|
Re: Fairey Battle as an RAF Sturmovik?
My mistake re the Merlin, but then the original Allison engine had an initial rating of 1,000 hp.
It's my belief that the RAF took on the Battle as a monoplane replacement for the Hawker Hart types etc and used it too conventionally and never considered other front line uses. This IMHO was because the RAF didn't think in such agressive terms as the Luftwaffe and Russian Air Force, who had both fought in the Spanish Civil War.
The RAF didn't bomb Germany proper until approx 6 months after WW2 began out of respect for civilians, so I doubt they considered it 'gentlemenly' to strafe the hell out of roads and railways in 1940.
__________________
Larry Hayward
|