Sorry, I thought the chart and the quote below it were pretty easy to comprehend. I'll dumb it down from now on.
Another apology is in order. I should have specified the Petroleum industry. If you don't have fuel you can't train new pilots.
I suggest that you read my post again but slowly this time.
I never said that the Luftwaffe was on it's last legs in the fall of 1943. Again I refer to the chart and quote below it. The Luftwaffe was defeated between September 1943 when the P-38 was flying the large majority of long range escort missions and March of 1944.
In the time period under discussion, the P-38 flew 6338 long range escort sorties, while the P-51 racked up 4722, but only 736 with the 8th. The remainder of 2688 were with the 9th Air Force.
Look at the chart again and you will see that the bomber losses dropped immediately after the P-38 was allowed to join the fight despite Hap Arnold attempts at sabotage by not allowing the introduction of external fuel tanks. Hap Arnold did many great things but he really screwed the pooch concerning bomber escorts. To cover his tracks, the myths about the Lightning's role in the ETO have erroneously and constantly been repeated.
Once the P-38 started escorting the bombers the losses plummeted and the bombers were free to drop bombs on the fuel production sites. Losses went from an unsustainable over 7% to a war winning 2.25%. The P-38 did it's job to perfection and the bombers did the rest.
As to escaping a P-38, say you got too close to the bombers and the Lightnings started to engage. No problem you say and just dive away. That dive took you out of the fight as you would be unable to again get into position to attack as the bombers flew on. Who won that fight? Who fulfilled it's mission?
The attacker was suppose to shoot down the bombers. Instead it ran. The P-38s, though out their period of long range escort. were wedded to the bombers and had strict order to stay with them. The had no opportunity to chase fleeing fighters. If they had their kill numbers would have soared.
The escaping 109/190 starts his dive and pulls away from the P-38 until 25,000 feet. Then he is in deep shit because the p-38 starts to reel him in and he can do nothing to escape. The Lightning can out turn him, out climb him, out dive him and has the height advantage.
The P-51 was allowed to finish the job and chase the enemy to his base, if need be and shoot him down as he tries to land.
The Lockheed engineers invented numerous improvements to simplify and automate many of the critical functions. One combined 4 functions into one control lever. They were all rejected by the powers that be for various reasons mostly concerning the possibility of slowing down production. Again Lockheed provided numerous solutions that would have prevented any slow up and they were again rejected.
Hap and the rest of the Bomber Mafia wanted the Lightning to succeed but also wanted to keep quiet the fact that they had one of the best escorts available from day one. Despite numerous warnings and examples from the Spanish Civil war, they sent unescorted bombers and their crews to their destruction. In order to keep their career's alive, they had to play down the P-38 and it's obvious capabilities and contributions. They had to claim that the Lightning was not doing the job so they had no capable aircraft until the P-51. The facts prove otherwise and the escorted bombers got through.
