Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
I doubt itAnd were your 2 or 20 P-47s able to hit a bridge, a Bunker, a boat with a 3300lb (1500kg) bomb from a steep dive at 1200 km from their airfield?
but what is the significance of hitting targets of tactical value so far inside enemy territory? Furthermore, why is it important to hit these targets in a steep dive? P-47s could hit targets like that on the battlefront and everything within a meaningful distance behind it ie those MSRs/lines of communication where resupply was beginning to concentrate.
A Lancaster B Mk I (Special) could destroy a bridge, a bunker or a boat with a 12,000lb Tallboy or 22,000lb Grand Slam and it wouldn't need to hit either of the first two. I don't recollect any bridge names but bunkers would include submarine pens, the V3 site and boats would include the Tirpitz.
On the flipside of your question, could a Pe-2 drop its ordnance, turn into the interceptors and make a fight of it?