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I disagree. You cannot pre plan for years when the situation is constantly changing. The German lost the strategic initiative by 1942 and were reacting the Allied developments and strategy. They simply did not have the luxury of sitting comfortably in England and steadily building up their forces according to the planes they hatched. There was a war going on in Russia, which had to be fought and won. Firefighting was exactly because the original plans were constantly rendered obsolate by the events. There was no such pressure, ever, on the Western Allies. Sure they would need to get back on the continent, but there was never any deadline for that.
I disagree. You cannot pre plan for years when the situation is constantly changing.
The September 1939 Ango-French declaration of war caught Germany off guard. It shouldn't have but it did. That's why 1939 Germany was not prepared for a major war. Once the war started the German Government continued to stumble forward without realistic plans for either military victory or a diplomatic resolution. That's what happens when you have a bunch of rookies running the national government during a period of rising international tensions.If the Germans had made plans which accepted that they weren't going to win every campign in weeks or months
They had to have reports of the P-51 and P-51A's speed and range in that I believe it had been raiding Germany. They probably had examples very early.
The first one flown by the Luftwaffe and tested at Rechlin was a P-51 B in early 1944,so not that early.
The one aspect of P-51 performance that should have worried them above all others would be its range and I don't know when they became aware of that.
Steve
Just talking about the Bf-109, and not some of the other well stated issues, what they needed was the G-10/K aircraft in sufficient quantities, with pilots, to address the P-51B/D threat in early '44. While flawed, primarily in endurance, these 109s had the performance that gave even average pilots a good chance against the Mustang. I think they were technically capable of doing so.
So why did the LW not intercept these long range fighters before they got into Germany? Forcing the Allied fighters to drop their fuel tanks for combat, and limiting their range. Thus a better chance of destroying the bombers.