Great theory, except you forgot the part where Strategic Bombing didn't win the war in 3 years of trying, and we invaded France, and the tactical air forces fought supporting the armies just as they did on the Eastern Front. The LW was finished when we drove AFVs onto the runways and over ran the factories.
The Luftwaffe was finished before that. It was, in part, the reason we were able to drive our AFVs where we did WHEN we did.
Spits and Typhoons (and P-47s and P-38s) didnt need to go to Berlin on a 6 hour mission to get into the fight. The fight was in Normandy. Then France. Then Holland. Then Germany. Try reading somebody elses military histories than just the 8th AF.
A don’t think anyone denies that these planes didn’t have to go to Berlin to get into the fight. But they would have had to go to Germany to get at the heart of the Luftwaffe. It was only when free-ranging escort fighters began appearing over the heart of Germany was it that the Luftwaffe then had no safe haven.
The real a/c worth mentioning are the F4F, F6F, P-40, P-38, and P47 in US service. P-51 when they hastily "cobbled" a Merlin engine on it and it became usefull.
Why bring up the F4F, F6F, and P-40 in the context of this discussion? The P-38 and P-47 dealt blows to the Luftwaffe, no doubt. But they didn’t do it in any substantial way OVER Germany until late in the war. It was the P-51 that took the fight to the Luftwaffe over Germany itself – where their otherwise safe airfields, training areas, and repair depots were.
And I was unaware the P-51 was useless until it was mated with the Merlin. The Allison powered P-51 wasn’t worthless in the recce-role over France, nor as a fighter/bomber over Italy, or in the Far East. And while the Merlin got the Mustang to high altitudes, it was a clean form and lots of gas that got it to Germany.
This is what happens when you just look at one Air Force and basically ignore everybody else.
Ya, I know the movie "Memphis Belle" wasn't about the RAF/RCAF, LW, or the VVS, but they fought in WW2 nonetheless.
The basic mistake you keep making is assuming all Air Forces had similar goals, tactics, and doctrines. They didn't.
The air forces set strategy based on what they were capable of.
The LW and the VVS were both used as arms of their land armies, providing tactical air support while also conducting fighter operations such as interception and escort. It served them well, and they were arguably the best at it.
Sure, they were good at it. But being good at it led the Germans to believe it was sufficient to defend what was conquered, and Germany itself. Early success led to short-sightedness, grand failures, and the loss of the air-war. I’ll get to that in a moment.
The RAF/RCAF had a dual role. Strategic bombing (by night) of Germany to end the war by industrial attrition, and to disrupt the economy and infrastructure of the country. Secondly, it had a tactical role in providing tac air for the armies in the field, especially from 44-45 in NW Europe. It also provided Air Defence for the UK of course.
Neither of the above requires a long range escort fighter like the P-51. Neither sought to get one, because there was no operational need for it.
I’ve seen this argued before – that the RAF didn’t need a long-range escort. I think that’s an absurd argument. Of course it needed a long range escort. Bomber Command tried daylight bombing and suffered heavy losses to fighters. The failure of the RAF to recognize the need for a long-range escort doesn’t diminish the fact that they needed one.
The USAAF had at first, a duel strategy. Strat bombing of Germany by day (for precision), and to provide fighter support for the armies. Only after the fall 1943 missions did the 8th AF decide to go to a "escort all the way" strategy, adding a 3rd requirement, long range escort.
The decision to “escort all they way” didn’t come as a revelation in the Fall of 1943. It was recognized earlier. The US escorted as far as it could when it was possible to do so.
You can only argue that long range escort to all of Germany (which the P-47 could not provide), was a "war winning mission" if you subscribe to the notion that Strat Bombing was the #1 priority of the Allies. Well, it wasn't. If it worked we would not have had to invade France on D-Day.
Strategic Bombing in and of itself wasn’t intended to win the war alone, it was intended to damage Germany’s war capability so that the time it took to win was contracted. In that respect, it worked.
