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So now you want the Luftwaffe to develop a strategic bombing force.
.The reason the British and Americans deployed thousands of four engine bombers is because they needed that many to be sure of damaging German production. To hit a 200' by 200' structure they needed, statistically, to drop nearly 1000 bombs
It worked, the Anglo-American campaign seriously curtailed German production, we can argue about the figures, but at a cost that the Germans simply could not afford.
There is no point in building a few hundred strategic bombers and going after Soviet production, you won't do enough damage.
Many facilities, or their infra structure like machine tools, were very resilient against bombing. If the Soviets react by dispersing production in the vast expanses of the USSR you'll be lucky to find it, even with thousands of bombers.
It's a complete dead end. The RLM had limited resources and had to martial them to best effect. Strategic bombers were a waste of those resources.
Cheers
Steve
Do 19 never flew as an operational bomber. Mentioning it smacks of desperation. The He 111 was hardly a strategic bomber comparable with those fielded by the Anglo-Americans. 2,000 Kg bomb load is barely adequate, and early versions carried even less.
1200 He 177 constructed is not the relevant number. The Germans needed something like that number in service at any given time to provide a genuine and meaningful strategic bombing force. They rarely even had a double figure number operational on any given day.
Do 19 never flew as an operational bomber. Mentioning it smacks of desperation. The He 111 was hardly a strategic bomber comparable with those fielded by the Anglo-Americans. 2,000 Kg bomb load is barely adequate, and early versions carried even less.
Full agreement there.1200 He 177 constructed is not the relevant number. The Germans needed something like that number in service at any given time to provide a genuine and meaningful strategic bombing force. They rarely even had a double figure number operational on any given day.
The He 177 was certainly not the best bomber 'flying' in 1943. That was the Lancaster and by a country mile.
1. restricted bomb bay for some missions/loads............Check
.
The bomb raid does not need to go during the night only, so the navigators can actually guide the bomb stream to the target and bomb-aimers can actually hope to hit something. The LW heavy bomber will not do the 25000 ft bombing run either (like the B-17s did), but more likely from 17-18000 ft.
In 1944, bombing from altitudes averaging about 17,000 feet, in daylight, totally unopposed, the average radial standard deviation of bomb patterns attained by the RAF over 10 raids in Normandy was 620 yards. <snip>
The same rules applied to any other WW2 bombing force with comparable equipment and this is why the idea that a relative handful, even 40 or 50 heavy bombers could mount a precision type raid to destroy Soviet production facilities, factories , power stations, dams etc is just pie in the sky thinking.
It is historically demonstrated that a concerted campaign by hundreds or even thousands of bombers was required to have a significant impact. How significant that impact was is still the subject of debate seventy years later.
The Germans could never have afforded such an investment, even if they had had the means to build the force.
They should never have attempted a half arsed programme like the He 177 and instead cut their losses and invested in something that might actually have proved useful to their war effort. The contribution of the He 177 to the German war effort was as near to zero as makes no difference.
Cheers
Steve
Early He 177A3 continued to use the DB606 (paired DB601) as it was feared the DB610 would be unreliable, however the latter He 177A3 received the larger DB610 (Paired DB605) both being essentially the same engines used in the Me 109 and Me 110. All He 177A5 used the DB606.
Maybe you might want to check out the engine for the A-5, it should be the DB 610.
The maximum speed of the DB610 version 550kmh, that is 343mph, certainly faster than the Lancaster, Halifax or B-17. It was fast enough to avoid Soviet fighters.
Griehl gives max speed anywhere from 540 km/h to 480 km/h, for the versions with the DB 610. We don't know the max speed for the He 177 with all bombs and plenty of fuel carried. The 480 km/h max speed was when the two guided bombs were attached?
The MiG-3 was plenty capable enough to catch the any He 177, BTW. Though I'm not sure whether it would be able to certainly destroy it, unless it's a rare version with 2 cannons. By 1943, there was not many of the MiG 3 around?
If anyone wants the He 177 to survive daylight missions where fighter opposition is likely, better start thinkering about the long range fighters to escort it.
The next version was the He 177A7 which had DB613 engines (twined DB603) and a larger wing. The wing had been designed structurally to allow 4 separate engines and in this form was known as the He 277A7. I suspect the engine issues would have been resolved in the He 177A7 but no one had the Stomach for it and they were going to head direct for the He 277 version.
Griehl disagrees with you - the DB 610 was also in the A-7. The 4 engined He 177 was the He 177B, with BMW 801s.
In 1944, bombing from altitudes averaging about 17,000 feet, in daylight, totally unopposed, the average radial standard deviation of bomb patterns attained by the RAF over 10 raids in Normandy was 620 yards. The average displacement of the mean point of impact over the ten raids was 408 yards. The very best was 100 yards and that is exceptional. Even with an average displacement of the mean point of impact of 100 yards the chances of hitting that 200' x 200' warehouse or machine shop are not good.
Your Luftwaffe bomb aimers will indeed be hoping to hit something.
100 RAF Lancasters achieved a bomb density of 10 bombs per acre at the centre of their bomb pattern.
The same rules applied to any other WW2 bombing force with comparable equipment and this is why the idea that a relative handful, even 40 or 50 heavy bombers could mount a precision type raid to destroy Soviet production facilities, factories , power stations, dams etc is just pie in the sky thinking.
It is historically demonstrated that a concerted campaign by hundreds or even thousands of bombers was required to have a significant impact. How significant that impact was is still the subject of debate seventy years later.
The Germans could never have afforded such an investment, even if they had had the means to build the force. They should never have attempted a half arsed programme like the He 177 and instead cut their losses and invested in something that might actually have proved useful to their war effort. The contribution of the He 177 to the German war effort was as near to zero as makes no difference.
Cheers
Steve
.Which is why they shifted to planning to use the Fritz-X bombs for their He-177s in strategic bombing, but didn't get the engines worked out in time. With the guided bomb the Germans would get much better accuracy per bomber during daylight.