Hi Tim,
>I see your points as the 110 on slashing attacks against Lufwaffe bombers.
Not bombers exclusively - everything that get in the way!
>A slashing attack would have to allow for the ability to (1.) Climb to the perch in the first place
True, but that's why I pointed out the Me 110's longer endurance that made it possible to launch it early and have it loiter at a good altitiude instead of scrambling at the last possible moment and meet the enemy while still climbing, as it often happened with the fuel-limited single-engine fighters.
The Me 110 would not climb as fast as the single-seaters, but their extra fuel bought them the time to get there anyway - in fact, maybe even more reliably than the faster-climbing singles.
>(2.) get back up there with a zoom climb afterwards, relying on power of the machine to take you back up. As the enemy escorts are up there as well, you are looking down the barrel of their gun getting up there.
No problem to disengage first and climb back up to altitude out of sight of the enemy. Combat persistance helps again. The bomber formation could probably met a bit later as easily as a bit sooner in most cases.
>Also, dogfights are relatively unusual events.
Hm, I've not seen any statistics on that. I think there were plenty of dogfights and tail-chases both, with one often leading to the other.
>A chase situation, while it did happen, was not the rule but more the exception.
You could provoke it if it helped your tactics, though. In modern terms, you might consider it extending while relying on mutual support to clear one other's tails.
>Over the fighter fields in Southern England, you are looking at climb, speed and manuverability being the keys. In two of the those points the 110 does not have it.
Historical tactics are not the only possible tactics, especially not if the set-up is changed as we did with our assumption of Luftwaffe and RAF switching aircraft types
Of course, you have to fly the Me 110 to suit its strengths, and if climb and manoeuvrability are not its strengths - don't even try to rely on them.
>Given the inability to stay with the Hurricane and Spitfire, the 110 was a turkey in such a fight, even given lufberry circling and the like.
Oh, it was fairly evenly matched with the Hurricane most of the time, and anyway - I'm not suggesting that it should stay with the Luftwaffe fighters but rather that it should hit-and-run them
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)