Quote:
Originally Posted by Juha
Now they used fighter bombers in WWII and LW used them in Spanish Civil War, He 51s.
On Poland's AA defences, IIRC they had some 380 40mm Bofors AA guns etc.
"army had been abandoned by the RAF at Dunkirk."
Now I'd say that that is a one-sided statement when one thinks the air combats over Dunkerque.
"IL-2 were bombers which could survive over the battlefield and not fighter-bombers which could not survive..."
Now Il-2 losses were very heavy and without better fighter escorts would have been even disasterous because Bf109 with gun gondolas or Fw190 could shoot them down, I'll not say easily but without too much difficulties. And Il-2s were vulnerable to AAA fire from 20mm upwards. Of course they were "harder" targets than fighter bombers and were practically invulnerable to rifle and 7 - 8mm mg fire which could be deadly to fighter-bombers. But on other hand fighter-bombers were less vulnerable to enemy fighters.
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1. He51s were used to drop bombs, IIRC, in the Spanish Civil War after they were retired as frontline fighters. Instead of being scrapped they were turned into bombers. By that time bombers like the Battle and Blenheim, Do17 and He111 outperformed the He51. The He51 was no longer a fighter. That was how the Typhoon became a so-called fighter-bomber. It had inadequate performance at altitude for a fighter so should have been scrapped.
2. But do you know how the Polish Bofors performed? Were they a factor on the Bzura? I believe they were not. On the other hand it is possible that the destruction of the Polish army on the Bzura was not due to the LW but to Wehrmacht artillery. That was the conclusion of Operational Research when 2-TAF's claims in the Falaise Pocket in 1944 were checked. This would probably not have been done on the Bzura so we'll never know. But the LW believed its intervention on the Bzura had been significant.
3. The army from Alanbrooke down to the squaddie believed they had been abandoned by the RAF at Dunkirk. Whether it was true or not, I leave it to the experts to determine. But the army believed it and campaigned strongly for an army air corps equipped with dive-bombers. They might even have succeeded if Montgomery had not pulled the rug from under Alanbrooke by agreeing with Tedder that the RAF was delivering good tactical support in North Africa, which remains debateable. The compromise was 2-TAF.
4. Agreed the IL-2 needed fighter protection. All bombers did. But so did the Typhoon on the rare occasions when it encountered Bf109 and Fw190. The RP rails reduced the Typhoon's performance and it could not defend itself from the air, while its lack of armour made it vulnerable to ground fire. It was grossly inaccurate in ground attack with rockets according to contemporary Operational Research. It was therefore good for nothing.