Joe Foley wrote:
> What's more fearsome? A battleship or a huge fleet of
> PT boats?
Joe,
Not applicable in this instance. An Iowa class battleship was a hell of
a lot more useful in its WW2 environs than a whole herd of PTs, but a
slow moving, four-engined bomber was a target-in-waiting for both flak
and fighters. Your people and ours paid the price accordingly...
Both Bomber Command and the Eighth Air Force found out the hard way that
a legion of heavy bombers was a VERY costly way to wage war, in terms of
both money and highly-trained manpower. Were there alternatives?
My perspective is simple... take the Mosquito for instance. Well known
speed. Well known manoeuvrability. Good bomb load. Two man crew.
Manufactured from a structure of balsa and plywood, more resistant to
radar. Capable of putting bombs through individual windows in specific
buildings. Could the U.S, with its well-known capability for
manufacturing anything AS WELL AS OR BETTER than anyone else, have taken
the basic design, improved upon it, and come up with the best dual-role
aircraft in the war? Don't forget, the Mossie was driven by TWO Merlins,
which was the base design for the Mustang engine...
While your B-29 was unique and necessary for the PTO, take the money
spent on thousands of B-17s and B-24s -- never mind on the U.S. Mediums
-- and turn it into the U.S. equivalent of Mosquitos. One fifth the
crew, almost the same bombload, MANY, MANY more aircraft with all the
advantages of the lighter aeroplane. Concentrate on low-level, pinpoint
attacks against specific installations, with streams protected by gun
birds (the fighter Mossie boasted four .303s and four 20mm cannon, and
were impossible to differentiate unless too close to matter). Thousands
of aircraft per strike, with better results, fewer losses and far fewer
casualties.
CLOUDS of Mosquitos, as it were...
It was a damned good aeroplane which, although quite famous in its own
right, could have been better employed by ALL ETO Allied air forces.
IMHO, of course... :-)
Geoff
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:31 PDT