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On Mon, 24 May 2004 16:21:20 -0500, "Dan Luke"
wrote: wrote: There weren't that many German night fighters so if the entire bomber swarm passed through the sector together, the night fighter would not get an opportunity to attack multiple targets. They basically took off, headed for an assembly point and turned for the target when they reached it. You sure about that? I thought the Brit bombers attacked in a "bomber stream" rather than any kind of group formation. -- Dan Please read what I said again Dan. I'm not claiming that they flew a formation, what I said was that they took off and headed for an assembly point, then turned for the target. The bombers all had to head for the assembly point so that the swarm/stream could get into the same flight path. If they did not do this, the bomber stream would be greatly dispersed. Perhaps assembly point is a poor term, use "initial point" or "turn in" point instead and perhaps you'll see what I mean. They did not actually "assemble" at the turning point, they just used it as a navigation aid to locate where they were and turn to the target heading, or the initial navigation point towards their target. Each bomber did this individually and flew individually climbing as they left their airfield. So they weren't forming a formation, not in the sense of the US daylight bombing, they were just arriving at this point and turning to the target. From then on until they had the target in sight, each individual bomber was responsible for it's own navigation. They often could see other bombers in decent weather, and obviously could also see each other being shot down. During the bombing raid on Nuremburg in 1944, the weather was crystal clear above a low cloud layer and the moon was bright. The bombers stuck out like they were flying during the day. The Germans happened to have numerous fighters orbiting several radio beacons directly in the line of flight and once they released the fighters to engage, the German pilots had little trouble finding targets. So bright was the night that the Wild Sau (undirected single seat fighters, as opposed to twin engine radar guided night fighters) figured prominantly in the nights activities. Nearly 100 bombers were shot down. Corky Scott |
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