Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
The preferred drop altitute was 18,000 ft for the Fritz X, and lower than that for thev Hs 293, that's within the effective range of anything 5 in. and up. And within the possible range of smaller stuff.Hs.293 carried 12km of guidance wire specifically to keep the carrier aircraft outside effective AA range.
Enemy fighter aircraft are a different story. Carrier aircraft must have adequate fighter escort just like any other bomber.
They wanted peace. They wanted it even before the Russians got involved. But they wanted to play poker with us to get it.
Cost of aircraft plus cost of trained pilot adds up to a very expensive smart bomb.
Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IMO MXY-7 (Ohka) was the right idea but it should have been wire guided. In any case Japan needs a lot more then historical 852 MXY-7 and limited number of carrier aircraft to make a dent in massive USN Pacific Fleet of 1945.
Most of Japan's population live on the coast, most of the industry is on the coast, they're not separate.
Just like any other part of the world before personal transportation became affordable, people lived close to where they worked.
If you bombed the industry, you bombed the population.
The preferred drop altitute was 18,000 ft for the Fritz X, and lower than that for thev Hs 293, that's within the effective range of anything 5 in. and up. And within the possible range of smaller stuff.
If employed earlier or differently, could this tactic have been successful?
What's the difference between that and a bomb run except in the former you're wasting a pilot and aircraft that can be utilized in another bomb run? What I really hear you asking is why they didn't make more bomb runs. They had the aircraft suited for that. At Midway it was our SBDs that wrecked those carriers. By October 1944 they were hurting for pilots who could perform those tricks, even if they had the aircraft suited for it.Kamakazies at Coral Sea or Midway, hmmm
the rationale wasnt there but the strong conviction of the japanese people/solder was. by this i mean had they asked for kamakazie pilots at any time they would have had volunteers...whether they were winning or losing.