German logistics, purchase programs and war booty, reality and alternatives 1935-43

[tomo pauk]

Perhaps this might be a more appropriate thread.

If telling Dornier to license produce another aircraft, why not jump straight to the Ju 88 instead of the He 111? Ju 88 had it's first flight in late 1936, and by mid-late 1937 they knew they were onto a winner. Now it took a few more years before it entered service, so setting up another Dornier-ran shadow factory in 1937 might have been a bit too early. Then again, if Udet had not insisted on redesigning the plane for the dive bomber role, maybe it could have been ready somewhat earlier?

Ju-88 - why not? It was able to carry a bigger bomb load, and we're just saved a lots of Ju 211s with the radial attacker/light bomber switcheroo.

Sticking the G-R 14N's on the Ju 88 could have been interesting as well. Probably mostly a wash performance-wise compared to the Jumo 211, but at least it would have been a second source of engines. But if (pretty big if!) they could have produced the G-R 14 radials in sufficient numbers, could this have largely replaced the need for the Jumo 211, allowing Jumo engineering to focus more on next generation projects like the 213 and 004?

Without the need for making the 14M, G&R can make a good number of 14Ns, to what the number of these engines captured can be added (1000 complete engines + 400 engines worth of spares were 'found' per German counting in 1942).

BTW - Jumo were showing off the Jumo 213 graphs with the swirl throttle already by late 1941. That might've been a boon on the Jumo 211, giving it perhaps another 100 HP down low without tanking anything in the higher altitudes - not too shabby with 1600 HP for take-off for the 211N?
The Jumo 211 might've been improved a lot with a 2-stage S/C, too. But then again, the 14R was also there for the German to ponder come 1941...