I have watched several documentories on Youtube about the air campaign over
Germeny.
I understand the first "real" US raids began late 1942 and they belived
they did not need fighter escorts.
First bomb raid 29 June 1942 (RAF Boston/A-20 crewed by USAAF)
First fighter mission 26 July 1942.
First heavy bomber raid 17 August 1942.
First bombing raid on Germany 27 January 1943.
During 1943 a pattern emerged of alternating attacking France and
Germany, which meant the overall losses as a percentage of sorties
was low, but the reality was unescorted bombers were taking
unacceptable losses.
Throughout most of 1943 they suffered so greatly from the lack of escorts,
they nearly abandoned daylight bombing.
Nearly abandoned is over stating the case, there were around 10 trial
night sorties. Essentially the whole force would need retraining and
the USAAF knew it had longer range fighters on the way. The 8th
Air Force, like every other air force, wold have its bomber operations
restricted by the range of its fighters.
In the first half of 1943 the US fighters and bombers largely fought
separate wars, any fighter escort usually came from the RAF, limited
by the range of the Spitfire.
As the year went on more effort was made to provide insertion and
withdrawal cover. The Luftwaffe largely ignored escorted heavy
bomber strikes, since any escorts had to turn back well before any
target in Germany. Then the range of the US fighters began increasing.
At the end of June 1943 the 8th Air Force had 3 operational P-47
groups, by the end of 1943 it was 9 P-47 and 2 P-38, plus the
P-51 units "borrowed" from the 9th Air Force.
Then in late 1943 effective escorts joined the bombers. These fighters
were mainly Thunderbolts, followed later by Mustangs. This combination
turned the tide so that by DDay, the Luftwaffer was almost irrelevant.
P-47s remained half the 8th Air Force fighter strength until April 1944,
peaking at 10 groups, 4 P-38 groups also served. The P-38s were
phased out between July and September 1944, converted to P-51,
most of the P-47 groups were also converted.
The final fighter strength was 1 P-47 and 14 P-51 groups.
First P-47 mission 10 March 1943 but problems delayed widespread
use until April and May.
First US fighter escorts over Germany on 28 July 1943, P-47s.
Last bomber mission that did not have escorts all the way to the target,
14 October 1943, second Schweinfurt.
First P-38 mission from England (since 1942) 16 October 1943.
First P-51 mission 1 December 1943.
The Luftwaffe day fighter pilots suffered almost 100% casualties (including
wounded) in the first 5 months of 1944, draining the force of experience,
but in numerical terms the Luftwaffe day fighter force was growing. The
Luftwaffe bomber force was used against England around the same time,
suffering high losses that were not replaced.
The Luftwaffe was not irrelevant at D-Day, it had been made ineffective
by the losses in 1943 and 1944, plus the sheer size of the allied air forces
in Britain.
In terms of allied fighter kill claims, for the RAF June and July 1944 are
the fourth and fifth highest months, after May, August and September 1940.
For the USAAF fighters in the European Theater of Operations, June 1944
is sixth and July 1944 tenth in terms of air to air kill claims. The top 5
are,
in order, December, May, September, August and November 1944.
After being driven out of France the Luftwaffe tried again to intercept the
heavy bombers late in 1944
I also understand the Mosquito was orginally developed to bomb from high
altitude at high speed.
High speed yes, high altitude no. Altitude came in 1944.
Never the less it quckly proved to be very useful in many other roles
including escort fighter. It was apparently so difficult to shoot down
that German pilots would count 1 Mosquito as 2 "kills".
The Mosquito was not normally used as an escort fighter, some of the
Coastal Command anti shipping strikes used some of the Mosquitoes
as fighter escorts as at low altitude the Mosquito being used was
significantly faster than the German fighters. Later RAF P-51s were
used, freeing the Mosquitoes to be strike aircraft.
The counting 1 Mosquito as 2 kills is for night raids, as the Mosquito
bomber had comparable or better performance than the Luftwaffe
night fighters, making them hard to catch. Luftwaffe fighter operations
against Mosquito day raids were more successful.
If all the above is correct, why didn't Mosquitos escort the bombers
before Thenderbolts and Mustangs came on the scene?
First problem is altitude performance, until 1944 Mosquitoes did not
have the two stage supercharged engines, so they peaked at about
22,000 feet, not really good enough given the altitudes of the B-17
and B-24.
Second problem is the Mosquito fighter in 1943 had comparable
performance to the Bf109 and Fw190, while being larger, heavier
and less maneuverable, Mosquitoes would have had real trouble
in a straight fighter versus fighter encounter.
Third problem is popularity, everyone wanted the Mosquito, for
reconnaissance, bombing, night fighting and long range fighter
missions normally outside of German fighter range, like the Bay
of Biscay. The RAF night fighter units needed the Mosquitoes to
cope with later German bombers, the Beaufighters were too slow.
Fourth problem is production. To the end of October 1943 production
was 565 night fighters and 289 fighter bombers, less losses, for the
operational units and the training system.
The first fighter bomber sorties were in October 1943, admittedly
delayed as the units converting to Mosquitoes had been flying
light bombers like the Ventura.
P-47 production in 1942 was 532, rising to 4,428 in 1943.
The 1943 Mosquito was the wrong aircraft to use as a long range
escort over Germany and not available in the sort of numbers
required.
Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.