Greatest Strategic Air Missions?

What are some of the greatest strategic air missions?

Some candidates

Yamamoto shootdown
Hiroshima
Paul Doumer bridge LGB
Dambusters
Tirpitz
Norwegian heavy water
Midway
Doolittle raid

"Leadfoot" wrote in message
news:KYBVc.118201$sh.114795@fed1read06...
What are some of the greatest strategic air missions?

Some candidates

Yamamoto shootdown
Hiroshima
Paul Doumer bridge LGB
Dambusters
Tirpitz
Norwegian heavy water
Midway
Doolittle raid



Not taking on the Soviet Union. Winners.

While there will be those who fixate completely on large raids by large
bombers, how about ...

Taranto. Eliminated the Italian navy's influence in the Mediterranean
theatre.

Pearl Harbor. Flawed in many ways (didn't eliminate ship repair facilities
or oil storage, nor did it catch the carriers in port AND didn't anticipate
US population's reaction), but certainly accomplished Yamamoto's goal to
allow him to "run wild" in the Pacific for 6-12 months (well, 5 months and 4
weeks actually). In terms of tactical execution (strike force performing as
the script required), absolutely brilliant.

Incendiary attacks on Japan. Switch from high altitude bombing to fire
raids quickly decimated Japan's small manufacturing base and its ability to
supply armaments factories with the subassemblies for its weapons of war.

Israeli raid on Osirak nuclear facility.

Linebacker 2. Brought North Vietnam back to the table to negotiate the
alleged end of the Vietnam war.

The difficulty in reviewing "great" strategic air missions is that what
seemed like a good idea at the time turns out to be not so good, or too
expensive or results in an unintended consequence (Pearl Harbor). While the
need for the nuclear attacks upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki seemed overwhelming
to the national command authority at the time, with the clear perspective of
hindsight they contributed little to the defeat of Japan and certainly
opened up Pandora's box for the postwar world. Similarly, the urgency to
strike the Norwegian heavy water facilities seemed an imperative, but
there's little doubt that Germany's nuclear program was not (and could not
be) supported adequately to produce a weapon in time for use.

A lot of ink is thrown at the 8th Air Force's campaign against Germany.
Certainly valor was in overwhelming supply as the crews hurled themselves at
a well-integrated defense in broad daylight with little escort (to start).
OTOH, the strategy looks remarkably similar to that British Expeditionary
force in the battle of the Somme, 1916: "Here we come, try and stop us."
Fortunately, by late 1944, they couldn't. But it was an expensive effort.

Yamamoto shootdown

Brilliant tactical execution. Strategic consequences? After all, Yamamoto
brought the Japanese the flawed Midway campaign (and overlooked some
important strategic targets at Pearl Harbor). Would his leadership have had
an impact on Philippine Sea or Leyte campaigns?

Hiroshima

See above

Paul Doumer bridge LGB

That and the Thahn Hoa raids introduced precision weapons to the tactical
air power game, but did either raid accomplish significant alterations in
the strategic picture?

Dambusters

One of my favorites.

Tirpitz

Freed RN for other duty. But considering Tirpitz never did anything in her
service life, kind of a non-event.

Norwegian heavy water

See above

Midway

In terms of fleet placement and combat orders, I'd have to agree. Tactical
execution defined "luck" for the dive bombers (Luck = when preparation meets
opportunity). When gamed by the Naval War College, the US loses Midway just
about every time.

Doolittle raid

Amen! Any time you can influence the enemy to change his game plan in your
favor, it's a good thing.

Leadfoot wrote:

What are some of the greatest strategic air missions?

Some candidates

Yamamoto shootdown
Hiroshima
Paul Doumer bridge LGB
Dambusters
Tirpitz
Norwegian heavy water
Midway
Doolittle raid

How about the Korean War Dam busting campaign? Only real strategic air mission
of the war, but it worked better than most believed.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 21:23:23 -0700, "Leadfoot"
wrote:

What are some of the greatest strategic air missions?

Some candidates

Yamamoto shootdown

A tactical mission with strategic implications.

Hiroshima

Most assuredly strategic and resoundingly decisive. Changed the view
of airpower and war forever.

Paul Doumer bridge LGB

The Doumer LGB mission in May of '72 was only one of a long series of
Doumer Bridge missions dating back to Jan. '67. Immortalized in a
great Keith Ferris painting!

Clearly, in terms of "strategic" mission the North Vietnam war doesn't
offer many good examples. One could suggest that the 29-30 June '66
Hanoi oil raids were strategic, with significant destruction of POL
supplies and crippling of POL infrastructure.

Arguably the introduction of technological advances rather than
specific missions could be the strategic milestones. Anti-radiation
missiles, Wild Weasels, airborne command/control systems, ECM
self-protection, non-cooperative target ID, and precision guided
munition introductions to name a few.

Biggest strategic campaign, of course, would be Linebacker II.

