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

[drgondog]

I have devoted a lot of time on this subject and have some ideas on the subject.

in the first six months of 1944 the p-47d and p-51 and p-38 achieved the following air victory credits - all during the battle of Germany for control of the air over strategic targets. Source USAF Study 85 for Air Victory Credits - WWII. It includes both 8th and 9th AF VC's and for the 9th AF, all VC's were credited on escort missions - mostly 8th AF support through June 5, 1944.

P-47D 560VC in Q1, 409 in Q2
P-38J 88VC in Q1, 90 in Q2
P-51B/C 389VC in Q1 and 972 in Q2

The notable facet of these engagements is that starting in mid 1943 through early June 1944, the LW started the migration from the Ost and Sud front of 33+ Staffels moved into Lwbh Mitte, then LuftFlotte Reich, which was constituted to defend the Reich against the 8th AF daylight incursions.


What happened during that period is that the Luftwaffe was severely gutted of experienced leaders and wingmen during the daylight battles over Brunswick, Berlin, Leipzig, Halberstadt, Ludwigshafen, Schweinfurt, Munich, Merseburg, Misburg - all east of the P-47 Combat radius (and far east of RAF). Only the P-38J -15 introduced in March (two P-38 FG's in October and December had the shorter range P-38H) and the P-51B introduced in December, 1943 could penetrate the line of Me 110s' and Fw 190s and Bf 109s that retreated out of range of the P-47D.

The Normandy Invasion, as Graham noted, was remarkable in that many of the units in LuftFlotte Reich were deployed to attempt to disrupt the skies over the Invasion Front - and thus subjected to the entire Day fighter strength of RAF, 8th and 9th AF - but IMO, the end of LW effectiveness was closed in May, 1944. There was never a case of more than one 8 % losses in an 8th AF strategic strike after April 29 (May 12) and none more than 5% for the rest of the war.

I would disagree that the Invasion Front battles were decisive in comparison to March-May, 1944 in which the Mustang dominated the skies all over Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the LuftFlotte Reich was having great difficulty in achieving success even when they could place 300-400 day fighters on one Bomb Division.

As to the question of the P-47D vs P-51B/C vs P-51D comparision? There is no comparison to the effectiveness of the P-51B in the advancement of US Strategic Bombing objectives - namely POINTBLANK - Destruction of the Luftwaffe in the air, on the ground and at the manufacturing centers (including oil).

[Paul Thompson]

Originally Posted by drgondog

I would disagree that the Invasion Front battles were decisive in comparison to March-May, 1944 in which the Mustang dominated the skies all over Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the LuftFlotte Reich was having great difficulty in achieving success even when they could place 300-400 day fighters on one Bomb Division.

As to the question of the P-47D vs P-51B/C vs P-51D comparision? There is no comparison to the effectiveness of the P-51B in the advancement of US Strategic Bombing objectives - namely POINTBLANK - Destruction of the Luftwaffe in the air, on the ground and at the manufacturing centers (including oil).

Hello drgondog,

Thank you for your very interesting post. I have also been researching these issues, from the perspective of Luftwaffe resource distribution. I would say that the crisis for the Luftwaffe came earlier than 1944. As an illustration, below are percentage losses per quarter for Luftwaffe Befehlshaber Mitte and Luftflotte Reich, from Don Caldwell's Day Fighters:
Q3 43: 21%
Q4 43: 58.4%
Q1 44: 102.8%
Q2 44: 188.2%

The 21% losses in the third quarter of 1943 would have been considered unsustainable by any RAF or USAAF force, including the strategic bomber forces.

I will add a couple more thoughts later, I have also sent you a private message.

Regards,

Paul