The 322nd Bombardment Group, the first unit to fly the B-26 Marauder, was sent on its first mission on May 14, a low-altitude attack on an electrical power plant in the Netherlands under the control of Nazi Germany.
Developed to defend against low-altitude attacks, the system included two Hispano-Suiza 30 mm 831 A automatic guns, coupled to an Oeil-noir fire control system.
Fourteen fighters were sent to strafe German ground targets ahead of the British infantry from low altitude, roving behind German lines, attacking infantry, transport, gun-teams and machine-gun nests; the attacks continued all day, with two of the British aircraft being shot down.
This was a low-altitude subsonic attack aircraft, designed for over-water as opposed to overland use.
ASDIC was useless against surfaced submarines, and flares could not be used at the low altitude required by aircraft to make an attack.
This method is emphasized in a typical scenario, namely a daylight air-to-ground full-frontal attack by a generic combat aircraft flying at low altitude, and gives a satisfactory estimation of the infrared signature dispersion with less than 10,000 samples.
A heavy artillery barrage preceded the attack, while twenty-seven Nationalist planes bombed the districts involved, flying at low altitude.
To maximize the effectiveness of the firebombing attacks, LeMay ordered the B-29s to fly at the low altitude of 5000 feet and bomb by night; this represented a significant change from the Command's standard tactics, which focused on high-altitude daylight bombing.
We ejected our external fuel tanks en route to Iraq and then attacked the reactor with pinpoint accuracy from so close and such a low altitude that our unguided bombs were as accurate and effective as precision-guided munitions.
Helicopter gunships followed, strafing at low altitude.
