The Ambush

The Heinkel He177 Greif (Griffin) was the only German long-range strategic bomber to see service during the Second World War but it failed to live up to its potential.

Although it resembled a twin-engined aircraft, the He177 was in fact powered by four engines, with two coupled together in each nacelle driving a single propeller. This radical arrangement caused the engines to overheat when the prototype first flew in November 1939, but the design team was not permitted sufficient time to solve the problem before the aircraft was pressed into service. Unsurprisingly, overheating troubled the He177 throughout its career and was the cause of so many engine fires that it was nicknamed the “Flaming Coffin” by its crews. Nearly 1,200 examples of the type were built before its withdrawal at the end of 1944; including one which was modified to carry the planned German atomic bomb. Neither it, nor the bomb, were completed.

The type matured into a usable design too late in the war to play an important role. It is notable for its use in mass raids on Velikiye Luki in 1944, one of the late-war heavy bombing efforts by the Luftwaffe. It saw considerably less use on the Western Front, although it played a role during Operation Steinbock (the "Baby Blitz"), against the UK in 1944.

Text: rafmuseum.org.uk / Wikipedia