SCHRÄGE MUSIK

Obliquely mounted cannon in Luftwaffe night fighters were known as Schräge Musik (or Jazz Music) installations.

In August 1941, Leutnant Rudolf Schönert wrote a report for Generalmajor Josef Kammhuber who was responsible for the Luftwaffe’s night fighter arm. He proposed a single and vertically mounted machine gun built into the fuselage of a Dornier 17 which could fly below a bomber and out of view of defensive gunners, although Kammhuber rejected the proposal.

The idea lay dormant, but Schönert persisted with his experiments by installing a set of upward-firing machine guns in a Dornier Do 17-Z.

In the summer of 1942, there were experiments with vertically mounted weapons firing at towed drogues. Around the same time, Schönert again approached Kammhuber. This time, Kammhuber’s response was favourable and he authorised the installation of vertical weapons in three Dornier 217s.

From these tests, in the opinion of Oberstleutnant Viktor von Loßberg (a staff officer with the department responsible for night fighter developments) vertically mounted armament could only be effective if a fighter and its target were on the same course. Loßberg ordered that instead of being vertical, the guns be mounted obliquely at various angles between 65 and 70°. The results were favourable enough for more Do 217s to be fitted with four and six obliquely mounted 20 mm MG 151 cannon. In early 1943, field tests commenced with 3./NJG 3.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of December 1942, Hauptmann Schönert was appointed Kommandeur of II./NJG 5 equipped with Bf 110s and Do 217s at Parchim where one of the 5.Staffel’s armourers was Oberfeldwebel Paul Mahle who had seen the ‘vertical’ configurations in a Dornier 217 and believed a similar installation could be fitted into a Messerschmitt Bf 110.

Utilising parts and equipment from stores and workshops, he fitted two 20 mm MG FF cannon into a Messerschmitt Bf 110, the barrels protruding through the canopy glazing. Schönert then used this aircraft to claim a kill over Berlin in May 1943.

Major Heinz-wolfgang Schnaufer, an early proponent of Schräge Musik, believed that 50% of night fighter kills in the latter part of the war were achieved using obliquely mounted cannon.

■ Installation of Schräge Musik comprising two 20 mm Oerlikon MG FF cannon in a Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4. Each cannon has a main and reserve ammunition drum, while the cylindrical drums in this drawing are spent cartridge case containers.