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The Lancaster, B-17, and B-24 all seem to be similar in weight and power and wing area. The B-24 has the better wing and the B-17 had the better altitude performance. The biggest problem I perceive for the Lancaster in the daytime role is its limited service ceiling, around 10,000 ft lower than the other two. The lower the altitude, the better the flak coverage. Otherwise the basic airframes seem equally adaptable.
The below information is from "The Other Battle" by Peter HinchliffeWith respect to the comments being bandied about about the RAF not escorting their Night bombers, this is, with respect, bunkum. The RAF in fact employed over 140 Mosquitoes alon, on average, as Direct escort
This is how I understood itThe below information is from "The Other Battle" by Peter Hinchliffe
30 March 1944. Nuremberg.
Maximum effort bombing attack. Just under 800 bombers.
20 Mosquitos flew Serrate (i.e. Direct Escort) missions.
35 Mosquitos flew intruder and spoof missions.
95 RAF bombers destroyed in the air and another 9 so badly damaged that they crash landed in England.
No, you're quite rightNo airforce can operate effectively with these disadvantages.
YesLife got harder for Bomber Command as it turned out because technological improvements continued to improve the deadliness of the NF's in the air. By the tail end of the campaign their losses were increasing while those of the Eighth dropped.
That holds true until the summer of 1944. When Germany lost France and their aviation gasoline hydrogenation plants at the same time the bottom fell out.Life got harder for Bomber Command as it turned out because technological improvements continued to enhance the deadliness of the NF's in the air.
Yes
I'm by no means the expert on night ops but that's largely how I understood it
That holds true until the summer of 1944. When Germany lost France and their aviation gasoline hydrogenation plants at the same time the bottom fell out.
Look what happened to Helmut Lent, one of the greatest night fighter pilots in history. His high tech Ju-88G didn't save him from hitting a power line while landing at an emergency airfield because the primary airfield had just been bombed.
But RAF largely withdrew from strikes on targets deep inside Germany after the heavy losses of 'Battle of Berlin', USAAF maintained or stepped up such efforts (partly diverted to D-Day related missions, but not as early or as much or for as long). Then RAF stepped up deep Reich missions from fall '44 when the factors mentioned against the German NF's (gas shortages, lack of radar and fighter bases outside Germany's own borders) kicked in; RAF improvements in areas like ECM were also a significant factor in the lower losses from late 1944.No, loss rates between BC and 8th AF heavies tracked virtually the same from March '44.
Do we have a breakdown by loss type for 1945?in 45, despite the setbacks, the Luftwaffe's ongoing deterioration and loss of teritorry in France, the losses increased again
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I suspect that German radar guided flak continued to improve even as the Luftwaffe ran out of fuel and got bombed to dust.
I'm not saying they should've bombed from high altitude - it's easy for lightened B-17 to cruise at 25K, then make shallow dive towards target, and then climb back to 25K and head home.
That's not what the RAF's own official history says. And anyway, for whatever reasons, the RAF didn't operate a lot against deep Reich targets between the heavy losses of March '44, until the German defense network had been partly taken apart, physically, by loss of bases in occupied Europe and right at the German border, in fall of '44. Even if that's a coincidence, you still can't compare USAAF loss stats in that period, much of which was full bore against deep Reich targets (though they were diverted to D-Day missions in some cases, but let's remember 'USAAF strategic bombing' includes 15th AF not only 8th).One of the reasons, if no the main reason, that (RAF) Bomber Command reduced operations into Germany in 1944 was due to the requirements for the run up to D-Day... It had little to do with the losses incurred by the Luftwaffe night fighter arm or flak.