Warbringer
Recruit
- 1
- Sep 21, 2024
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- Can the Mig-3 or can any Soviet high altitude interceptors have the speed and ability to intercept the B-29 at 25,000 to 30,000 feet?
- I have seen some sources on the internet and Wiki mentioning the La-7's service ceiling of over 30,000 feet but I have not found any documents talking about its capabilities or speed at 30,000 feet (typically I find the La-7's top speed at 25,000 feet to be around 372mph.)
- The Soviet Union also had a lot of captured German planes, do you guys think it would be able to intercept them?
Weak at high altitude, plus no heavy firepower.What about some Yak-3s?
Not worse than the japanese.The biggest problem VVS is going to have is that its planes are poorly armed for this task.
Not worse than the japanese.
We can recall that Germans were eager to move to 30mm cannons and beyond, reckoning that even four 20mm cannons were not enough to reliably kill B-17s. German 20mm was firing a more destructive shell than the Shvak.I think the 20mm cannon used on many of the Soviet types in service at the time - Yak-3, Yak-9, LA-7 etc. After all, at least 1 B-29 was shot down in Korea by Yak-9s.
Given the Soviet airforce's focus on low-altitude combat, they would get the crap bombed out of them. There would a crash program to build two-stage superchargers to be installed in fighters armed with multiple cannons. These would come into service and the USAAF/USAF would start losing bombers.I have a conversation about the VVS's ability to react and intercept the super fortresses if Operation Unthinkable right in 1945 if it is carried out, there are a few questions and want to ask you guys in here, if in the case if a strategic bombing will take place targeting important cities of the Soviet Union such as Moscow or Leningrad, what will be the VVS's ability to react?
The Mustangs and Thunderbolts were successful because the Germans failed to supply high-octane fuel and two-stage superchargers. The Soviets will need a couple of years to correct this mistake, and then long range escort fighters will cease to be effective.
But remember the legacy of the Anglo -Soviet occupation of Iran in 1941. The Tripartite Treaty Alliance of Jan 1942 between Iran, Britain and USSR called for withdrawal of British & Soviet troops within 6 months of the end of hostilities. Sept 1943 the Big Three confirmed their commitment to Iranian independence.Russia had a major problem in 1945-46.
It was the Western Allies that were supplying the fuel for the Western Lend Lease aircraft. It was also the Allies that were supplying a large part of the Tetra ethyl lead to allowed the Russian fuel to get into the 95 octane range. How much stuff they had stockpiled and how long it would last?
2nd problem is that it is only around 330-350 miles from Tehran to Baku. Given several months to deploy (like you would need to move a number of B-29s anywhere in the summer/fall of 1945) the Soviets were be facing heavy bombing from air bases in Iraq-Iran and given the amount of rail, road and barge infrastructure that that existed for the Lend Lease supply route/s building the bases would not be overly hard.
Russia had some very good scientists and engineers. They had a rather crappy/spotty infrastructure to supply certain materials in large quantities.
And there were not many air bases in Iraq in 1945. In 1941 there were just 2 RAF bases. Shaibah near Basra in the south & Habbaniya West of Baghdad. By the early 1950s the RAF was also flying from airfields at Baghdad, Mosul, Basra, & Ser Amadia. So if you want bases there in the desert virtually everything needs to be shipped in.
And are the Soviets just going to sit there and let you do that? I don't think so.