Doolittle raid

Tactical mission, but politically strategic.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org

"Leadfoot" wrote in message
news:KYBVc.118201$sh.114795@fed1read06...
What are some of the greatest strategic air missions?

Some candidates

Yamamoto shootdown
Hiroshima
Paul Doumer bridge LGB
Dambusters
Tirpitz
Norwegian heavy water
Midway
Doolittle raid

You would surely have to include the 11th September attacks on New York and
Washington. For an outlay of well under $1M, and some volunteers suicide
attackers with box cutters, whoever executed it massively damaged the US
economy, and so spooked the US that they started not one but two unwinnable
wars (in Afghanistan and Iraq) in response. Surely that has to place it up
there with Hiroshima?

John

Ed Rasimus wrote:

Doolittle raid

Tactical mission, but politically strategic.

Was there not a change in the deployment of Japan's air forces as a
result? If so, would it not fall into the strategic realm?
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 17:14:50 GMT, Andrew Chaplin
wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:

Doolittle raid

Tactical mission, but politically strategic.

Was there not a change in the deployment of Japan's air forces as a
result? If so, would it not fall into the strategic realm?

BTSOM. We're quickly descending into the realm of semantics here. The
distinction that is usually applied to tactical-v-strategic is one of
goals rather than outcomes.

The goal of the Doolittle raid was certainly not to bring Japanese
industrial might to its knees nor to destroy critical military assets
but rather to demonstrate to both the American people and the enemy
that the war could be brought to the enemy's homeland.

The targets were minimal and the impact even less except for the
demonstration of resolve.

IMHO.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org

"hobo" wrote in message
...
In article KYBVc.118201$sh.114795@fed1read06,
"Leadfoot" wrote:

Some candidates

Yamamoto shootdown
Hiroshima
Paul Doumer bridge LGB
Dambusters
Tirpitz
Norwegian heavy water
Midway
Doolittle raid

Why isn't the Israeli attack on the Egyptian AF to start the Six Day war
listed?

Cuz I didn't think of it in the twenty minutes I took from taking the idea
in my head to flowing the electrons onto the internet.

It's definitely a good candidate I didn't think of along with 9-11 or
Taranto.


After their AF was destroyed on the ground the Egyptians ordered
their troops on the border to retreat, which was most likely a mistake,
and they were slaughtered by the Israelis as they withdrew. Eliminating
Egypt so quickly allowed the Israelis to fight a 3 front war one front
at a time.

"Emmanuel Gustin" wrote in message
om...
"Leadfoot" wrote in message
news:KYBVc.118201$sh.114795@fed1read06...

What are some of the greatest strategic air missions?

Depends on what you criterion for "greatest" is. The attacks on the
Paul Doumer bridge, the Tirpitz, and the Japanese carriers at Midway
can't really be described as strategic; I would also rule out the
assasination of Yamamoto from that category.

The lgb attack on Paul Doumer knocked it out for a considerable time. This
was a vital artery for munitions from China.

Tirpitz tied down a considerable number of capitol ships

Without aircraft carriers the Japanese decided not to take Midway

A great deal of thought went into Yamamoto. One, was it legal to target a
particual individual in war? Two, did Japan have anyone better? Three, was
he worth risking the breaking of JN-25 cypher being revealed?

Let me ask the question another way. How many of you can name his
replacement off the top of your head?

Scroll down for the answer


























Admiral Mineichi Koga, who took over as Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial
Navy after Yamamoto's assassination said it very simply:


There was only one Yamamoto, and no one can replace him.





If impact on the course of the war (regardless of risk, losses, or
size of the operation) makes an operation "great", then Hiroshima and
Nagasaki must take first place. Followed, perhaps, by the Doolittle
raid, which had an impact on Japanese strategy entirely out of
proportion with the damage done or the size of the force involved. But
these were of course very much exceptional missions, hard to compare
with anything else.

If the criterion for a "great" operation is large, bloody battle with
lots of opportunity to demonstrate personal valour, then it is hard to
overlook the attacks on Regensburg, Schweinfurt and Ploesti. These
cannot be called really successful,

I thought of them and decided not to list them for that very reason


and their impact on the course of
the war was not what had been hoped, but they were certainly events in
which a lot of courage was displayed and a lot of people died, and
deserve to be remembered. On a smaller scale, 617's attack on the dams
also belongs in this category, if you consider the survival rate on
this operation.

On the whole the problem with "great strategic missions" is that as a
rule, single missions had little value. Factories, power plants,
railway installations, etc. would be repaired after an attack, and
often surprisingly quickly. To keep them disabled repeat attacks were
always necessary. But then you are talking about a strategic campaign,
not a mission. The campaign against the German transport network was
probably the most significant and successful of all, followed by the
campaign against the German oil industry.

Operation "Point Blank" the destruction of the Luftwaffe was pretty good
too. I considered listing it. maybe if we see "greatest strategic air
campaigns"


Emmanuel Gustin