New Military History Blog - first post about loss of Ju 188 in the East in 1944

[Nick Beale]

A couple of observations:

"Attempts by the Luftwaffe to employ the Ju 188 as a bomber essentially ended in summer 1944." It would perhaps be clearer (and fairer on the Ju 188!) to relate this to the deactivation of the bulk of the conventional bomber force in the late summer/early autumn of 1944.

Re the vulnerablity of the Ju 188 to the Yak-7b, there's more to it, I suggest, than which was the faster. First, aircraft very rarely fly flat-out, and if they do it's not usually for long. Second, to intercept a reconnaissance aircraft one has first to see it coming, then get off the ground, then start climbing to its altitude, after which one has to manoeuvre into an attacking position (which can take a while), and have enough fuel to do all this. All in the hope that the Ju 188 doesn't evade you in the meantime (in cloud for example) or make effective use of its two rear-firing MG 131s.

I don't know how well a Yak-7b performed at high altitude but Soviet fighters are often said (fairly or not?) to have been best at low-medium level.