Bleipriester
Freedom!
- Nov 14, 2012
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In the "endgame", the Germans didn´t even try to intercept bombers in lack of planes. Only when they could gather a decent number, which also was too small, they started an interception attempt.Number of bombers lost by each heavy bomber group in the 8th Air Force during World War III don´t think so. Allied bomber crews had a life expectancy of three flights or so. They simply spammed the bombers all over.We had that discussion back in the day and the 190 is not half es dangerous.
And you were wrong then as well. Had the Germans shut down the 109 line and concentrated on the 190 there would have been a lot more bombers and fighter stopped. It worked out well for the Allies.
I've heard enough of your cracked history. Have a nice day.
Missions: 10631
Bombers lost: 4145
8th Air Force Combat Losses in World War II ETO Against the AXIS Powers
Stay classy.
Using your own cite, almost all of the bomber loses listed were from august 1943 to October 1943. What changed? The introduction of Fighter Escort. Then they were reduced even further when the fighter escort doctrine was changed where the fighters were allowed to fly ahead of the bombers and attack the Luftwaffe when they were forming up. In Oct 43, the poor 38 was flying bomber escort staying with the bombers and taking losses themselves while screening the bombers. That worked okay and allowed more bombers to get through. But in November, the fighter escorts were allowed to fly ahead of the bombers. You will notice that the Luftwaffe had serious trouble getting to the bombers and it took them a few months to react to that. The P-51 was still not a factor quite yet. But in Jan 1944, the P-51 was beginning to be a factor and the Fighter Sweeps had begun. The Luftwaffe had also changed their tactics and had started to pick up bombers again. By Mar, the fighter sweep had all but cripple the Luftwaffe so the bombers were largely downed by ground attack. By the time D-Day had come, the Bombers were almost alone with the exception of just a few Luftwaffe fighters. The 262 was about the only effective fighter left with experienced pilots that the Bombers had to contend with. In the 190s and 109s, maybe 1 out of 50 pilots were experience as fighter pilots by then. The papers say the war was lost in March of 1945 but it was really lost in October of 1943.
However, overall, the example above shows it, the bombers were at high risk.
I read the book Bomber by Len Deighton, it gives a good overview about the tactics and risks.
Bomber (novel) - Wikipedia