[drgondog]

Nick - the 'why so many types' answer is just what you said - fight with what you have and then concentrate on the best mix.

The 9th AF was originally going to be equipped with Mustangs and as I recall only the 354th was still equipped with P-51's until forced to fly P-47's in November through Feburay, 1945.

The 8th AF was going to increase the P-38 inventory and had planned on the 38 as the 'long range escort'. The failure of the P-38/Allison engines over cold northern Europe coupled with the incredible potential offered by the Mustang when the 354th FG came to Europe in December 1943 and was loaned to 8th AF - caused the massive inventory juggle.

Doolitle swapped the 358th in exchange for the 357th FG and the inbound stream of P-51's destined for the 9th AF were switched to the 8th. P-38's and P-47's for the 8th AF were diverted to the 9th AF and 12th and 15th until there were enough Mustangs to go around for long range escort duties.

As to the bombers.. The B-24 performed better than the B-17 in all respects except performance above 20,000 feet and durability...so the Pacific Theatre got the majority of the B-24's and the ETO got a majority of the B-17's until there was enough to go around. Then more and more B-24's came into the ETO.

The B-26 was a better bomber than the B-25 but there were still a lot of B-25's around in 1943 when the 26's started coming on board in significant numbers.. ditto the A-26 which replaced both the B-25 and A-20's.

At the end of the day, strategic interests dictated the diversion to Mustangs to 8th and 12th and 15th AF's, while low level performance (and perceived low level survivability/load capability) dictated the mix for tactical air with P-38's and P-47's.

You could ask the same questions re: armament, as you did for the P-39, but focus on USN doctrine versus the USAAF. The USAAF finally standardized on the .50 Cal with only two exceptions - the P-38 and the P-61. The Iron Dog P-39/400's went to Russia where they were loved...and thus removed the 37mm from the inventory

But the Navy had a mix of 30 cal (SBD and SB2C rear gunner) 50 cal (most other forward firing weapons), 20mm (mix of F4U's between USN and USMC - and I think the F7F at end of war)

After 1943 I don't understand why anything less than 50 cal was on any a/c

Regards,

Bill