Interesting article on Erwin Rommel

[MIflyer]

It's amazing how much went wrong on the Yamamoto mission. They assigned a P-40 pilot with no combat experience in the P-38 to fly one of the fighters. They assigned 4 of the top pilots to be the shooters while the rest of the P-38's dealt with the expected larger number of Zeros that would scramble from the base the Adm was headed for. One of the shooters blew a tire on takeoff so the P-40 pilot became a shooter. They did a masterful job of navigating at low altitude and hitting the Adm's flight dead nuts. Then most of the P-38's climbed to get into position intercept the large formation of Zeros - who never got the word and thus never showed. The two Betty bombers were shot down but so was one P-38. Three Betty bombers were claimed, but there were only two, and multiple Zeros were claimed but in reality none were shot down.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

It's amazing how much went wrong on the Yamamoto mission. They assigned a P-40 pilot with no combat experience in the P-38 to fly one of the fighters. They assigned 4 of the top pilots to be the shooters while the rest of the P-38's dealt with the expected larger number of Zeros that would scramble from the base the Adm was headed for. One of the shooters blew a tire on takeoff so the P-40 pilot became a shooter. They did a masterful job of navigating at low altitude and hitting the Adm's flight dead nuts. Then most of the P-38's climbed to get into position intercept the large formation of Zeros - who never got the word and thus never showed. The two Betty bombers were shot down but so was one P-38. Three Betty bombers were claimed, but there were only two, and multiple Zeros were claimed but in reality none were shot down.

Makes me wonder how much of an adaptation a P-40 pilot would have, going to a P-38 for the first mission in "The Fork-Tailed Devil"-- did the P-38's have different cyclical rates of fire for the nose mounted MG's-than, say a P-40, P-47 or another single engine prop driven fighter that had its MG's synchronized to fire through the prop's rotation-- was a governor used, to adjust firing rate of nose mounted guns to the RPM of the prop? What we the positive flight characteristics of the P-38 in a combat scenario?

 

[MIflyer]

The P-38 was much more complex than the P-40, and unless the airplane had been modified the .50's and 20MM each had separate firing buttons. But that was minor, compared to the other differences and the required different tactics. For example a P-40 would turn and dive away from danger - while not as maneuverable as a Zeke, it was a very good turning airplane compared to most. A P-38 would climb or use level speed; diving too fast was to be avoided.

I'd have to check, but I think the P-40 pilot was the one lost - even though there were numerous other P-38's in the area that were basically not doing anything useful, he was last seen under attack by one of the escorting Zekes.

Ray Hine nearly ran out of fuel on the way home and had to land at an austere field and have a PT boat bring him some fuel. He had only four .50 cal rounds left so he had not been in a position to help the P-38 that was lost even if he had seen it.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

It wasn't luck, the American had intercepted a coded message which gave them the info that Yamamoto would be travelling by air to inspect a Japanese base, so they arranged an interception by a unit of P-38's
Rommel, on the other hand, was travelling in an area where the Allied air forces were strafing anything that moved, his insistence on travelling through this area in a large staff car during daylight hours was rather reckless, and he fell victim to a random sortie by fighter-bombers.

Never saw the late "Desert Fox" as a big-time gambler, but perhaps I am wrong, in my after-the-fact assessment of Irwin Rommel. Driving in an open staff car in an area heavily controlled by Allied air supremacy was tempting fate, and I am sure he and his staff must have known that-by the Luftwaffe strength in the ETO was greatly diminished- Also, Rommel gambled that Eisenhower would post-pone the Normandy invasion, due to severe weather conditions in the channel June 5-6 1944- so he flew back to Harlingen to celebrate his wife's birthday, and was kilometers away from the beaches when the action started on June 6th-- "The Longest Day"-- War history is full of such tales of "pushing one's luck"--

 

[MIflyer]

Rommel showed a lot of contempt for airpower. In the Western Desert Bf-109's rarely went on strafing missions against Allied Forces.

 

[redcoat]

Rommel showed a lot of contempt for airpower. In the Western Desert Bf-109's rarely went on strafing missions against Allied Forces.

I don't think you can blame Rommel for the Luftwaffe's failings.
But, having said that, its interesting that their leading scorer in the desert, Hans-Joachim Marseille was only credited with shooting down 3 bombers in the theater. It has been claimed that increasing their scores was of far more importance to Luftwaffe pilots in this theater, than fighting their way through the fighter escorts to get to the bombers which were attacking their troops

 

[redcoat]

Never saw the late "Desert Fox" as a big-time gambler, but perhaps I am wrong, in my after-the-fact assessment of Irwin Rommel. Driving in an open staff car in an area heavily controlled by Allied air supremacy was tempting fate, and I am sure he and his staff must have known that-by the Luftwaffe strength in the ETO was greatly diminished- Also, Rommel gambled that Eisenhower would post-pone the Normandy invasion, due to severe weather conditions in the channel June 5-6 1944- so he flew back to Harlingen to celebrate his wife's birthday, and was kilometers away from the beaches when the action started on June 6th-- "The Longest Day"-- War history is full of such tales of "pushing one's luck"--

There were a number of occasions during the desert campaign when Rommel and his staff came under direct attack from Allied aircraft, his habit of leading from the front often lead to him exposing himself and his staff to danger.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

There were a number of occasions during the desert campaign when Rommel and his staff came under direct attack from Allied aircraft, his habit of leading from the front often lead to him exposing himself and his staff to danger.[/QU Point well taken- ditto Patton and the straffing his troops encountered- including the famous scene in the movie "Patton" where he shoots the two donkeys pulling the cart that was bottle-necking his passage on a bridge- believe that happened in the Sicilian campaign, not 100% on the exact local-Hansie