Allied air superiority in 1944: P-47 D Razorback decided it?

[drgondog]

Paul - I agree your points, reserve judgment regarding true potential of LW had POINTBLANK not been successful - but I am laboring under the weight of Opinion in this matter.

As to 'Transition' during P-47/P-38 to P-51. It varied only for one Fighter Group, namely the 4th. Its first Mustang mission was all P-51 on 28 February, 1944. They had the advantage of borrowing all of the 355th FG inventory (scheduled originally to be in front of the 4th FG) to achieve an inventory of 50 ships on the eve of the 27th. They put up 35 and had several aborts. The 339th was completely set up for P-51s and never flew either P-47s or P-38s after arrival in England in February 1944. They flew an all P-51 mission on their first - April 30, 1944.

All other transitions were 'partial' first time deployments with mixed task forces of same type, i.e - one P-51 FS while the other two, then one FS were composed of P-47s. The 355th flew one squadron P-51 on March 8, one on March 9 - with the other two flying P-47s.