Quote:
Originally Posted by drgondog
I would disagree that the Invasion Front battles were decisive in comparison to March-May, 1944 in which the Mustang dominated the skies all over Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the LuftFlotte Reich was having great difficulty in achieving success even when they could place 300-400 day fighters on one Bomb Division.
As to the question of the P-47D vs P-51B/C vs P-51D comparision? There is no comparison to the effectiveness of the P-51B in the advancement of US Strategic Bombing objectives - namely POINTBLANK - Destruction of the Luftwaffe in the air, on the ground and at the manufacturing centers (including oil).
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Hello drgondog,
Thank you for your very interesting post. I have also been researching these issues, from the perspective of Luftwaffe resource distribution. I would say that the crisis for the Luftwaffe came earlier than 1944. As an illustration, below are percentage losses per quarter for Luftwaffe Befehlshaber Mitte and Luftflotte Reich, from Don Caldwell's
Day Fighters:
Q3 43: 21%
Q4 43: 58.4%
Q1 44: 102.8%
Q2 44: 188.2%
The 21% losses in the third quarter of 1943 would have been considered unsustainable by any RAF or USAAF force, including the strategic bomber forces.
I will add a couple more thoughts later, I have also sent you a private message.
Regards,
Paul