I must admit I didn't realise this was another of those "Luftwaffe worship" sites, so I thought I'd put in a few well needed words to redress the balance a bit, and bring a touch of reality to proceedings. I used to be nuts on the Luftwaffe too, then as I got older and started researching and writing on WW2 aviation, I found things were actually a bit differant to what I then believed:
The Luftwaffe was devastating in its effectiveness in the early blitzkrieg campaigns in the West. Ditto with its early role (pre-1943) against Russia. No arguments there. However these were essentially its high-water marks. We have to remember these were against pretty weak opposition, in the case of Russia - numerous, but very poorly trained and equipped. The element of surprise was Germany's in the cases of Poland, low countries and Russia.
The BoB was a failure for the Lutwaffe. The main excuse being "Bf109's couldn't operate effectively over S. England because of fuel limitations", really? Cripes the channel is only 10 MILES wide - 2 minutes flying time!!! German bombers proved weak in the face of proper fighter resistance, and even the much vaunted Bf110c heavy escort fighter needed escorting itself.
To be fair the writing was on the wall early in 1940 - even the Bf109e's had not dominated the Hurricanes in France as they should have done, let alone the Spits. The Ju-87 had to be withdrawn from the battle. So at the first major hurdle, and against proper and alerted resistance, the Luftwaffe had failed. Fact.
1941 - The RAF was now fighting in N W Europe, Africa, Malta, Greece/Crete and Burma. It was fighting the German, Italian and Japanese airforces. So it certainly had its back to the wall. Fortunately there were Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, S. African, Polish, Free-French, Dutch, Belgium, Czech and US pilots, as well as British aircrew available (what an amazing alliance - unique in history). The RAF was spread very thinly, yet it succeeded in stopping the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeranautica from taking Malta and Egypt-Libya. The Axis tried like blazes to take Malta for 2 and a half years, but they couldn't, once again failing in the air.
By 1943 the Luftwaffe had been beaten, it just didn't know it. The new Russian fighters like the late model Yaks and Lavochkins were superior to the Bf109's and Fw190a's, the La-7 and Yak-9 even coping with the Fw-190d with some ease.
The Bf109 series had peaked with the Bf109f, yet this fighter had no wing guns - so to achieve speed it lost guns! The Spitfire had been succesfully upgraded everytime, after an initial period in which it was second to the Fw190a/Bf109f when they first appeared, and unlike the Bf109G series - which had to have extra guns hung under the wings to be really potent, the Spitfire just got better - even being successfully up-engined, always retaining its powerful armament.
Typhoons appeared and eventually found their role in stopping the Fw190 tip-and-run raiders across the channel. Later becoming the sort of fighter-bomber that the Germans dreamed of; 4x20mm cannon and 8x60lb rockets.
The Tempest was even better, similar but faster. In the Mosquito the RAF had the best multi-role combat plane of WW2. As a bomber it didn't need guns because it was so fast, yet it bombed with an accurate bombsight.
B-17's proved unable to achieve their role in daylight bombing without escort, but long range US fighters solved the problem and dominated the Luftwaffe.
Fighters like the P-47 and later P-51 ruled supreme in German skies, in the latter case right in the middle of the Reich! German fighters were swatted down like flies by the aggressive American pilots. The boot was firmly on the other foot, and the Luftwaffe day defence fighters were an abject failure.
At night the Luftwaffe fighters had more success, but they never came close to stopping the RAF night offensive. The Germans had "sown the wind and were reaping the whirlwind", as were the Japanese with the USAAF.
Scores of RAF bombers were destroyed, but the offensive never slackened. On the other hand, RAF nightfighters like the Mosquito and Beaufighter, destroyed so many Ju-88/Ju-188's over England that these raids had to be abandoned in favour of solitary nuisance raiders, because they were so costly. In the end, Mossies were enjoying good hunting amongst the bomber stream over Germany, because there was little left over England!
German jets caused a few stirs, as did V1's and V2's. But these were essentially the death throes of a beaten airforce. Allied fighters roamed at will and soon turned airfields into scrap yards. RAF bombers turned to day bombing because the sky was safe.
German soldiers in Normandy used to say "if the plane is camouflaged then its British, if its silver its American, if its invisible its ours!". This was as early as winter 1943-44.
German pilots scored many victories (almost certainly inflated - RAF Fighter Command was destroyed 3 times in the BoB!), because they served continously and in target-rich environments, especially in Russia.
