US Strategic Bombing Survey No59 - a questionable statement about 1-seat fighters production

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hi Lynn,

thank you a lot for the pointing to T77-0032. A very interesting roll.

Originally Posted by lritger

On page 83 we find a line concerning the Bf 109

page 86, not 83

Since the document is dated 9.Nov.44, it is clear that the figures for November-December were projected indeed.

October 1944:
1642 Bf109 accepted by Luftwaffe (or, more accurately, so many Bf109s went through Lw.Gen.Qu, there could have been more in total) - according to RL2-VI/202;
1836 Zellen of Bf109 were produced, according to R3/1926.

So the 2,350 Zellen planned for Nov.44 don't seem like such a fantastic number. Undoubtedly, in reality they were produced much less, but other German plans during this period also came true poorly.

Originally Posted by lritger

Seems like we can't entirely discount the possibility that Army leadership said "Hey guys, just hang on, we're going to be seeing thousands of Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfs ANY DAY NOW"

I think at that time the role of the last hope (game-changer) was performed by the mythical Wunderwaffe, and not by the countless fighters that were about to appear. But this, of course, is just a guess.

Cheers,
Andrey