[Epapazian]

Here are some additional candidates for the title of nastiest air combat surprises for you guys to consider: the first time a BF-109 or FW-190 pilot tangled with a Russian Yak-3 in 1943; the frustrated feeling that Luftwaffe fighter pilots had after trying to shoot down their first Soviet "flying tank"-the IL-2 "Shturmovik"- in 1942 and an even bigger surprise when the Russians added a rear gunner to this formidable warbird; the sight of German ME-163 rocket fighters diving through B-17 bomber formations in 1944-45; the reaction of RAF Lancaster and Halifax rear gunners when they were bounced by HE-219 "Uhu" nightfighters in 1944; and, finally, how Japanese "Sally" crews and "Nate" pilots felt when they saw their first AVG P-40s diving on them over Burma in 1942.

[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by Cardinal

The nastiest surprise would've been the one you never saw coming ...

Brother, you can say that again!

[Shawn 507]

Originally Posted by Cardinal

The nastiest surprise would've been the one you never saw coming ...

You beat me to it. Ok how about the one you woke up next to? Oops, different dogfight.
- Shawn

[Migmauler]

How about you're flying over Hanoi in a brand new F-4 and you've finally got a Mig-17 lined up with a good tone. You squeeze the trigger, the missile launches and misses by a mile! By now you're inside the missile envelope and you switch to guns- only you have no guns! By now there are three or four Migs in the mix and you're in a knife fight inside a phone booth with no knife. Time to light the burners.

[david cotton]

Schrage Musik (upwards firing guns on German night fighters) must have given the allied night bomber crews a hell of a shock. The Bomber crews never even saw the fighter firing at them.

[PH-LKK]

I think the arrival of the Hellcat definitely ranks up there with the first appearance of the 262. But I also think one of the "nastiest surprises" experienced by both Luftwaffe and Empire of Japan pilots was the overwhelming number of allied aircraft they increasingly confronted as the war dragged into 1944 and 1945. Sakai reports that, while in hospital, a friend came to see him, looking uncharacteristically lost, muttering "there were so many... so many." It seems even German pilots on the Russian front were astonished: "Where are they all coming from?"

[skysurfer808]

The first chap to fall victem to the Hun in the Sun.

Skysurfer808

[Aircrafty]

B-17 crews being swatted from the skies during unescorted daylight raids to German targets.

[dilligafocau]

Spitfire pilot during the BOB recalling another Spit ominously lurking, he rolled his plane to display the markings & wing shape only to be shot out of the sky anyway. Hope the attacking pilot did'nt claim the kill

[bsmith13]

I was thinking that another unpleasant surprise to Spitfire Mk V pilots was the FW 190. I read that RAF intelligence officers tried to convince the pilots that they were only fighting captured Curtiss Hawks!