And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Bomber Command had a number of 'ton-up' bombers that flew 100 missions or more. One was The Phantom of The Ruhr that completed 121 before being lost when the pilot overshot the runway. Al_in_Ottawa
Single pilot too. Complete crew to employ it in combat, but no right seater. I’d be hoping a couple of the other guys got some stick time & learned to keep it controlled if not to land it.
They made it through that many missions because they only bombed at night. The US tried this and found it to be wildly inaccurate. The US went to daylight raids, and their losses went up, but they had better success at taking out targets. That's why the US crews went home after just 25.
The RAF bought B17s and tried daylight bombing in 1941. The losses were so high (8 out of 20 lost in 3 missions) for so few bombs on target that they chose night bombing. The surviving B17s were given to Coastal Command for anti-submarine patrols over the North Atlantic. Al_in_Ottawa
The RAF losses were awful and relative safety at night was a myth. The German night fighters were very effective and came close to winning the battle. The worrying thing is that its unclear whether the night campaign made much difference to the war's outcome. The US did the damage to fuel supplies and gained air superiority by day with their supposed precision strikes. Flattening cities was probably not as effective but there's no doubting the courage of the crews.
www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205452638
ReplyDeleteBomber Command had a number of 'ton-up' bombers that flew 100 missions or more. One was The Phantom of The Ruhr that completed 121 before being lost when the pilot overshot the runway.
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
looks overly complicated
ReplyDeleteDropped a lot of tonnage....................
ReplyDeleteBomber by Len Deighton is the first thing I thought of when I saw that pix...
ReplyDeleteSingle pilot too. Complete crew to employ it in combat, but no right seater. I’d be hoping a couple of the other guys got some stick time & learned to keep it controlled if not to land it.
ReplyDeleteThey made it through that many missions because they only bombed at night. The US tried this and found it to be wildly inaccurate. The US went to daylight raids, and their losses went up, but they had better success at taking out targets. That's why the US crews went home after just 25.
ReplyDeleteThe RAF bought B17s and tried daylight bombing in 1941. The losses were so high (8 out of 20 lost in 3 missions) for so few bombs on target that they chose night bombing. The surviving B17s were given to Coastal Command for anti-submarine patrols over the North Atlantic.
DeleteAl_in_Ottawa
The RAF losses were awful and relative safety at night was a myth. The German night fighters were very effective and came close to winning the battle. The worrying thing is that its unclear whether the night campaign made much difference to the war's outcome. The US did the damage to fuel supplies and gained air superiority by day with their supposed precision strikes. Flattening cities was probably not as effective but there's no doubting the courage of the crews.
Delete