Chances are you are as excited about Master of the Air coming out January 26th, a series
that is set to tell the story of America’s bomber boys and the Allied Air Campaign against Germany
during World War 2. Inspired by the book of the same name by Donald Miller, I got myself a new
copy – what can I say, I am hyped …I only just completed a full tour of a B-17 for all of you
so…I am so ready for this and I want to add to it in some humble capacity via this channel.
Masters of the Air focuses on American bomber crews – so to provide context for the coming
release, I’ll flip it around and give you the German perspective of the time – because,
you know I spend a lot of time in the archive going through one Luftwaffe file after the
other. So throughout this video, I’ll have quotes directly out of the primary sources – so you know
where the information comes from, It is what I do, welcome to Military Aviation History. … .Chris
By the end of the video, series, the aim is to give you the context that will add to
the enjoyment of the series – so we will talk about German fighters and tactics,
reaction to the B-17, Anti-Aircraft guns…all the nerd stuff. Let’s go.
Now, one of the things you always hear is that the Germans didn’t produce enough fighters and
critically, didn’t station enough fighters to fight US bombers. Let’s look at the numbers.
For production, let’s look at some monthly outputs that showcase the trend. We can see
how until mid-1943, Germany produced more bombers, dive-bombers and fight-bombers,
than fighters and heavy fighters. Then let’s look at the force size between
different dates. As you can see, On paper Germany increases its fighter strengths but even
in mid-1944, there are a large number of bombers and especially fighter-bombers in the fleet.
However, though we have seen an increase in production numbers,
the sharp increase does not mean that more fighters were necessarily operational. So,
lets account for that – you’ll see that the operational Luftwaffe fighter force was roughly
stable around 1000 aircraft +-/ 10% Then, we need to take these numbers and
break down the numbers that were deployed in the West and the Reichs defense – so the
fighter planes that Germany used against American bombers without including those
stationed in the East and in the Mediterranean. Finding good numbers is tricky even nowadays,
but the figures I will show you give you a solid indication.
We can see that for the defense in the West and of the Reich, the number and comparative number
steadily rises. However, until the end of the war about 50% of fighters were deployed on the
Eastern Front. In Europe, we hit a highpoint in 1943 just before the fateful Schweinfurt
and Regensburg raids. This is arguably when the Luftwaffe was at its strongest
in terms of fighter defense and offered the toughest resistance against US bombers.
However 1943 is a fateful year - Luftwaffe fighters losses in this year alone equal
50% of all fighter losses since 1939 . Equally, in the second half of the year,
Allied bombing causes temporary production drops of up to 25% depending on what Luftwaffe
factory we are talking about . So with this force, what did Germany
try to do ? – The Luftwaffe wanted to get US bomber losses per mission to over 5%,
ideally 10% - as a war of attrition to make these attacks unsustainable. For this, the fighters
had to hit the bombers so let’s talk about the reaction to the B-17 and fighter tactics.
So the first American bomber attack on Germany proper happened in January 1943 - before that it
was mainly bombing targets in occupied territory like France or in the Mediterranean. There are
quite a few stories, including in the Master of the Air book about how the German’s were surprised
by the B-17, it’s size and firepower. Once you investigate the original reports,
you do see some of this but also very quick adaptation – where then the Luftwaffe says,
you must be aggressive against these bombers – the bombers are the targets, not the escorts. And
bombers must be attacked ruthlessly, in the language of the Luftwaffe…you must go after
them, keep shooting until bits fall off, shoot them down, go after the stragglers and so on. And
the Luftwaffe even told its pilots, it’s about the mission – not personal glory. So, while,
as with every new weapon, there is a short shock and awe phase, the Luftwaffe adapted quickly, put
in place special programs to show how to defeat B-17s and innovated on the tactical
level. So lets jump right into the tactics. Let me start with the elephant in the room – the
head-on attack. This is something that is always talked about – how Luftwaffe pilots would attack
from the front, a relatively weak blind spot of the early B-17s with only one machinegun, and
bring the bomber down by obliterating the nose and cockpit. Now that is true, there is evidence that
this was done and – considering it is mentioned multiple times in the Master of the Air book, I
reckon we will see it in the series too - can you feel that “but” coming….because it is coming…
The issue here is that while the Luftwaffe tried and endorsed this tactic, more and more
Luftwaffe reports and tactical guidelines show the limitations of this. The reason for this is this
attack demands a high level of skill and nerves that is beyond the novice pilot, requires time to
position the plane, and practically speaking is only possible on the first pass. So while
initially the Luftwaffe advises this, eventually, with the erosion of experienced pilots,
it takes an aggressive heavy-handed approach and basically says: “never mind what position you
are in from a bomber, attack, attack, attack”. The reason for this is that on average most
fighter pilots only got about 1-3 attacks on a bomber per sortie. This is because of how
air combat works, you are vectored in by radar assisted ground control, spot the bombers, your
flight leader selects the target and in you go and then …it’s chaos. You don’t have time to reset,
you don’t have enough ammo and you certainly don’t have the fuel. If you are lucky, sometimes you get
more attacks or you spot a straggling bomber … in which case the Luftwaffe did say, go for the
stragglers – especially for new pilots this was a good way to give them a “safer” trial by fire…
but those are exceptions. This is something that is a constant in all these files – and,
in case you fly them, the biggest difference to combat flight simulators – where generally the
average player can shoot down more planes in one flyout than the average pilot did during
his whole service in World War 2. Real life is obviously very different, but you know that.
