[tcolvin]

Kutscha; your comments reveal misunderstandings.

1. Agreed, that since there were so few Ta152s, and little petrol, nothing much mattered any more.

2. 2TAF did not operate "war-weary a/c", but rather obsolescent designs.
The Typhoon was designed as an air-superiority fighter, and replaced in that role by the Tempest V. But instead of shutting down Typhoon manufacture, the Typhoon IB continued to be built as an inaccurate fighter-bomber for the reasons given by the RAF - stable platform, reliable, big lift, infrastructure in place, etc, etc. Retired air-superiority fighter is surely the right description. RAF convenience trumped military need. The interesting question is how the RAF managed, and still manages, to get away with it.

3. You can be sure that 250lb and 500lb bombs could destroy 'power station complexes' with catastrophic results for the Germans, because the Strategic Bombing Survey said so. Destruction of the five largest German stations would have removed 8% of installed capacity; 45 plants 33%; and 95 plants over 50%. As little as one 500-lb bomb per acre of plant area would have disrupted operations for months, and 1,000 lbs of bombs per acre put the plant out of operation for 6 months to a year or longer. All these tonnages are in the Strategic Bombing Survey, which stated that, “all evidence indicates that the destruction of such installations would have a catastrophic effect on Germany’s war production.” The reason why electricity generating stations are peculiarly vulnerable to small bombs is because it takes only a small shock to disturb the rotor on its bearings, requiring plant shutdown until the bearings are repaired/replaced/re-balanced. The consequences of instantaneous removal of a power station is a nightmare for balancing the load within the distribution grid. And remember, once the Ruhr, or any of the other grids, had been brought down, any attempt to re-start could have been detected by aircraft fitted with equipment to detect the electro-magnetic radiation of the high voltage transmission lines, and triggered the return of the dive-bombers. The Germans could not have won this battle.

Tony