The Luftwaffe was an abject failure in its allotted task. If you worship the Luftwaffe you are essentially worshipping failure.
Now I'm probably going to concentrate on some serious work. Have a nice day!
The Luftwaffe was devastating in its effectiveness in the early blitzkrieg campaigns in the West. Ditto with its early role (pre-1943) against Russia. No arguments there. However these were essentially its high-water marks. We have to remember these were against pretty weak opposition, in the case of Russia - numerous, but very poorly trained and equipped. The element of surprise was Germany's in the cases of Poland, low countries and Russia.
The BoB was a failure for the Lutwaffe. The main excuse being "Bf109's couldn't operate effectively over S. England because of fuel limitations", really? Cripes the channel is only 10 MILES wide - 2 minutes flying time!!! German bombers proved weak in the face of proper fighter resistance, and even the much vaunted Bf110c heavy escort fighter needed escorting itself.
To be fair the writing was on the wall early in 1940 - even the Bf109e's had not dominated the Hurricanes in France as they should have done, let alone the Spits. The Ju-87 had to be withdrawn from the battle. So at the first major hurdle, and against proper and alerted resistance, the Luftwaffe had failed. Fact.
1941 - The RAF was now fighting in N W Europe, Africa, Malta, Greece/Crete and Burma. It was fighting the German, Italian and Japanese airforces. So it certainly had its back to the wall. Fortunately there were Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, S. African, Polish, Free-French, Dutch, Belgium, Czech and US pilots, as well as British aircrew available (what an amazing alliance - unique in history). The RAF was spread very thinly, yet it succeeded in stopping the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeranautica from taking Malta and Egypt-Libya. The Axis tried like blazes to take Malta for 2 and a half years, but they couldn't, once again failing in the air.
By 1943 the Luftwaffe had been beaten, it just didn't know it. The new Russian fighters like the late model Yaks and Lavochkins were superior to the Bf109's and Fw190a's, the La-7 and Yak-9 even coping with the Fw-190d with some ease.
The Bf109 series had peaked with the Bf109f, yet this fighter had no wing guns - so to achieve speed it lost guns! The Spitfire had been succesfully upgraded everytime, after an initial period in which it was second to the Fw190a/Bf109f when they first appeared, and unlike the Bf109G series - which had to have extra guns hung under the wings to be really potent, the Spitfire just got better - even being successfully up-engined, always retaining its powerful armament.
Typhoons appeared and eventually found their role in stopping the Fw190 tip-and-run raiders across the channel. Later becoming the sort of fighter-bomber that the Germans dreamed of; 4x20mm cannon and 8x60lb rockets.
The Tempest was even better, similar but faster. In the Mosquito the RAF had the best multi-role combat plane of WW2. As a bomber it didn't need guns because it was so fast, yet it bombed with an accurate bombsight.
B-17's proved unable to achieve their role in daylight bombing without escort, but long range US fighters solved the problem and dominated the Luftwaffe.
Fighters like the P-47 and later P-51 ruled supreme in German skies, in the latter case right in the middle of the Reich! German fighters were swatted down like flies by the aggressive American pilots. The boot was firmly on the other foot, and the Luftwaffe day defence fighters were an abject failure.
At night the Luftwaffe fighters had more success, but they never came close to stopping the RAF night offensive. The Germans had "sown the wind and were reaping the whirlwind", as were the Japanese with the USAAF.
Scores of RAF bombers were destroyed, but the offensive never slackened. On the other hand, RAF nightfighters like the Mosquito and Beaufighter, destroyed so many Ju-88/Ju-188's over England that these raids had to be abandoned in favour of solitary nuisance raiders, because they were so costly. In the end, Mossies were enjoying good hunting amongst the bomber stream over Germany, because there was little left over England!
German jets caused a few stirs, as did V1's and V2's. But these were essentially the death throes of a beaten airforce. Allied fighters roamed at will and soon turned airfields into scrap yards. RAF bombers turned to day bombing because the sky was safe.
German soldiers in Normandy used to say "if the plane is camouflaged then its British, if its silver its American, if its invisible its ours!". This was as early as winter 1943-44.
German pilots scored many victories (almost certainly inflated - RAF Fighter Command was destroyed 3 times in the BoB!), because they served continously and in target-rich environments, especially in Russia.
The Luftwaffe was an abject failure in its allotted task. If you worship the Luftwaffe you are essentially worshipping failure.
Now I'm probably going to concentrate on some serious work. Have a nice day!
