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Old 15th Feb 2024, 21:57
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POBJOY
 
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Originally Posted by Asturias56
FC were in a bind - they really hadn't had serious day time raids to deal with since 1940 and so you had a lot of day fighters sitting out there. When the Battle of the Atlantic was at its height, Rommel was chasing the 8th Army up and down the N African coast , the Russians were dying in hundreds of thousands and the Far East was a complete disaster the pressure to "DO SOMETHING" was immense

So if the Luftwaffe wouldn't come to us we'd go to the Luftwaffe - unfortunately we didn't have quite the right kit. But looking back better to find that out in 1942 than in 43/44.................
Yes I know we were trying to be 'offensive', but it seems that actually bombing their airfields would have been more appropriate and also reduced their capability.
Myself I think it was more of a case of trying to 'justify' the big wing theory and not changing tactics when it was quite obvious our looses were greater than theirs.
Several post war books have confirmed this with opinions from some of the senior pilots of the day.

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