Additionally, the strategic bombing campaign greatly contracted the area over which the principal portion of the Jagdwaffe operated. In doing so, there were scarcely any German planes to oppose the D-Day landings.
The USAAF followed a policy of strat bombing, fine and dandy, but do not assume that because thats what they did that it was the best use of resources, or the most effective way to win the war. It was not. We got to Berlin by way of the land armies. So did the Russians.
It certainly helped win the war. And it was the major impetus to the final destruction of the Luftwaffe.
Again, the strategic bombing campaign contracted the area over which the principal portion of the Jagdwaffe operated. In doing so, German air opposition to allied land operations was reduced – and in many cases, non-existent.
The Russians certainly benefited as well. Germany greatly increased fighter production in response, in major part, to the strategic bombing campaign. Most of those fighters went to the west. They shifted a great number of fighter pilots from east to west. The principal portion of the Luftwaffe’s fighters and pilots were assigned to the west and defense of the Reich – mainly the defense of the Reich. Germany’s best pilots were assigned to the defense of Germany, the next best to France, and the worst remained on the eastern front. The Russians should be (and I’m sure they are) thankful for the strategic bombing campaign for the declining quality of German pilots they faced.
The Germans conquered most of Europe without any need for a long range escort, and they certainly didnt need one to defend Germany, either.
Back to the point I made above. The early, quick German victories led to a fatal short-sightedness. By achieving such quick, one-sided victories, they felt whatever strategies they came up with was sufficient also to defend their newly conquered lands, and Germany itself.
They may not have needed and escort fighter to achieve these victories, but having one surely would have helped. By not having one, it contributed to the misunderstanding by the Germans of the implications and vulnerabilities of the escort fighter.
A truly long range fighter would have been helpful during the BoB. It would have been helpful on the eastern front. And it certainly would have been helpful in defending Germany. As it was, by failing to develop their own really long range fighter they failed to recognize the danger of the Mustang escort. They also failed to recognize its vulnerabilities. They failed to realize that by pulling their defense fighters back to the interior of Germany, they were letting the escorts into Germany. Had they understood the escort fighter and its vulnerabilities, they would have engaged the escorts much further out causing the escorts to jettison their tanks which would have prevented many of them from reaching their heart of Germany. As it happened, the Jagdwaffe was engaging escorts over the bomber’s targets, and were being attacked by the escorts on their own airfields.
Germany most definitely needed, if not a true escort fighter, a truly long range fighter. Had they had one, they may have come up with, and been able incorporate, a better strategy of dealing with US escort fighters. And had they been dead-set on pulling their fighters back into Germany, they would have had a better capability to develop a depth of defense strategy.
Im not taking away anything the 8th AF did in WW2, or the P-51, they had their role in attriting German air power, but I scoff at the posts of how it won WW2 all by itself, while I can tell the poster has a fixation with it, and silly claims of the USAAF having the only true air force blah blah blah. Stop flag waving and do some serious research.
The best people to ask about the effect of the air efforts against Germany isn’t the allies, it’s the Germans.
The strategic bombing campaign didn’t win the war alone, but many high ranking Germans felt it could have with time. Additionally, many high ranking Germans give credit to the Mustang as the decisive blow to the Luftwaffe.
Lt. General Werner Junk said the American escort fighter was of great effectiveness right from the beginning and caused major losses to the German fighter force. Lt. General Karl Koller stated the American escort fighter was something new and fatal to Germany. Another German stated the Mustang escort fighter was the “new, final and decisive medium” to the success of the bombing campaign and destruction of the Luftwaffe. That’s not small credit.
No, the strategic bombing campaign didn’t win the war. But it caused it to be won sooner. And the Mustang escort fighter put an outstanding fighter over the heart of Germany which was critical to cutting the heart out of the Luftwaffe.
BTW, back to the F8F. Neat plane.
