Aerial ramming

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Aerial ramming or air ramming is the deliberate ramming of an aircraft in flight into another airborne target, typically another aircraft. It is a last-ditch tactic in aerial combat, sometimes used when the aircraft is out of munitions, has its weapons malfunctioned, or all else has failed. The act of ramming a flying aircraft into surface targets (e.g. tall buildings/structures, ground fortifications and surface vessels), usually in the form of a suicide attack, is commonly referred to as a kamikaze attack. Long before the invention of aircraft, ramming tactics in naval warfare and ground warfare were common. The first aerial ramming was performed by Pyotr Nesterov in 1914 during the First World War. In the early stages of World War II the tactic was employed by Soviet pilots, who called it taran (таран) , the Russian word for 'ramming" and "battering ram". A ramming pilot could use the weight of the aircraft as a ram, or they could try to make the enemy lose control of their plane, using...

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