Yesterday, the 12th of July, I engaged in a lengthy text discussion about the actual accuracy of bombing per WWII standards. I stated that if an Allied air raid got its bombs within 1,500 feet of the aim point it was considered a success. Some challenged me as being without a clue. Technically they were correct. The correct target area was within 1,000 feet of the aim point.
http://www.8thafhs.org/survey.htm'The U. S. Army Air Forces entered the European war with the firm view that specific industries and services were the most promising targets in the enemy economy, and they believed that if these targets were to be hit accurately, the attacks had to be made in daylight. A word needs to be said on the problem of accuracy in attack. Before the war, the U. S. Army Air Forces had advanced bombing techniques to their highest level of development and had trained
a limited number of crews to a high degree of precision in bombing under target range conditions, thus leading to the expressions "pin point" and "pickle barrel" bombing. However, it was not possible to approach such standards of accuracy under battle conditions imposed over Europe. Many limiting factors intervened; target obscuration by clouds, fog, smoke screens and industrial haze; enemy fighter opposition which necessitated defensive bombing formations, thus restricting freedom of maneuver; antiaircraft artillery defenses, demanding minimum time exposure of the attacking force in order to keep losses down; and finally, time limitations imposed on combat crew training after the war began.
It was considered that enemy opposition made formation flying and formation attack a necessary tactical and technical procedure. Bombing patterns resulted -- only a portion of which could fall on small precision targets. The rest spilled over on adjacent plants, or built-up areas, or in open fields. Accuracy ranged from poor to excellent. When visual conditions were favorable and flak defenses were not intense, bombing results were at their best. Unfortunately, the major portion of bombing operations over Germany had to be conducted under weather and battle conditions that restricted bombing technique, and accuracy suffered accordingly.
Conventionally the air forces designated as "the target area" a circle having a radius of 1000 feet around the aiming point of attack. While accuracy improved during the war, Survey studies show that, in the over-all,
only about 20% of the bombs aimed at precision targets fell within this target area. A peak accuracy of 70% was reached for the month of February 1945. These are important facts for the reader to keep in mind, especially when considering the tonnages of bombs delivered by the air forces. Of necessity a far larger tonnage was carried than hit German installations."
For game play there are some targets which require "precision" attacks. There are other targets (factories, cities, and towns) which lend themselves effective carpet bombings.
This matter came up because ENY was preventing one from launching a B-17. It was stated that JU-88's carried more tonnage than a B-17. I agreed that this may be so but I wanted more ordance for carpet bombing. My mission goal on "soft" targets is one pass, one salvo, RTB. As my signature says, "Secundum mihi , urbanus resurrectio" After me, urban renewal.
