Cobras, Mustangs, Thunderbolts, Eastern vs Western front, Franek vs ...

[drgondog]

Originally Posted by kalender1973

Kutscha, and you will say, this few dosen(s) wipped out the germans from the sky? How many german planes claims the 4, 354,356 FG on 6.03.1944? 30-35? My point is that the key for air superiority for the west ally was also the numerical superiority and not a single plane type. That was german idea with a few planes reach victory in air war: Me-262. The result is well known.

The 353rd was a P-47 Group until Dec 1944, the 354FG , 363FG and 4th FG and 357FG were only Mustang Groups.. this was first Mustang combat encounter for 4th FG who actually learned to fly the airplane only two days before.

The 354FG lost 1 air, 2 weather for 8 air awards
The 363FG lost 11 in weather over North Sea - worst day for 8th AF FC in war.
The 4FG lost 3 air (1 M/A/C with shot down Me 110, 2 shot down by Do 217 gunners), one mechanical for 15 air awards
357FG zero losses - for 18 air awards.

Actually, in my opinion Franek is right. The four Mustang and two operational P-38 Groups were all that was available to engage the LuftFlotte Reich on March 6 beyond Dummer Lake. By the end of April the 355th, 352nd would add their Mustangs and the 364th would add one more Lightning Group.

The P-47s did not perform Target Escort, only Penetration and Withdrawal. The Battle of Germany was in the very few hands of five Mustan Groups and three Lightning Groups. The Mustangs were THE major contributors to the defeat of the Luftwaffe over Germany and achieving air superiority.

In all, the 8th AF Merlin Mustang only flew half the sorties, destroyed approximately twice the German fighters in the air than the P-38 and P-47 Combined, destroyed three times as many German fighters on the ground as the P-47/P-38s combined, and lost the same amount of Mustangs in air battles as the P-47/P-38 Combined.http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o...OPERATIONS.pdf



Yes, the Target Escort available during 1944 NEVER exceeded the number of single engine day fighters in LuftFlotte Reich until December when the 78th and 353rd converted to P-51s. The LW was also able to try to form masses of fighters and focus on imperfect fighter escort coverage, achiving great local numerical advantage over the Target Escorts.

Do the math. at the end of May 1944, approximately 6 Mustang and 3 Lightning Groups (~ 40-50 effectives per Group) were available to escort 3 Bomb Divisions of 500 bombers each over 40-50 miles to and from the Target... so approx 150 fighters to protect 40 miles of imperfect formations of 500 bombers per Division.

Regards,

Bill


The Luftwaffe claimed 5 Mustangs for 6 March - not 30-35.