New aircraft

[Tkdog]

Given the bewildering variety of aircraft types
In WW2 from all participants has anyone heard or read what the procedure was for reporting a new enemy type? In hindsight it would seem reasonable that there were many more reported than actually happened. Every new paint job was likely reported. It figures there must have been a process for assessing them.

 

[pbehn]

Given the bewildering variety of aircraft types
In WW2 from all participants has anyone heard or read what the procedure was for reporting a new enemy type? In hindsight it would seem reasonable that there were many more reported than actually happened. Every new paint job was likely reported. It figures there must have been a process for assessing them.

Having control of the ground below combat was a huge help. Any new aircraft shot down or making a forced landing gave the game away. It took an age to identify what the Fw190 was when first introduced, initially it was thought they were P-36s. The Germans noted the introduction of the MkII Mk V and Mk IX from the change in performance reported by experienced pilots. That probably wasn't a help to a pilot first spotting a Spitfire though, at one time there were 4 distinct types operational single and two stage merlin and Griffon variants, modellers here can show the differences but in the air they look pretty much the same. The change of engines on the Mosquito was noted by people as high as Goering because it was harder to catch.

 

[Snautzer01]

Do not forget Ultra decoding.

 

[Skyediamonds]

Pbehn, gentlemen,

I am a bona fide aviation enthusiast but identifying Spitfires has always been my weakness. I see a graceful Spitfire & with exceptions of extreme or obvious mods such as bubble canopies, clipped wings (or those extended pointy ones) & of course three or four bladed propellers & their contra-rotating cousins, I can't tell a Mk. V from a Mk IX or whatever other marks.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Don't discount, not that you are, POW interrogation for new type warnings at least.

 

[Skyediamonds]

LoL
Thanks

 

[nuuumannn]

Intelligence gathering. Once the war came into full swing the intel branches of the armed forces taking place went into full swing, whatever that entailed. The Oslo Report and such intel coups like it revealed enormous amounts of information because, although some of what information the report offered was a red herring, it led intel experts to look for more in specific places. British intelligence became aware of German jet fighter projects as early as mid 1940 when the designation He 280 became known through various circles. POWs also contributed, through direct interrogation and through passively listening in to conversations held between captured aircrews. Photo recon grew in importance of course and before the war, the Luftwaffe had the biggest and best photo recon fleet and resource of any air force in the world and, with the strategic reconnaissance unit governed by the Intelligence branch under Wilhelm Canaris in the Bendler Block and not under the auspices of Goering in Wilhelmstrasse, was not subject to the vagaries of the internal politics of the RLM.

Prior to WW2 Britain had to rely surreptitiously on the wily Australian Sydney Cotton for strategic recon, whereas the Germans had an independent specific unit and command structure at its disposal, so was able to photograph British, French and other European airfields at will and unnoticed prior to the war. Once the fighting started, British airspace became effectively shut down to solo recon machines and less information came out, and this is where Britain took the lead in intel. The RAF PRUs revealed the Me 163 in 1942, the Me 262 in 1943 and the V2 rocket the same year. Hard intel on German jet projects was only a matter of time.

Intelligence is, of course only as effective as how it is acted on and it's interesting looking at how the Bf 109F was regarded in Britain as to seeing this at work. The British believed the Spitfire V was its superior, even though it wasn't outright - the Spitfire could of course out turn the F, but that was it - the Messerschmitt was largely superior in performance, but the British didn't really regard its debut with much fan fare when it was encountered in combat, unlike the Fw 190 and it was that aircraft that demonstrated a far greater advance in performance over the 'V that gets the glory for the high rate of Fighter Command losses in 1941/42, although it was the Friedrich that was actually responsible for the majority of losses over France in that time.

 

[Dana Bell]

The biggest problem with German photo intel came after the photos were collected. Post-war seizures of German photo archives and interviews with German photo interpreters showed that each photo mission was treated as an individual event, while the Brits and Americans compared photos from multiple missions. The ability to "see" a building or hill or road appear or disappear between missions provided clues that a site might need further attention.

Cheers,



Dana