I made this just to have a better view of the max. ranges of the US Escort Fighters that were protecting the B-17 bombing raids.
If you see any mistake or such, please let me know. I compiled the ranges from a few different sources.
USAAF Escort Fighter Ranges
I made this just to have a better view of the max. ranges of the US Escort Fighters that were protecting the B-17 bombing raids.
If you see any mistake or such, please let me know. I compiled the ranges from a few different sources.
Last edited by Honza; 03-14-2021 at 14:15.
I added some typical target sites.
Does anybody know what airports the Escort Fighters used to start from?
Last edited by Honza; 03-13-2021 at 09:30.
Hi Honza,
I like this very much
cheers,
Guus
"zet 'm op ... witte muizen !" (strijdkreet van 1e JaVa, Luchtvaart Afdeling, Nederland 1940)
"let's go get them ... white mice !" (battlecry of the 1st Fighter Group, Army Air Force, Netherlands 1940)
This basically answers most of my questions, and i am gonna implement it to my picture.
A similar map to the first one appears in this book:
A very good book, but it has a 1974 copyright date so more recent activity is missing. I would love to see an updated version of this book.
One question I have to ask why didn't they move the escort fighter basses into France for the escort duty?
Probably full of ground support for the front Mike, many of them had to work out of made up fields so wouldn't have had the airfields required for full escort units. Don't suppose the Germans left much useable as they retreated either.
Sapiens qui vigilat... "He is wise who watches"
Originally Posted by Mike George
they did eventually.
great work as always!
It looks like P-47 and P-38 Escorts were available earlier than what it states in the first post.
http://www.8thafhsoregon.com/8th/
"FRIDAY, 2 OCTOBER 1942
(ETO) Eighth Air Force: Mission 13: 61 bombers and 54 fighters are dispatched to attack 3 targets in France;
1 fighter is lost:
1. 32 of 43 B-17s dispatched hit the Avions Potez aircraft factory at Meaulte; they claim 4-9-5 aircraft; 6 B-17s are damaged; 3 airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 31 P-38s; 1 P-38 is lost.
2. 6 of 6 B-17s fly a diversionary missions to St Omer/Longuenesse Airfield; they claim 5-4-4 aircraft. Escort is provided by 23 Spitfires; they claim 4-0-1 aircraft without loss.
3. 11 of 12 unescorted DB-7s attack a ship in a dock at Le Havre without loss."
That looks like P-38s were escorting yet before P-47s, although sporadically. Spits did most of the job in 1942.
Last edited by Honza; 03-14-2021 at 06:56.
Both responses are correct: the real reason is infrastructure. Until the Allies were able to capture and clear Atlantic ports, even their highly-developed over-the-beach logistics systems and PLUTO were unable to keep up with demand. What stopped most of the Allies ground offensives were in fact, a lack of supplies, and even those take priority over developing infrastructure for fighter bases. But given enough time, yes, they did rebuild and use a lot of the French/Belgium/Dutch bases. To my memory (and yes, I could be wrong here, even), the Allies did not try and build heavy bomber bases in Western Europe (though they did find it useful to build heavy bomber bases in Italy, for raids from Southern Europe, not only into Germany, but also into the Balkans, and the like.)
the usaaf also had engineer units specialized in building rough forward air bases for use until more conventional bases could be put into use. the main limiting factor was how secure an area was and supply levels.
I suspect coordinating the forming up of the various groups may have had something to do with it also.
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks