Is Johnny Cloud a Superhero? Taren Attacks

In the past few weeks, we have examined Johnny Cloud's amazing combat record. Sure enough, he is an ace 30 times over. Is this enough to call him a superhero? 

No. Not yet. But there is more. Much more!

Cloud’s heroics do not stop at the quick draw. He used his P-51 as a battering ram when his guns jammed or ran out of ammo. This is not an easy maneuver, as seasoned fighter pilots are quick to break away. But Cloud was quicker. And here is the most amazing part: Cloud survived the impact and kept on fighting. All told, he rammed eight bandits, plus he stalled his plane in front of a ninth one that was on his tail so as to cause a crash.

Crazy? Maybe. 

Aerial ramming – or taren, as the Soviets called it – was not unheard of, particularly on the Eastern Front where poorly equipped Russian fighters used taren to down vastly superior Me-109s. In fact, nine tarens were reported on the first day of Operation Barbarossa, and over the course of the war, over six hundred taren attacks were reported. 

REAL Soviet pilot, Lt. Boris Kovzan, survived four such attacks. So once again, Cloud is not alone in dishing out medieval terror in the skies.

Aerial ramming was not limited to the Eastern Front – the Brits did it too! During the Battle of Britain in September 1940, REAL pilot Sgt. Ray Holmes discovered his guns jammed, so he flew his Hawker Hurricane into a German Dornier Do-17 bomber, cutting off the rear tail section with his wing; the bomber hit the waves and Holmes returned to base with a dented wingtip.

Another aerial ramming occurred a month later when REAL pilot Lt. Ken Mackenzie attacked a group of four Me-109s. He damaged one of the bandits and chased him as he skimmed across the channel at about 100 feet. Mackenzie used up his ammo, so he flew alongside and motioned the German to ditch his plane – but the stubborn Hun refused. That’s when Mackenzie dipped his right wing and knocked off part of the bandit’s tail, bringing him down – the Hurricane lost a wingtip but was able to return to base.

Cloud’s best ram came while escorting a B-17 carrying vital information about a Nazi terror rocket site. The fort was badly damaged and was being picked apart by a gaggle of Fw-190s. Cloud downed two of them but ran out of ammo. He tried to intimidate the other two, but they called his bluff and regrouped to make a frontal pass on the fort. Cloud inserted his P-51 between the B-17 and the bandits ramming both Fw-190s at once. Cloud was thrown free just as the rest of his flight arrived to escort the battered fort back to base.

And here is another thing to think about: Cloud aways survived unscathed. This is perhaps the most amazing part. Somehow, in the heat of battle when desperation was all he had, Cloud found a way to win the day ... with help from the Great Warrior Spirit (aka Big Brother in the Sky). This was his superpower! But, we are not done.

Image Credit:

AAMOW#96 (April 1963); Art: I. Novick; Writer: R. Kanigher.

Johnny Cloud TM DC Comics