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Re: Placing the Fairey Battle.
No bomber in the early phase of the war was able to "fit intended purposes" and "were either removed from service or send to other duties". However this is very much a blanket statement. Since RAF and Luftwaffe bombers couldn't fulfil the vision of unescorted bombing and winning wars in a few days.
But not even the B-17 was able to fulfil its intended* purpose and tactics had to be adjusted. And even if accepting that fact it may have had more to do with the output of new a/c and aircrew than tactics, thus winning a battle of attrition.
The Ju 87 was a specialist a/c, just like the A-10. In the Gulf the latter was a great success, but I always wonder about its intended mission, protecting the Fulda Gap against a Soviet onslaught, facing an umbrella of (then) modern SAM and AAA and aerial opposition. We'll never know...
*actually its official design made it a coastal bomber, but during the NEI campaign it was less successful than the obsolete B-10/12 fulfilling intended purpose.
__________________
Ruy Horta
12 O'Clock High!
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death;
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