Quoting Tony …
"Jim Oxley gave the same answer as I would have made to Nick Beale."
I'm not sure how what Jim said was an answer to my point. Had you used the Vengeance in Europe in 1943 or '44, I'd imagine it would have not have been self-defending, so it's arguable how much of the existing tactical fighter force could have been dispensed with/replaced. They'd still have been needed for escort/air superiority work.
"To my knowledge the FW-190 failed to knock out Nijmegen Bridge and Remagen Bridge, and not through want of trying."
Sonderverband Einhorn did manage to put a couple of holes in one of the Nijmegen bridges, rendering it u/s for a day or so but they didn't try a second time. The problem of destroying bridges was never really solved until the first laser-guided weapons in the Vietnam War — you really need to hit the right structural spot, not just perforate the decking.
Can I change the question? Why did the USAAF give up on the A-36 in favour of the P-47?
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