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Old 15th Sep 2014, 09:13
  #21 (permalink)  
Chugalug2
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Age: 82
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rolling20, day bombing of the Luftwaffe's airfields in Northern France (and they were mainly just that, fields) would have resulted in far greater losses of our aircraft (both fighters and bombers) than theirs. That was the lesson so bitterly learnt in France and Norway previously (as Wensleydale posted already). The BoB was a battle of attrition, as Dowding had already made clear when he insisted that Fighter Command be retained in the UK to fight in its own skies for Air Supremacy. It would have lost that fight if it had fought in the Luftwaffe's skies.

As to the bombers that might have been used, those mentioned by Danny were those that had been sent with the BEF to strike tactical targets by day and suffered massive losses as a result. I suspect that was his rueful point. Those that you listed were already earmarked for the night strategic bombing offensive and were the forerunners of the later heavies that were to have such a devastating effect on the German war effort, but that is yet another controversy of course...
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