Kaputar.
Thetwo main reasons for the minority use of "Corkscrew" were the physical effort and the real risk of collision because you were entering altitudes allocated to different groups than your own,with another friendly aircraft as a result of the extreme concentration of the Bomber stream which was now the tactic adopted in preference to a long drawn out raid over several hours in order to cause disruption and fatigue amongst the firefighting crews and the population. There was also the effect on the crew, as airsickness was quite a problem due to "Corkscrew". And there was always the Navigator , the breed apart, who very often got his own way. Weaving was very often preferred. This consisted of gentle alternate turns without losing height. This was quite generally used but the advent of the "Nacht Musak", the German name for the Msserschmidt 110 armed with four fixed angled upward firing cannons , tracking his victim from miles behind and gradually creeping under to let loose a lethal burst which usually hit the centre fuel tank made me and I think, a lot of other pilots corkscrew from start to finish of the dangerous part, about 90% of the whole trip.
I know that one of the reasons that I am still here today is that when just finishing my straight and level bombing run over Mannheim on Sept.5th.1943 I immediately started a violent diving turn to port as the beginning of a Corkscrew. At that moment a burst of machine gun or cannon fire came from slightly behind and below right across in front and climbing above me. My magnificent rear gunner , "Geordie" Tommy Walker saw the Messershcmidt 110 and gave him a quick burst. We all saw the Messerschmidt burst in to flames and crash. ( I am glad that I don't have to type Messer etc. too often.). As a matter of interest the tactic of the deadly "Nacht Musak" was a direct result of the great success of Bomber Command's first use of "Window" (On Hamburg July 23rd. 1943, My first "Op" on Halifaxes) when the Night Fighter Radar system of the Germans was completely swamped. The reply was the use of every fighter possible, even Day Fighters to congregate over the brightly lit targets (from the fires and a carpet of concentrated searchlights) . The fighters would wait at a much higher altitude possible to the bombers and dive on the victims silhouetted below whilst the "Nacht Musak " fighters tracked in and out of the target and did what they could below the stream approaching and leaving the target . The stream, once it was established was often illuminated by flares dropped from observing German aircraft to guide the Fighters towards it. This Day Fighter operation was called "Wild Sow" by the Germans.
As targets such as Berlin, Munich, Leipzig were trips of over eight hours (That Mannheim trip was logged as eight hours night flying) yes, it was a big strain but you should have seen the biceps of the veterans after a successful tour. ! Regle