In article , Emmanuel.Gustin
writes
Dave Eadsforth wrote:

: Yes, the success of agents like 'Garbo' in feeding duff stuff to the
: German High Command was remarkable.

The familiar problem, as far as I know:
Too many different intelligence services, every
one a part of the personal empire of a different
Nazi leader, and unwilling or unable to cooperate.
And of course the 'Abwehr' leaked like a sieve.

The Germans did produce recce versions of fighters,
usually with fewer guns and more fuel; in addition
to cameras of course. But I suspect the Bf 109 was
just less adaptable to the task than the Spitfire.
It was even smaller.

The Spitfire had inherited a D-shaped leading edge
structure from its direct ancestor, the Supermarine
227, which used this as a condensor for its
steam-cooled Goshawk engine. This made a great fuel
tank for the long-range reconnaissance versions.
With better fuel and more powerful engines, these
models could also operate at higher weights and
reach higher altitudes than Bf 109s.

On the other hand Ju 88s were less suitable for
reconnaissance than Mosquitoes, because they were
bigger and slower. Still, the Germans did develop
a high-performance recce aircraft in the Ar 234A.

Emmanuel Gustin

Thanks for that!

Re. the Ar 234A, I believe that this machine made a number of attacks on
the UK, but I do not know when. Do you happen to have any rough dates?

Also, do you happen to know if the Ar 234 (of any mark) was ever used as
a recce machine over the UK prior to D-Day?

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth