Works out at 641 sorties every 24 hours which includes Day Fighters, Recon, Ground Attack, Night Bombing, Night Mining etc. A pittance really. Bomber Command which was under the unified command of Eisenhower flew the same number of sorties alone. The transfer of units from Luftflotte Riech to Normandy has to go down as one of the greatest acts of military self harm in aviation history.
@FUDdaily Interestingly the Wright Cyclone did not improve the Stirling and was abandoned in favour of its original Herculeas and the later more powerful one.
Arthur Harris would likely be surprised to learn he was attempting to win the war in 3 raids with a cobbled together force including training units in essentially a PR exercise. The advent of the Lancaster, and Oboe mounted Mosquito's rendered 1000 bomber raids redundant for attacks on the Ruhr.
The first raid of the Pathinder force was Flensburg August 18 1942, the first Target indicators for industrial haze only came into operation in January 43. On 5th March 1943 despite 13% of the 442 Bombers aborting 160 arces of Essen including Krupps was burnt out.
"During the night Essen suffered an exceptionally severe raid. The city of the Krupps has been hard hit. The number of dead, too, is considerable. If the English continue their raids on this scale, they will make things exceedingly difficult for us. The dangerous thing about this matter, looking at it psychologically, is the fact that the population can sec no way of doing anything about it. Our anti-aircraft guns are inadequate. The successes of our night pursuit planes, though notable, are not sufficient to compel the English to desist from their night attacks. As we lack a weapon for attack, we cannot do anything noteworthy in the way of reprisal."
"Naturally the Fuehrer will under no circumstances let air warfare continue in a slipshod way as hitherto. One need only to think six months ahead, then we would face ruin in many cities, sustain thousands of casualties, and find the morale of our people somewhat impaired. This must not be, come what may. The Fuehrer is going to see to it under all circumstances that British terror be answered by terror on our side. To make that possible, everything must be scraped together from the Luftwaffe that can possibly be collected. All new construction of the Luftwaffe is to serve this one purpose."
"The Fuehrer has ordered Goering back from Rome because of the constant increase in the number of English air raids on the Reich. The meeting between the Fuehrer and Goering is to take place in the course of the day. The Fuehrer is determined to express all his misgivings about air warfare and to insist that we make every effort to regain the initiative."
Joseph Goebbels
The Mandy Files — 5. Various
Pat McFadden says Keir Starmer’s authority was 'destroyed' by last summer’s Labour backbench revolt blocking welfare reforms.
Mandelson and ministers at one stage agree things 'don't look good' for Starmer.
Mandelson accuses Gordon Brown of ‘having it in for' Starmer and favouring Angela Rayner just to destabilise him.
Mandelson dismisses No 10 staff as 'sub-optimal'.
Suggestions of behind-the-scenes tensions between Starmer and Chancellor Reeves, with 10 Downing Street having to enhance its resources because her team is not up to managing the economy.