Luftwaffe Myths

[Kildlawyrs]

"What you do not know is the content of the PM that passed between myself and the forum owner regarding the initial thrust/purpose of the thread. If you did, then my post #18 would make more sense".


Well since in fact I was the initial poster to this thread, I would be very interested in knowing what was passed back and forth. As you may recall, I received a surprising and extraordinarily hostile number of responses to my original posting (quite a welcome!). Now I am not some kind of panty waist who runs in terror anytime somone disagrees with me, but I have gone back and read, and re-read and re-re-read my initial posting, and I'm damned if I can find what upset some people so. If the Luftwaffe in its totality cannot be discussed here, then why are we all here in the first place? Very odd.

This is the Luftwaffe Discussion forum, right?

p.s. Even my screen name was attacked...!!?

[Six Nifty .50s]

When the escorting fighters were totally cut loose from the bombers, the fighters were not performing the escort function. They were instead freelancing, not unlike a basketball player who competes mainly to increase his personal score, and who seems to believe that he can defeat the other team by himself.

Some of the best-known fighter pilots appeared to place more emphasis on personal achievement than team goals. They may have said otherwise, but actions speak louder than words.

Some pilots in the USAAF and Luftwaffe felt that "releasing the hounds" was not the best solution to a long term problem. The main effect was that a small majority of fighter pilots greatly increased their tally of enemy aircraft shot down, or strafed on the ground. Unfortunately, it also caused more own losses than necessary.

Better to keep the dogs on a leash, they said, because the whole point of escort fighters was: prevent enemy fighters from interfering with the air strikes. It did not matter how many enemy fighters were shot down. But it did matter when the enemy broke through the escorts, or found a hole in the coverage because some of the escorts were off on a hunting trip.

The escorts could not fly too close to the bombers either. They required some flexibility as Adolf Galland and Hubert Zemke rightly noted, but just how far away they should be allowed to stray was a major point of contention.

[Ruy Horta]

Originally Posted by Kildlawyrs

"What you do not know is the content of the PM that passed between myself and the forum owner regarding the initial thrust/purpose of the thread. If you did, then my post #18 would make more sense".


Well since in fact I was the initial poster to this thread, I would be very interested in knowing what was passed back and forth. As you may recall, I received a surprising and extraordinarily hostile number of responses to my original posting (quite a welcome!). Now I am not some kind of panty waist who runs in terror anytime somone disagrees with me, but I have gone back and read, and re-read and re-re-read my initial posting, and I'm damned if I can find what upset some people so. If the Luftwaffe in its totality cannot be discussed here, then why are we all here in the first place? Very odd.

This is the Luftwaffe Discussion forum, right?

p.s. Even my screen name was attacked...!!?

You don't upset people, it takes but a click to end any unwanted participation in this community.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.
Unfortunately your entry, nickname and reaction seem to fit the profile of a troll.

Of course this believe may be unjustified, and that's why you get the chance to proof it wrong.