Clear Skies Over Normandy

I actually wrote a paper concerning this topic for my MA. The American bombing campaign directed against the German aircraft assembly plants was largely ineffective. The Germans rapidly dispersed the industry and the weather over Europe made continual bombing impossible with so many targets. In other words they were able to rebuild targets that had been hit before the Americans could return. The great value in the American bombing campaign was the destruction of the Luftwaffe fighter arm in the West.

The Germans would send their fighters up to contest the bomber stream. Once the Americans could provide fighter escort all the way to Berlin and back, there was no way the Luftwaffe could effectively challenge the bombers. Now the P-51 gets credit for being the plane that changed the war because it could take the bombers all the way to the target and back but this is a myth. The plane that broke the Luftwaffe’s back was the P-47. It had been fighting the Germans for almost a year and a half before the Mustang came on the scene. By the time of the Big Week (Feb. 1944) the P-47 could take the bombers within site of Berlin thanks to extended range drop tanks.

So the Germans lost the airwar for good after Big Week. There were simply too many American bombers and fighters and too few German planes. Additionally, German pilots flew until they were killed or wounded. Experienced pilots were rarely taken from the line to train new pilots. Finally, the extended range of the American fighters meant that even when the Germans could find the pilots and synthetic fuel to equip their planes, training was severely curtailed because there was no airspace free from roaming Allied planes.

"I actually wrote a paper concerning this topic for my MA. The American bombing campaign directed against the German aircraft assembly plants was largely ineffective. The Germans rapidly dispersed the industry and the weather over Europe made continual bombing impossible with so many targets. In other words they were able to rebuild targets that had been hit before the Americans could return. The great value in the American bombing campaign was the destruction of the Luftwaffe fighter arm in the West.

"The Germans would send their fighters up to contest the bomber stream. Once the Americans could provide fighter escort all the way to Berlin and back, there was no way the Luftwaffe could effectively challenge the bombers. Now the P-51 gets credit for being the plane that changed the war because it could take the bombers all the way to the target and back but this is a myth. The plane that broke the Luftwaffe’s back was the P-47. It had been fighting the Germans for almost a year and a half before the Mustang came on the scene. By the time of the Big Week (Feb. 1944) the P-47 could take the bombers within site of Berlin thanks to extended range drop tanks."

"So the Germans lost the airwar for good after Big Week. There were simply too many American bombers and fighters and too few German planes. Additionally, German pilots flew until they were killed or wounded. Experienced pilots were rarely taken from the line to train new pilots. Finally, the extended range of the American fighters meant that even when the Germans could find the pilots and synthetic fuel to equip their planes, training was severely curtailed because there was no airspace free from roaming Allied planes."

Thanks for the history lesson. FR is always great at getting knowledgeable info on stuff like this.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.