Hey, that's great! I've been waiting for years - decades, even - to see someone show that the P-38 broke the back of the Luftwaffe. ESPECIALLY in light of the records of the 20th and 55th FGs.
- oldman
You have the right to be wrong.
The P-38 was there when it counted. Without it the strategic bomber offensive would have collapsed. Your fixation on only the 8th reveals a massive blindspot worthy of note, but hey, don't let facts get in your way!
The Germans didn't have pilots to throw away. Every P-38 kill in 1942-43 was worth ten in late-1944. Hell, the entire Western Front at one point was only defended by a couple hundred German pilots. Just like the Japanese in the Solomons, the critical battles in 1943 killed Axis pilots that couldn't be replaced.
The Mustang gets too much credit. The P-38 not enough. The Jug? Okay if you wanted to fight over the French coast, but by the time it could finally go anywhere the P-38 had already done the hard part (for a full year before the Jug even showed up, btw) all the while outnumbered, hampered by bad tactics, and forced by the very nature of the endeavor into a steep learning curve.