oldcrowcv63
Tech Sergeant
I dunno, but its missing the fundamental question. What the devil are these aircraft going to do when they get there, apart from get themselves shot down.
Bases closer to the target arent a "nice to have". they are esential in the ETO. they absolutely needed bases within P-51 range in order for this to work. A B-29 is a better proposition to a B-17 in terms of defnces, but the Germans are not the same as the Japanese ...far more dangerous in the air i would suggest.
I was implicitly assuming any B-29 ETO bombing campaign would await the advent of the P-82 escort with appropriate mods to extend the range to that of a forward (icelandic or Azores) based B-29s. If you believe that, I would like to offer to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. 8)
I am not thinking sending B-29s against the Reich from distant bases is a good idea, just trying to understand what might be done with the B-29 that comes closest to Jenisch's original query:
"...just was wondering if the B-29 could really fly bombing missions with a decent payload (maybe a dubious claim, feel free to interpret) against Germany from Newfoundland."
Well, I believe it's been reasonably well established that it probably couldn't have performed such a mission, but thought it might be interesting to consider what might it actually have been able to do, making certain enabling assumptions such as inflight refueling or forward basing to intermediate locales like Iceland and the Azores...
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