Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurfürst
I've always wondered why this was so; there's an early war propaganda picture showing two 109Es in flight, and the leader is flying a cannon E-3 while the wingman an all-MG E-1.
I was wondering if there was some tactical doctrine behind it, stipulating that the leader responsible for the attack will be flying a heavier armed aircraft, with armament suitable against bombers, while a wingman with an armament more suitable against fighters will be protecting him..? It should be noted that it was an exception for a fighter to be armored until mid-1940, so MG armament would be still effective. IMHO it would worth looking at if JGs were equipped in such fashion, with an equal mix of E-1s and E-3s.
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Ranks (or position) hath its privileges.
Leading pilots just picked up the newer and better crates, the wing men and newbies were assigned what was left, more often than not the hand me downs.
However there was a concept of light and heavy fighters (no, the latter not being the Zerstoerer). The E-5 was originally planned (iirc) as the light fighter next to the E-4. All from memory, so shoot me down in flames if I am contrary to spec.
BTW I agree that the RAF was running behind with its all LMG armament, not in the forefront.
Ruy