Gents,
Slightly off topic, but I could not help but reply to some of the above posts. Other than a brief mention of RAF Fighter Command it seems to me that ALL credit for the demise of the German fighter arm is accredited to the US 8th and 15th Airforce’s.
I am not a Fighter Command researcher, my field is Bomber Commands bitter and costly bomber campaign. ( stay there I here you say.
) However from the little I know I feel Fighter Commands contribution is too easily dismissed. The air-war, or more specifically the gradual attrition of German fighters over Northern Europe did not start with the arrival of the P51 or P47, I was under the obviously misguided assumption it started in 1941 with the fighter sweeps carried out by Fighter Command. I freely admit that the losses were not on the scale of those submitted by the US, nevertheless losses were suffered by the G.A, including a number of respected German pilots prior to the arrival of the P47 & P51.
RAF Fighter Commands daily sweeps MUST have had an impact on the Germans effectiveness and efficiency.
So come on chaps, credit were credit is due, Fighter Command was also there.
These are my opinions, so I expect the experts to "shoot me down in flames". Pardon the pun.
Smudger