I just love how U.S. pilots (actually all Allied pilots) contributions in WWII are continually trivialized by those fans of the Luftwaffe. Tell me, what was the better strategy? Flying high scoring Aces until they dropped or continually turning over your forces so you had combat trained instructors teaching those who followed? It obviously wasn't just loads of pilots and planes that turned the tide for the Allies. Remember the Russians had scads of both in 1941. It didn't do them much good, did it?
When the Americans first started combat over Europe, the Luftwaffe still enjoyed local air superiority most days. Also, there weren't a thousand P-51s concentrated in one area of Germany at any given time. By most accounts I've read, all the USAAF fighter groups were staggered while they performed their escort duties. One group would escort a given part of a bomber stream until relieved by a fresher group. So the idea that a mere 100 Germans stood in the face of a thousand P-51s is BS. They might have faced a 1000 bombers in any given mission, but those were also strung out of a 100 mile long line.
Last edited by Rjel; 10-28-2011 at 12:13 AM.
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