Quote:
Originally Posted by John Vasco
Tony,
..........
I think we may be moving closer in our views as the posts progress..
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Yes, but I feel big differences remain.
This Jabo topic is frankly mind-bending for me. I wish it would go away.
But as they say, 'no pain, no gain'.
Where are we?
1. There is the LW/Heer component, with Kesselring taking seriously his responsibility to help the Wehrmacht - and to retain operational control of his fighters.
2. There is Kutscha's statement that there were Jabos in WWI, and that WWII Jabos were 'just a continuation'.
3. There is your statement that Jabo development was 'evolutionary' and 'natural'.
4. There is Brian's suggestion that perhaps there was not one Jabo but many Jabos depending on their use.
Like most, I have strong views on all of this, and would like the matter resolved.
There is, AFAIK, no definitive study of this topic, although a lot has been published and is known because of the work by distinguished members of this forum.
My approach is different, coming from a study of Wehrmacht/SHAEF comparative effectiveness in 1944/5 when "the (Allied) air side stank beyond belief' (page 49 of Beevor's 'D-Day').
A major key to understanding this stench is the Luftwaffe, and particularly the Jabo development in 1939/40.
If participants are interested in thrashing this subject out, then surely a new thread should be started.
I am interested in answering these questions, among others;
What is a Jabo? (For example, should the definition in 1944 include the Hs 123 of 4./SG 2 and the Hawker Typhoon 1B of 193 Squadron - both retired air-superiority fighters fitted with bombs to save them from the scrap-heap - and Schenck's Me 262s of KG 1?)
Why did von Richthofen in 1917 refuse to partake in ground attack, and state; 'The duty of the Jaeger is to patrol his area of sky, and shoot down enemy fighters in that area. Everything else is rubbish.'
Why did Galland state in 1940; 'We Jaeger looked upon the violation of our aircraft with great bitterness. We had done everything to increase our performance.... the fighter was made into a Jabo as a stopgap and a scapegoat'.
How did Yakovlev get away with refusing to add bomb racks to his Yak 9 and instead designing a Yak 9B Jabo?
Why did the RAF, with British and US industry to call upon, imitate the LW's ersatz Jabo?
Tony