| Caption | Photo showing a US Navy Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo just entering the water. The torpedo can be seen beginning its track toward a submerged submarine. Mid-Atlantic, 12 Oct 1943. ww2dbase | ||||||||||||||||
| Photographer | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||
| Source | ww2dbaseUnited States Navy via UBoatArchives | ||||||||||||||||
| More on... |
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| Photo Size | 682 x 526 pixels | ||||||||||||||||
| Photos on Same Day | 12 Oct 1943 | ||||||||||||||||
| Photos at Same Place | Atlantic Ocean | ||||||||||||||||
| Added By | David Stubblebine | ||||||||||||||||
| Licensing | Public Domain. According to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government". Please contact us regarding any inaccuracies with the above information. Thank you. |
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Modern Day Location
Leaflet | © OpenStreetMap
| WW2-Era Place Name | Atlantic Ocean |
| Lat/Long | 49.6500, -30.2500 |
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13 Oct 2021 12:24:59 PM
US Navy Lt(jg) Letson “Sam” Balliett piloting a TBF Avenger from USS Card interrupted a refueling operation between German submarines U-488 (“Milchkuh”) and U-402 in the mid-Atlantic. Lt(jg) Balliett approached them to strafe them but both began to crash dive. Switching to a FIDO attack and in order to reduce speed and lose altitude without overshooting the targets, Lt(jg) Balliett lowered his landing gear and full flaps while skidding radically side-to-side. Once he was nearly plunging toward the sea like a stone, he raised his wheels and flaps and dropped this Mark 24 just ahead of the swirl left by the submerging submarine. Since the FIDO was ineffective against a vessel on the surface, this frantic maneuver to transition a strafing run into a torpedo drop in a single approach became standard practice for Avenger pilots with Hunter-Killer groups like Lt(jg) Balliett’s. Although this attack claimed one sinking, both submarines escaped with only minimal or no damage.