Quote:
Originally Posted by Kutscha
If there were no detested heavy bombers (B-17, B-24) and their escorts (P-47, P-51) for the LW fighters to intercept, then these LW fighters would have been available to intercept the Allied dive bombers. The LW fighter force was still a viable force til ~ June 1944, not that after June 1944 it still did not have the capability to inflick losses on the Allies. It was the Allied SBC that put the LW fighter force in a death spiral to oblivion.
No SBC would have put more LW fighters over the battlefield negating the Allied air supremicy over the battlefield making it hard for Allied dive bombers to operate. If there was no SBC, there was no need for the thousands of long range fighters.
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All good points Kutscha -
The SBC, combined with long range escorts for them took the battle to Germany and gave the LW no respite. Quality of training, combined with waves of fighter pilot replacements gave 8th AF (and 15th/12th AF) the ability to fight on equal terms with skilled LW core pilots.
Quantity of high performance fighters (now combined with skilled and experienced pilots) over Germany then took the initiative away, attrition during the Battle of Germany took the core of experienced LW fighter pilots away - and rendered newer high performance German fighters less capable than they Might have been.
It was gradual until the winter/Spring 1944 when it became inexorable.