The task force was experimenting with the Mistel, a Luftwaffe aircraft bombing system, based broadly on the parasite aircraft concept.
As part of Operation Iron Hammer in late 1943 and early 1944, Mistels were selected to carry out key raids against Soviet weapons-manufacturing facilities—specifically, electricity-generating power stations around Moscow and Gorky.
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However, before the plan could be implemented, the Red Army had entered Germany, and it was decided to use the Mistels against their bridgehead at Küstrin instead.
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A second opportunity to use the Mistels, in Scapa Flow in 1944, was abandoned after the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz led to the departure of all of the Royal Navy's major surface units from the target.
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A Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (Werk Nr. 733682), preserved in the Imperial War Museum in London, was the fighter part of a Mistel system that was captured by British forces in 1945.
Mistel |
The largest targets that Germans were able to hit with ramming tactics were Allied four-engined bombers and some strategic bridges over the Oder, with their Mistel composite attack aircraft.