Originally posted by Jekyll:
Umm Maverick. Ever heard of 'rhubarbs'? Ever heard of the 'Doolittle Raid'? Or how about the ultra-low level Dornier sorties against British airfields during the Battle of Britain? Or the 'DamBuster' mission? Or the Mosquito raid on Gestapo Headquarters, or the sinking of the Tirpitz etc etc etc.
Unrealistic, huh?
Jekyll,
Ever hear why the Brits changed to night bombing missions instead of daylight??? Ever hear of the 8th Air Forces "excessive and unsupportable" losses in daylight missions?? Why did those losses only slow down after the introduction of long range fighter aircraft capable of making it all the way into the target?? Why were the chances of completing a tour of duty as a bomber crewman almost impossible in the first half of the war??? I think the Memphis Belle story might give you a clue.
Did you take a look at the losses of the damn busters raid??? Almost 50% if I recall on one raid. They didn't all fly into wires that night. Why was that raid conducted at night???
Why did the Doolittle raid take off from the position they did instead of the planned location that was much closer to the mainland??? Why did the B29's hitting Japan initially fly as high as they did before LeMay ordered them to conduct mid level fire bomb raids?? Why did many of those same B29's not make it back to base after the mission??
Yes there were several missions that were in effect unopposed. The multiple thousands of bomber aircrew on both sides who did not survive are a testament that most of those missions were intercepted by some obviously effective form of interception.
Yes, expectations of unobserved unopposed buff raids deep into an enemy country ARE unrealistic. Just why are buffs in the game given a gunnery range advantage and ultra accurate bomb sights?
Mav
