Imagine the Western Allies fighting the Luftwaffe without a numerical superiority. Imagine that there were 4,900 Luftwaffe aircraft (including 2,100 fighters) versus 4,900 Western Allied aircraft (including 2,100 fighters) in the Mediterranean in mid-1943. Is there anyone here who thinks that would not have completely altered the situation - compared to the real relation of a Western Allied numerical superiority of 7:1?
Imagine that the Luftwaffe had just as many aircraft in France as the Allied had when the Allies invaded France on 6 June 1944? Is there anyone here who doesn't think that that would have created a completely different situation?
Now assume also that it was the Luftwaffe which enjoyed a 7:1 numerical situation in the air in the Mediterranean area in mid-1943, and a 10:1 numerical superiority in the air over France in June 1944. Would that have created a completely different situation?
I ask only because I get the impression that some people here seem to dismiss the huge Western Allied numerical superiority in the air as THE decisive factor to the severe German difficulties in the air in the Med from 1943 onward and in the West in 1944 - 1945.
And please don't takl about individual air combats which might have constituted exceptions from the general rule. The vast Western Allied numerical superiority in the air in the Med from 1943 onward and in the West in 1944 - 1945 is a fact which can't be dismissed by pointing at a few accounts from one of the warring sides.
Remember - this is just a hobby, so stayr calm and remain friends!
All best,
Christer Bergström