"Herman" wrote in message
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"arjay" schreef in bericht
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"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
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Robert Sveinson wrote:

RAF accuracy was as good if not better than that of
the USAAF if the target was vivible.

Did the USAAF precisely hit any target such as
the TIRPITZ, the Dortmund Ems canal,
the Saumur Tunnel, various Gestapo buildings,
the Antheor Viaduct, Amiens Prison?

Yes.

No! I have never heard of any!

That you haven't heard of any does not mean it didn't occur, it means
you're ignorant.

Then -- with respect -- it seems your place to provide enlightenment.
If Robert Sveinson is ignorant because he has not heard of "any" USAAF
achievements of precision strikes, one bomb per aircraft, in the ETO then
this implies that there were several such strikes. And your calling him
"ignorant" suggests you know of at least two of them.
Where, and when did they occur?

And suddenly it became very quiet.

Reason? The USAF only started using precision bombing in Vietnam (in the
sixties) when they realised that:
1. Carpet bombing did not make them very popular with the local people;
2. Carpet bombing ws not very effective;
3. Precison bombing was the only effective way of taking out specific
targets (the Paul Doumer bridge for instance).

Well ... as to starting precision bombing only in Viet Nam ... not quite.
The U.S.A.A.F. did make a few attempts during WW2, largely prompted by
Germany's use of the anti-shipping Henschel glide bomb.
The U.S. developed and used two guided bombs -- the AZON (AZimuth ONly)
radio-controlled weapon and the Bat glide-bomb, which was radar-controlled.
The AZON was used, with limited success, in the ETO against a few bridges.
The device was a tail attachment for a standard 1,000-lb bomb, and it took
several hits from those things to knock down a bridge. No 'one bomb per
aircraft' successes there.
The AZON was also used in the PTO against bridges on the Burma railway.
Such reports as I can find indicate it usually took three or four hits to
knock down a bridge there. I can find nothing indicating how many were
dropped, but missed their targets, nor any identification of which bridges
were attacked.
The Bat glide-bomb -- which depended on centimetric radar, and thus couldn't
have been built without British research into the cavity magnetron -- was
not a great success. Intended as an anti-shipping weapon for the Pacific,
it kept hitting trees, coral reefs and anything large along a coastline.
The USAF did try some precision attacks during the Korean affair -- six
bridges were claimed destroyed by the so-called Tarzon bomb. That was an
improved AZON system attached to -- guess what? -- the British Tallboy bomb.

Regards,
Herman