This made it very difficult to interrupt production. But it needed skilled wood workers, where as with other aluminium airframe planes it was much easier to train workers to do the job. I wondered how the Mosquito and Lancaster compared? “The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building”. Hermann Göring Wikipedia With a shortage of men, women could be brought in to fill the gaps in the factories. So if we take theoretical “thousand bomber raid” of Lancaster bombers, they could deliver a staggering 9,821 tons of explosives. One thousand Lancaster’s would have a crew of 7,000 men, five thousand, five hundred Mosquitos would need 11,000 men! It would take five thousand, five hundred Mosquito’s to deliver that amount. On the face of it that justifies the use of the heavy bomber by utilising fewer aircrew. But what about accuracy?Īn example of the tremendous accuracy achieved by Mosquitos can be shown by comparing figures for the attacks on the V-weapons sites. The average tonnage of bombs required to destroy one of these sites by B-17 Flying Fortresses was 165 for B26 Marauders it was 182 tons and for B25 Mitchells 219 tons. The average for the Mosquito was just under 40 tons! Perhaps it was actually best employed in the role it was so often used, as part of the RAF Pathfinder Force. Flying ahead of the main bomber stream with their speed and accuracy they were ideal at marking targets for those that followed.The B-29 was primarily used in the Pacific theater during World War II but how would it have fared in the air war over Germany if it had become available in 1943?ĭesigned in 1940 as an eventual replacement for the B-17 and B-24, the first B-29 made its maiden flight on Sept. Army Air Forces leadership committed the Superfortress to Asia, where its great range made it particularly suited for the long over-water flights against the Japanese homeland from bases in China. So, the B-29 was primarily used in the Pacific theater during World War II but how would it have fared in the air war over Germany if it had become available in 1943? During the last two months of 1944, B-29s began operating against Japan from the islands of Saipan, Guam and Tinian.
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