Impact of Allied fighter-bombers

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by tcolvin

Surely the 400mph Typhoon was vulnerable to the 452mph Bf109K, to the 472mph FwTa152C, to the 474 mph Ar335, and to the 541mph Me262. It was another myth, and RAF rationalisation, that the fighter-bomber could revert to being a fighter and defend itself. For a start the RP rails could not be jettisoned.

Pierre Clostermann flew the 440mph Tempest, and said this about the Typhoons' vulnerability in February 1945 in his book 'The Big Show'; "Typhoon formations frequently lost six or seven machines out of twelve in encounters with Fw190s and Bf109s. The Spitfire was powerless. It was to remedy this state of affairs that 122 Wing was sent to Volkel equipped with Tempests. It was a crack unit and on it depended the entire offensive and tactical system of the British front".

Maximum speeds like that are ideal figures for lightly-loaded aircraft (no ammunition) at given heights, all of which will be different, and there is no precise correlation with "real" combat. How about applying the "what actually happened test?"

In the air, the Typhoon was completely invulnerable to the Ar 234 which was unarmed apart from its bombs; there were never more than about 16 Ta 152s in service at any time, so they weren't much of a threat. Me 262s in tactical roles in the West were bomber and recon aircraft, which very occasionally brought down an Allied fighter but it was not their job. Which leaves the Fw 190 A-8/9 (the former not radically dissimilar in performance to a Typhoon, I think, but I'd need to check) the Fw 190 D-9 and the Bf 109 G-10, G-14 and K-4.

BTW, not all Typhoons carried RPs, many carried bombs.

Clostermann's book is a brilliant read, conveying how it all felt but far from reliable when it comes to what happened (see many previous posts). If you want some firmer numbers, check out the losses and claims by 2 TAF Typhoon, Spitfire (Mks. IX, XIV and XVI) and Tempest units (Shores & Thomas provide the necessary data). I think you'll find that all were getting kills right to the last and rarely if ever suffering losses on the dramatic scale Clostermann describes.

Also check out daily losses and claims by Luftwaffenkommando West (translated sitreps for February & March 1945 are available in the National Archives in the AIR20 series) which also include Flak claims some of the time. Units primarily engaged against 2 TAF were JG 26 and JG 27 while JG 2 and JG 53 faced the Americans for the most part. What comes home is how frequently German fighter formations were getting slaughtered for little or no success in return.