Bomber Command

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#1

During the War Bomber Command was eventually to consume 1/3 of British military production and had a budget the size of the whole of the Army’s. The RAF was based upon the principle of bombing and in the 20’s and 30’s Bomber Command dominated Air Force thinking. To the extent that Fighter Command was ill funded and neglected until the late 30’s.

It is a little known fact that during the battle for France and subsequent Battle of Britian that Bomber Commands crews suffered higher losses than Fighter Command as day after day they were sent out in daylight without escort over numerous well defended sites. During the whole war some 55000 men were to die in action and roughly another 15000 in training and other accidents.

When the war began the following were the main aircraft on inventory:


The Fairey Battle

The Battles were the mainstay tactical weapon, underpowered and underarmoured they were to suffer horrendous losses in France and soon withdrawn from the main inventory.


The Bristol Blenheim

Twin engined light bomber, fast enough when first introduced into service but by 1940 outclassed by German fighters. These were also thrown into the fray in France and beyond, only to suffer many losses. An interesting point about this aircraft is that it had a rearward firing MG behind the right engine!

#2

The following aircraft were the mainstay of the heavies at the wars start.


Handley page Hampden


Armstrong Whitely


Vickers Wellington

These fought the early air war until the later types were brought into service. An interesting feature of the Wellington is that it was designed by Barnes Wallace and had a geodetic structure. It was well liked by its crews and served the longest of the 3 in front line service, equiping the embryo units that would go onto become the Pathfindr units.

They were equipped with what at that time was the excellent powered turret which was in advance of any other nations to date.

However, the main drawback of this turret was the Browning .303. The Germans soon learned to stay back and use their guns superior range when encountering these by day. Also as they could only traverse 80 degrees, beam attacks were also the norm. There was a plan to equip the turrets with the .50, but when the US entered the war all .50 production for the UK was taken up by them.

#3

Some Wellies had beam guns fitted, but i can’t be sure.

The design allowed for horrifically damaged aircraft to return to base.

#4

From 1942 the following Aircraft began to enter service.


Handley Page Halifax


Short Stirling


Avro Manchester

The Manchester was found to be underpowered and was not liked by its crews and only served for a few months in the front line. It was decided to make the wings bigger and add the Merlin Engine to become


The AVRO Lancaster

As the years drew on the Lancaster was to become predominant as THE RAF Heavy. The Stirling was not liked as its ceiling was low. There are many stories of Lancaster crews cheering in a brief when they were told that Stirlings were to be on their Op!

The final aircraft was the new light Bomber.


The de Haviland Mosquito

Although designated a light bomber it could carry almost as much as a B-17, dispensing with any defensive armament it relied upon its speed to evade the enemy. It vindicated this by having the lowest loss ratio of any RAF bomber during the war.

#5

I’m not sure either, although the early versions didnt have self sealing fuel tanks, which led to the demise of many.

It was also referred to as the Wimpy.

#6

That’s it. I knew it was a w but couldn’t remember.

Why Wimpy does any one know?

#7

Here you go, I missed the e out its Wimpey!

It was widely nicknamed the “Wimpey” after the character in the Popeye cartoon strip, J. Wellington Wimpey. http://www.awm.gov.au/units/subject_657.asp

#8

Note that this was only a viable strategy for as long as the Germans were concentrating on defending against other types (of slower and more heavily armed bombers). A good analogy is the B-36 which relied on height and speed to penetrate defences. It went from invulnerable to dead meat in a matter of months in the 1950s. When invulnerability due to performance goes an aircraft is almost completely useless, but when penetration aids are used (ECM, defensive weapons, etc.) the degredation is slow and gradual.

Incidentally, the RAF’s theory of strategic bombing was finally proved to be right, but the weapons it used were never up to the job. It was only with the widespread use of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons that strategic bombing became a workable strategy.

#9

Very good point Pdf. I will take the electronic warfare aspect of Bomber Command further in the coming days.

Many have said that Bomber Command was the most tecnologically competent Arm of any force in WW2.

#10

Some of the innovations of Bomber Command


Tinsel

Here the wireless operator would transmit the engine noise of the Bomber on German Ground Controller frequencies.


Window

Basically strips of Tinfoil cut to the frequency length of German Radars.

There were also specialist Jamming aircraft such as this B-17

B-17 were used because of the height they were able to fly at.

#11

Some photographs from my own collection -

Lancaster and crew

The Bomber Stream

Zero Hour

#12

Bomber commands contribution to the Battle of Britain is also unsung. A read of Guy Gibsons (of the dam busters raid) book, Enemy Coast Ahead, which he published in 1944, tells of his exploits. This goes into detail about the battle of the invasion barges (when he was flying Hampdens) that his Squadron was involved in. He thought that their part of the battle would have been just as famous yet we hear little or nothing about it.

Unsung battles? who needs em! :frowning:

#13

I think the reason why the efforts and successes of bomber command often go unsung or overshadowed is due to the nature of their tasks. Although they were highly effective at bombing military and industrial targets they also bombed civilian targets. After the war we were trying to win over the West Germans so we could use them in the defence of western europe. I don’t think it would have helped Anglo-German relations to celebrate the guys who destroyed Dresden.

However, please don’t mistake me as anti-bomber command, far from it. As a proponent of Clausewitzian warfare I believe bomber command were extremely effective. Not only did they damage enemy military and industrial capability but they also damaged civilian morale. Although bombing civilians is abhorent to most western democracies it was in this case a neccessary evil a vital tool in defeating the enemy.

Scaley

#14

The preeminence of Fighter Command in the history of this battle is more likely due to the fact that it was fought within sight of the people & the Press, thus making its recording far more widespread.
Only Fighter Command could have lost the battle, whereas Bomber Command was an essential part of its winning.

#15

Student-scaley and Topor I couldn’t agree with you more. Fighter command will always get the glory and justly so, cant even imagine what it was like to do 4 plus sorties a day. Bomber command (BC) played a vital part but because it wasn’t in sight will always be unsung.

Even by 1943 the destruction of German Cities/towns had become scientific. In 1940 the bombers had maps that we would know well now, red roads and green blobs to represent forests. By 43 the maps were a dark purple with only blocks of built up areas shown to reflect H2S.

It’s terribly un PC now to say that what we did to the Germany was right. My father was in a POW camp south of Dresden and he remembered well the attack of 13th Feb 1945. He was chuffed to bits that the Germans (not nazis) had a good stuffing he could see the city alight from where he was.

I personaly think that BC had a huge impact on the fight against the Germans and Bomber Harris is vilified unfairly.

Just my two-penneth worth.

editied for spazzo smelling