Re: B-17 -- Warbirds "what type ?" forum/message board

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Subject: Re: B-17

Author:
Dave

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Date Posted: 11:43:25 03/21/02 Thu
In reply to: Bill Smith 's message, "Re: B-17" on 07:47:05 12/25/01 Tue

>>>In my opinion the B-17 is the best WWII bomber. I
>>>love it. It looks so cool and deadly which it is. I
>>>don't know what you think of it but I love it. I've
>>>always loved it and still do of course.
>>
>>Actually, the B-17 was successful largely due to the
>>incredible numbers that were flown at once. Daylight
>>precision bombing was a flawed strategy, and these
>>planes should have changed armament and tactics. We
>>lost @ 55,000 in this air war (more than died in
>>Vietnam), and we destroyed Germany including many
>>historic structures needlessly. That said this plane
>>was very rugged and returned home with major damage to
>>plane and crew often with only 1 or 2 engines
>>functioning. The courage of these guys is
>>incomprehensible. The B-25 was truly awesome, Range,
>>guns, maneuverable etc...
>And night area bombing was better? Worse raids for
>losses for US 8th were Schweinfurt/Regensburg, but RAF
>lost nearly 100 aircraft in one night raid, not sure
>the target would have to check. Sometimes night
>targets were missed completely when Germans set decoy
>pathfinder fires.Fact is both strategies were
>necessary and complemented each other. No rest for the
>defences and forced Germans to spread available
>resources more thinly. B-24 carried a heavier load a
>greater distance but was not as good at taking damage
>as B-17. Lanc was a good aircraft, B-17, to me, was
>more aesthetically pleasing. We can argue
>good-naturedly until the end of time.
>Happy Holidays,
>Bill

That was the Nuremburg raid of Feb, 1944 when maybe 92 or so bombers were lost. That's not counting the battle damaged ones that crashed or ran out of gas back on the mainland. The 2nd worst raid was a couple of weeks earlier with Leipzig being the target. Martin Middlebrook has written an excellent account of the Nuremburg raid.

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