Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Abraham
Imagine a small elite bomber force of British and American bombers (like the Pathfinders)...
Imagine no grandiose air force dreams of winning the war without an invasion...
Imagine no strategic (carpet) bombing but precision attacks (as far as the word goes) and a genuine support of the invasion and West European ground campaign...
Imagine a shift in 1942 from bomber production towards maritime patrols (same airframes)... We all know how efficient they are, don't we?
Imagine an even bigger shift in 1943 towards building transports, C-47 Dakota's, C-54's etc...
Imagine fuel and ammo being flown from Britain straight towards the forward racing armoured colums of Patton and Montgomery...
Imagine Operation MARKET (the airborne component of MARKET GARDEN) being able to land the British 1st, the US 82nd and the US 101 and the Polish Airborne Brigade in one lift on one day and support them accordingly...
Imagine peace in December 1944.
I try to make the point that the Allies were building bombers till the very last months of the war, but were hampered by a lack of maritime patrols in 1942 and 1943 and were short of transport/cargo planes during 1944 and 1945.
Just because there was a strong believe in air force circles that bombers could do the job single handed!
|
No one suggest another way to defeat the Luftwaffe? After all especially for daylight bombing they had to respond. Again the Brits did not have nightfighters. You guys are ignoring the effect of first off of the long range figher escorts, and second Type941 you still have not acknowledged the DELAY in new weapons production.
Abraham: I disagree with your definition. Strategic bombing =/ carpet bombing. It's the type of target chosen and the goal ... not the precision again. Don't tell me Allied or Soviet artillery (a good friend of mine from Belgrade told me his Mom lived through ans Allied air rad as well as Soviet artillery and Katysha bombardment in 44 in support of the Partisan's liberation of the city) not to mention Caen or Berlin itself at the end were examples of precision bombardment because they were tactical?
That said, I agree with reorienting the Allied air effort and the fact the real IMHO gains were less than the resources put into the strategic forces.
Great debate even if you guys are wrong.