Then let’s talk about German Anti-Aircraft Defenses – or Flak as it is known from the
German Flugabwehrkanone. There is a popular story that Hitler preferred Flak over fighters and that
the Luftwaffe considered Flak enough to defeat bombers. Yes, and no.
Germany certainly invested heavily in AA defenses – a mere breakdown of the production numbers for
Flak guns and ammo will show you that. Then, if we look at the number of heavy Flak
batteries deployed in Germany to defend against numbers, we see how they double
in 1943 – 1944. The increase in guns in each battery is also a good indication
of how much effort was put into this – in 1942 each battery increased from nominally
4 to 6 guns , in 1943 it became eight guns . These numbers are certainly influenced by Hitlers
insistence on Flak guns – though this view was not universally shared in the Luftwaffe. However, the
main issue with German air defense was that, until 1943-1944, Germany had produced a lot of bomber
aircraft when, with the benefit of hindsight, fighters would have been more important.
Germany was also conscious how difficult it was to shoot down bombers with Flak. Germany
never had enough guns to cover all cities and factories, or crews to arm the guns – to
the point where they conscripted high school students and even Soviet PoW for the Flak. Also,
the ammo consumption was immense – though shrapnel from flak would often kill or wound bomber crews,
to down a bomber the average figure was often quoted as about 8000 shells per downed bomber.
This is why German invested heavily in radar-assisted gun laying which is said
to have decreased the shell consumption per downed bomber to 1500 rounds , and experimented
with first generation surface to air missiles – to watch more on that and the effectiveness of Flak,
check out my previous video s. Estimates from the American side to
suggest that Flak was close to as effective in downing bombers as fighters – at least in
pure numbers though these must always be taken with a grain of salt.
For the Germans however, this was different. In part due to being able to inspect the wreckage,
they considered that in 1943, only about 15-30% of the bomber losses were credited to Flak.
It is worth remembering how these stastics are influenced. In general, an attack of a fighter
was more likely to result in heavy damage leading to the immediate loss of a bomber following the
attack. So naturally the German statistic favors fighters over Flak – however the amount of shells
fired by Flak had a good chance to damage a significant number of bombers. These could
then be lost on their return leg due to damage to engine or fuel tanks or when landing on their
bases in the United Kingdom. As impressive as some of these pictures are – we are talking
about bombers that were often beyond repair. Thus, the American statistic probably accounts
for more Flak losses than the German one. Now let us consider the impact of the American
bomber offensive. In the past, some people suggested that this alone broke Germany – but
that account has long since disproven by historians. However, Allied air power
certainly had an impact on the war. As said, 1943 was a fatal year – yes,
as the American bombers went into Germany proper, they started to suffer a lot of casualties – but
so did the Luftwaffe. Depending on the month, it lost 400-800 fighter
aircraft – and many of the experienced pilots. Though the Luftwaffe held on in 1943 and inflicted
a bomber crisis on America, it was a final highpoint. As one historian commented, the
Summer of 1943 pushed the Luftwaffe “off balance once and for all”. The Americans for their part
countered with more and longer-range escorts, and the impact on the German industry started to bear
fruit. While most factories were able to quickly repair, Germany had to start decentralizing its
industry which reduced its efficiency in the long run. The beginning of the offensive against
aviation fuel also impacted Germany . Though through its emergency production program, Germany
was now building a lot of planes, it started to be limited in number of pilots and fuel.
However, the air campaign was one of multiple steps. First, the Allies had to defeat the
bulk of the Luftwaffe and attain control of the air. They first did this in the Mediterranean in
early 1943 and then in Europe in mid to late 1944. Each of these campaigns took
roughly two to three years until you could say that the Allies had air superiority.
This was done by shooting down Luftwaffe planes and hitting production. Production
was not impacted as much as planned but you add the effect of Luftwaffe losses, slower production,
falling aviation fuel stocks due to high operational sortie numbers and bombing,
and you are starting to erode the Luftwaffe combat mass on multiple tracks.
Then, Allied bombing influenced the land war. In late 1944 it started to systematically disrupt
the German rail network, impacting both the industry and the ability for the German Armed
Forces to shift forces and supplies. As you do that, you add the effect of interdiction on the
German Division and Korps level, again attriting supplies and forces, both physically and mentally.
And then with Close Air Support, you hit German forces on the front lines. Of course, to take
advantage of all this – you need boots on the ground to pressure the German army, run offensive
operations and thereby liberate Europe and then push into Germany proper. Air didn’t win the war,
but it played an integral part in it. Now this whole effort develops slowly,
the Allies and especially the American and British + Commonwealth bomber crews take
staggering losses during this time – bomber crews had amongst the highest losses of any
service in WW2 – but as you are flying missions, as you are getting stronger,
as you are hitting different targets, and as you then gain that foothold with the Normandy
landings and drive towards Germany, you can start seeing how Allied Air Power builds up a momentum
that Germany just couldn’t counter anymore. Let me know what you think of all this history
and …are you looking forward to Masters of the Air? Let me know in the comments below
and I’ve also added some video recommendations for you in the description. Big thank you to all
the supporters who make this channel happen, as always, have a great day and see you in the sky.