Luftwaffe

  

 Stuka.

The Royal Navy was great because Britain was 

a seafaring nation overseeing a global empire.

German perspective was of a country squeezed 

between the Russian colossus and Napoleonic

France.  They revered their army.

It was only natural the German air force, 

the Luftwaffe, was designed to serve the 

army in its moment of need. 

 Bombers support the Army.

Twin engine bombers fly short distances to their target:

enemy front lines and nearby airbases.  So the Heinkel

here can carry 2.200 pounds of bombs up to 600 miles

to their destination, drop their payload and return home.

Their objectives are all military - with tactical goals.

Compare this with an American B-17 - a four engine

bomber that carries 6,000 pounds of bombs over a

thousand miles to destroy factories and urban 

infrastructure.  These are civilian targets that

give vital support to the opposing military.

The objective is strategic.

 Defense was an afterthought.

German gunners don't scare anyone using 

these contraptions for protection.  Look at this guy.

He's crunched in a space that barely allows him

to move his elbows.  His thirty caliber machine gun

has little clout and his field of fire is small.  On top

of this he will probably never see you coming anyway

because his vision is so obstructed and, more likely,

the fighter has chosen to attack at a point where 

you are not.  These bombers desperately

needed fighter escort.

 Unacceptable losses.

The British tactic was to break through German 

fighter protection to get to the lumbering bombers.

The fighter action between RAF Spitfires and 

German Messerschmitt's was pretty much fought

to a draw.  It was the steady loss of bomber crews

that proved truly unacceptable.

Short range.

The Messerschmitt Me 109 was the world's best

fighter plane in 1940.  It had a slim advantage over

the Spitfire plus German pilots used better tactics

when dogfighting.  The price for this superior 

performance was the plane's woefully short range.

If your bombing mission took you very far into the

English countryside, good luck.

Your fighter escort is headed home

or else they run out of fuel.

 Blinded by vengeance .

Despite these Luftwaffe weaknesses the German's

still held the advantage.  They had the numbers to

eventually overwhelm British resources.

Britain's back was against the wall.  But then,

once again, a decision made by Hitler gave 

Churchill a reprieve.  The Fuhrer wanted to 

terrorize London into submission and, instead

threw the RAF a lifeline. 

* * * * * 

©  Tom Taylor

OVER EASY

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