Greatest aviation related Blunders of WWII

[Siegfried]

the first mission of lancaster was on the night 3/4 march 1942, in january 1941 get the first flight. Halifax first mission was on night 11/12 march 1941, Stirling on 10/11 february 41, Manchester on 24/25 february 41

Whoops, it's obvious I drooped a year in my dates, however with the RAF achieving Manchester and Stirling opperations by early 1941 the Luftwaffe could have achieved opperation of the Ju 89, by then powered by DB601 engines of adaquet power. I beleive it could easily have matched the He 177B with the Lancasters entry into service as a 4 engined aircraft.

[Elmas]

By my personal point of view, one of the blunders was the stubborness of Sir W. Churchill and Sir A. Harris in willing to send everything that had more than one engine and could fly to bomb Germany instead to patrol the Bay of Biscay....

.........................
German's problem was not the lack of a 4 engined big bomber, it was the the size of their industry in relation to what they were trying to do. Every 4 engined bomber in 1939-40 was TWO He 111s not built. No real increase in bombs on target or in targets that could be hit with any worthwhile tonnage of bombs.
......................

What?
You have doubts?
Didn't you know 'final victory' was imminent ......before everything unfairly stopped that little bit too early denying the world the sight of the true magnificence & sheer élan of the technical wonder that was German arms in WW2.
................
Honest, it's all true, I read it in a book.

I agree. Some Gentlemen here seem to underestimate rather lightly some other aspects that are rather important to win a war....

In 1944 a Squadron Leader with his wingman of a Spitfire Unit, very short of juice, landed in a 8th Air Force Base, and stopped not far from a bowser that was refuelling a B-17.
They asked to refuel the Spits and the responsible Petty Officer asked of much fuel was required.
When the P.O. had the figure, he searched briefly in his pocket “ If you are in a hurry take this, here there’s more than enough gas for your plane....” said to the British Pilot giving him his Zippo.......
I’m sure that in some Geschwader, first of all the Training Units, even one half of the content of that Zippo would have been more than welcome.....

[renrich]

Actually, as far as the US was concerned a successful development and deployment of drop tanks for all AAF and USN fighters pre war would have made a huge difference.

[tomo pauk]

Indeed; the P-47 was suffering in that particular field for more than half a year.

[renrich]

The short range of the F4F was a real handicap for the Pacific Fleet. Drop tanks eventually helped a great deal.

[Elmas]

What?
You have doubts?
Didn't you know 'final victory' was imminent ......before everything unfairly stopped that little bit too early denying the world the sight of the true magnificence & sheer élan of the technical wonder that was German arms in WW2.
...........

These were found on the walls of the Italian towns occupied by the Nazis, 1943-45:



They say, first page

“While the V1 repays the Englishmen for the terroristic raids over Europe, Germany has new weapons ready for getting the final victory”

second page
“Marching together will continue until the Victory.......”

If they were not so tragical ( not only because millions of people were dying in those years, but also in the sense that there seems that today there are more people that give them credit than it was in those years......) they would be utterly humoristic......

[Denniss]

The Heinkel He 177 could carry 3 times of the load of the He 111, about twice the distance. It could so so with the same number of crew members..

No it couldn't. It was capable of carrying twice the load of the He 111H (4 tonnes) at a distance of about 2900km while the He 111H could carry two tonnes at about 2100km. It was able to carry one tonne about 4800km. All km values overall range, not penetration depth/combat range. Max speed is given as 550 km/h in 6.8km but that's just with 30min engine power rating

[Vincenzo]

the He 177 could carry 3 times the load of He 111H, for true more could carry 7 ton (2x1800kg and 2x1700 kg). probably could carry the same load of 111H (2 ton) for twice the distance.
link old thread on 177 http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...ata-17353.html

[HubertCumberdale]

Hi All, my first post here.

I could add Bomber Command's failure to realise early enough that astral navigation was useless, and on the flip side, once they had excellent radar/radio navigation systems in place, to realise their potential for precision strikes at night.

I could also add the failure to equip the Fleet Air Arm with decent aircraft. Nice carriers lads, shame about the things they carry!

But really, these are small fry compared to the one big humongous failure of the Luftwaffe to learn any lessons from the attrition of the BoB.

While the western allies overestimated the Luftwaffe's strength, they recognised that even so it was insufficient to win a decisive battle. So they set about creating production targets that would see a massive expansion in their air forces.

On the other hand, the Luftwaffe, having already found a match in the air force of a small soggy island, then proceeded to go to war additionally against Russia and then the USA as well. All of this with an airforce effectively the same size as it had started the war with, but qualitatively worse off due to aircrew attrition in 1940. The Luftwaffe also learned far too late the value of the fighter, despite the fact that fighter numbers were the limiting factor in how many bombers they could field over southern England in 1940. Indeed, the fighter corps remained the 'black sheep' of the Luftwaffe family throughout the war.

All of this meant that in the crucial air battles of '41-'43, the Luftwaffe would be at a considerable quantitative and increasingly qualitative disadvantage as the war went on. So much so that by D-Day, the Luftwaffe was an irrelevance. Everything else is details.

[Elmas]

No it couldn't. It was capable of carrying twice the load of the He 111H (4 tonnes) at a distance of about 2900km while the He 111H could carry two tonnes at about 2100km. It was able to carry one tonne about 4800km. All km values overall range, not penetration depth/combat range. Max speed is given as 550 km/h in 6.8km but that's just with 30min engine power rating

Where the Luftwaffe was to find the petrol to refuel a couple of dozens of Squadrons of HE 177s, training included?
I'm very curious about that....

[Denniss]

the He 177 could carry 3 times the load of He 111H, for true more could carry 7 ton (2x1800kg and 2x1700 kg). probably could carry the same load of 111H (2 ton) for twice the distance.
link old thread on 177 http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...ata-17353.html

Yes, it could carry 3x the load of the He 111H and could have twice the range of the He 111H but not at the same time. 3x load but at a greatly reduced range of ~1100km, twice the range may be possible with a load of 2t .

[syscom3]

Where the Luftwaffe was to find the petrol to refuel a couple of dozens of Squadrons of HE 177s, training included?
I'm very curious about that....

Some people have wondered about that too. Heavy bomber ops are fuel intensive, and fuel was not something Germany had in abundance

[Elmas]

Some people have wondered about that too. Heavy bomber ops are fuel intensive, and fuel was not something Germany had in abundance

Certainly, but in the battles with this



that someone likes to play in this forum, fuel has not importance whatsoever....

[oldcrowcv63]

Certainly, but in the battles with this



that someone likes to play in this forum, fuel has not importance whatsoever....

I think red is about to be flanked by green!

There is a supposedly old saying about military matters: "amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics."

[Dcazz7606]

I haven't read every thread but... I think one of the bigger US blunders was not bombing parralell to Allied lines during operation Cobra as requested by the army. They killed a lot of American troops including Gen. McNair. Effects on german troops would have been much worse as well.