early years? Both military veterans and civilians alike reported that even after the war ended, they still suffered nightmares and other ill effects of that terror.  I'm not sure how one "overcomes" it, especially during the war. 
    ~
      January 29, 2017 7:49 AM MST
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  • Mainly in the early years as the Stuka was obsolete by 1942 and the Allies shot them down in waves. But they were devastating to morale in general.
      January 29, 2017 7:51 AM MST
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  • 5354
    It was a practical application of "shock and Awe". Scaring people on the ground out of their gourds so they would panic and run in all directions.
      January 29, 2017 8:21 AM MST
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  • 6988
    The Nazis didn't put any special sirens on their planes. The sound you hear is the wind whistling through the tubes under the wings that hold the bombs. 
      January 29, 2017 8:59 AM MST
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  • 5354
    You may well be right. But once the Nazis discovered that that 'accidental noise' did more damage to the British war effort than the bombs did they took all the advantage they could from it, instead of trying to stop it. That sort of noise means wasted fuel and pilots with ear-problems. the first response of any engineer would be to reduce the noise.
      January 29, 2017 9:12 AM MST
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  • Wrong. Look it up.
      January 31, 2017 5:49 AM MST
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  • Wrong. Look it up.
    The notorious single-engine, two-man, dive-bomber’s iconic ‘gull wings’ and ‘spatted’ undercarriage are as unmistakable as the plane’s instantly recognizable wailing siren, dubbed the “Jericho Trumpet” (♬ LISTEN TO IT HERE).
      January 31, 2017 5:51 AM MST
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  • 6988
    I guess 'The History Channel' lied to me. Damn you, History Channel!   
      January 31, 2017 1:29 PM MST
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  • Didn't mean any offense but I knew about the sirens a long time ago. Sorry.
      January 31, 2017 1:32 PM MST
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  • On top of what has been said.  If I'm not mistaken the original  prime motivation for them putting them Stuka's was to scare the crap out of horses in convoys and battlefields. Scaring the chit out of citizens and soldiers was acknowledged as another benefit, but I've read in a few books the concept was originally devised by people looking to cause chaos with mounted units.
      January 29, 2017 9:45 AM MST
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  • 53509
    (Stukas)

    Plural, hence no apostrophe. 
      January 30, 2017 11:02 PM MST
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  • Leave my bad typing skills and appalling editing  alone Randy. This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 1, 2017 12:00 PM MST
      January 31, 2017 6:00 AM MST
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  • 53509
    You have two spaces after the word 'editing', and there should be a comma after the word 'alone'.
    ~
      January 31, 2017 6:12 AM MST
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  • It doesn't matter.  Especially an accidental double spacing.  Normal people don't even notice or pay attention to that.
    This is Answermug, not the office or a publishing house.
      January 31, 2017 7:12 AM MST
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  • 22891
    maybe to warn people
      January 29, 2017 2:38 PM MST
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  • 53509
    Er, um, no. 
    _
      January 30, 2017 11:03 PM MST
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  • 5354
    No, Just no. What you suggest is the kind of excuse a PR department come up with when people complain. This post was edited by JakobA the unAmerican. at January 31, 2017 3:06 AM MST
      January 31, 2017 3:04 AM MST
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