erroneous, that the choice of the stream
stragegy
was not the best decision at times when a loose gaggle and varying run-in
headings and altitudes between the 2-4 airgraft groupings would have been
more effective.

The goal of the stream tactic was to overload the German
night defences. These were not very efficient, for initially
the German ground control needed two radars to bring about
an interception (one to track the fighter, one to track the bomber)
and by concentrating the bombers in a dense stream, the number
of bombers that could be intercepted by a system of limited
capacity fell. Later on, German tactics were much looser and
more effective, but the concentration of the stream probably
helped to concentrate the ECM efforts that had to be applied to
keep the German controllers in the desired state of confusion.

--
Emmanuel Gustin
Emmanuel dot Gustin @t skynet dot be
Flying Guns Books and Site: http://users.skynet.be/Emmanuel.Gustin/



In my flying days the tactic was to vary the run-in headings for exactly the
same reason, to keep the gunners guessing in where to aim. Forces the gunners
to go to more barrage firing. Radar aimed guns were another mater but not that
difficult to defeat with jamming systems. The danger of a midair is always
present with that tactic but in practice wasn't an issue. Only problem was
rejoining after coming off the target.