Night bombers interception in Western Europe in 1944

In message , WalterM140
writes
The British used B-17s in combat before we ever did. They were B-17Cs which
were used by day, but proved to be less than wonderful.

The Brits ignored American advice on how to use the B-17. Admittedly, the
B-17C was not ready for the big leagues.

Could that be why they ignored the advice?

Mike
--
M.J.Powell

The Brits ignored American advice on how to use the B-17. Admittedly, the
B-17C was not ready for the big leagues.

Could that be why they ignored the advice?

Perhaps.

I'll suggest that there was -no way- given the British experience in WWI that
they were going to the heavy daylight bomber route in WWI. And I don't blame
them a bit for that.

I think after all that 'Henry V'/'over the top' stuff in WWI, the Brits were
bound and determined to try a litte brain power the second time through.
B-17's were not going to help them that much in that particular endeavor.

Walt

WalterM140 wrote:

The Brits ignored American advice on how to use the B-17. Admittedly, the
B-17C was not ready for the big leagues.

Could that be why they ignored the advice?

Perhaps.

I'll suggest that there was -no way- given the British experience in WWI that
they were going to the heavy daylight bomber route in WWI. And I don't blame
them a bit for that.

Assuming that your second "WWI" above should read "WWII", I'd point out that the
Brits did go the "heavy daylight bomber route" in WW II, initially and later.
Losses on the early raids to Wilhelmshaven etc. by Wellingtons (both 'heavies',
and reasonably well-armed by the standards of the day) convinced them that
"self-defending bomber formations" weren't. They lacked a long-range escort
fighter at the time, and the BoB delayed any development of same, but they
continued to fly some daylight missions with heavies, within escort range by
Stirlings in 1941 and '42, beyond escort range by Lancs in 1942. The latter were
more in the nature of special missions, but the escorted Stirling missions were
relatively routine. The Stirling was ill-suited to daylight missions against
well-defended targets, but the RAF did give the missions a tryout. And after air
superiority had been won and escort could be provided, the heavies flew an
increasing percentage of daylight missions in 1944 and 1945.

Guy

"WalterM140" wrote in message
...
The Brits ignored American advice on how to use the B-17. Admittedly,
the
B-17C was not ready for the big leagues.

Could that be why they ignored the advice?

Perhaps.

I'll suggest that there was -no way- given the British experience in WWI
that
they were going to the heavy daylight bomber route in WWI. And I don't
blame
them a bit for that.


You are as usual wrong


I think after all that 'Henry V'/'over the top' stuff in WWI, the Brits
were
bound and determined to try a litte brain power the second time through.
B-17's were not going to help them that much in that particular endeavor.


The British bad experience with daylight bombing was a result
of trying it in 1940 and taking 80% losses against the Luftwaffe.

Keith