B-29 REMOTE CONTROL GUNNERY SYSTEM

[Udet]

Delcyros:

Well it is reasonable to assume your response was to a significant degree aimed at my previous comments where i stated the if the B-29s would have had to operate in the ETO, then their losses would have been certainly larger.

As you might have read, i made no mention of any particular Luftwaffe fighter as potential weapon to cause B-29 losses to increase if compared to losses known for the PTO experience.

I agree with almost everything you said, and i believe your comments validate mine: in the ETO/MTO the B-29s would have faced a far more capable enemy in terms of air defence systems.

With this i did not suggest the Luftwaffe was in 1945 in such position to effectively defeat B-29 formations, focusing the idea only on higher losses inflicted to the superfortresses if we keep in mind losses the Japs proved capable to inflict.

I do not see any reason to have the B-29s flying over Europe in a fashion different to that of the streams of B-17s and B-24s. Of course they will fly bombing runs with the tactics previously adopted in the case of the other types of heavy bombers.


Not entirely sure if the Fw 190 A-8/R8´s were "too slow" to counter the menace posed by the B-29s though, but as i said, i made no specific reference to any type of German craft eventually displayed to intercept them...but implied or covered in my comments was your observation: the Me 262 was already operational and the necessary tactical adjustements would surely have been made in the Luftwaffe to deploy them accordingly; their degree of success i would not know, but again, only higher losses of B-29s when seeing the PTO case.

More importantly and going back to the computer controlled defensive gunnery system of the B-29, it could have been precisely over Europe where the true worth of such equipment could be put to test. Being so complex and new, and based on the experiences of both sides with regard to new sophisticated systems used in combat, it is my belief the results would not have been so succesful.

[FLYBOYJ]

Gentlemen, while there is validity in many of your statements, there is nothing indicating anywhere at anytime that the B-29's firecontrol system worked less than as advertised, but to hypothesize about the aircraft being used in the ETO, I would say there would of been more issues with the propulsion system than anything else....

[JoeB]

Originally Posted by JoeB

B-29's were credited with 914 Japanese fighters destroyed. The accuracy ratio of those credits appears to be somewhat higher than in Korea, perhaps 1/4-1/3 that many enemy planes were actually downed. More than a few rammed, so those 'kills' are without doubt, though usually resulted in the B-29's loss as well.

Here's a more specific example of WWII B-29 claim accuracy. Henry Sakaida in "B-29 Hunters of the JAAF" describes from both sides ten different B-29 raids, one over Manchuria and the rest over Japan, prior to the switchover to night raids in March 1945. Later on B-29's flew more day raids, but let's take the example of before the night raids, where there's no deconfliction issue with US fighter claims over Japan at the same time. I filled in some details of victories credited to the B-29's from Rust "20th Air Force Story" where Sakaida didn't give them.

To summarize the B-29's were credited with 214 Japanese fighters destroyed in those raids (with many more 'probable' and 'damaged'). Sakaida gives combined JAAF and JNAF fighter losses adding by my count to 51, so 24% claim accuracy. However in a few of those cases the JNAF participated or may have and its losses aren't known, and at least one case he gives JAAF pilot KIA's not plane losses. So the actual % is probably a bit higher, but doesn't seem likely to have exceeded 1/3. And again, one feature of these missions was lots of ramming by the Japanese, accounting for most of the B-29 and fighter losses. It doesn't mean necessarily the claim accuracy % would be much lower without it, surely fighters which had rammed and were falling in flames were often credited to a gunner or several gunners inadvertently, so the claims would probably have been lower without those planes seen falling. One aside is that the B-29s' bombs destroyed 87 (per Sakaida, some other sources quote a bit lower) Type 4 Fighters, Ki-84 Hayate or "Frank" on Nakajima's assembly line at Ota on one of those raids, Feb 10 '45. It was almost surely the greatest single destruction of fighters by B-29's in one action.

Joe