Mathematicians put famous Battle of Britain 'what if' scenarios to the tes

[John Dallman]

By the time Der Fuhrer threw in the towel, the RAF hadn't

Pretty much. The Luftwaffe needed a decisive victory, could not obtain it,
and wasted a lot of aircraft and crews proving that. That happened
because they were too confident of victory, didn't prepare properly, and
didn't understand that they were up against the world's first integrated
air defence system.

John

[Jim Wilkins]

https://phys.org/news/2020-01-mathematicians-famous-britain-scenarios.html
What if the switch to bombing London had not occurred? What if a
more
eager Hitler had pushed for an earlier beginning to the campaign?
What if
Goering had focused on targeting British airfields throughout the
entire
period of the Battle?

From what I've learned about the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe,
despite
their high losses, had all but worn-out the RAF. Exhausted British
pilots
were getting so little sleep that they nodded off at the controls
and
shuffled around like zombies. By the time Der Fuhrer threw in the
towel, the
RAF hadn't so much "won" the Battle of Britain as the Luftwaffe LOST

To be realistic the simulation would have to change Leigh-Mallory's
stubborn support for the Big Wing approach and give 12 Group fighters
a better opportunity to engage earlier in the battles. Only the 11
Group's airfields near the Channel were seriously threatened, not 10,
12 and 13 Groups' to the west and north.

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[SolomonW]

Post by Geoffrey Sinclair
Also at phys.org.
https://phys.org/news/2019-10-plotting-air-raids-britain-devastating.html
Which leads to
http://www.warstateandsociety.com/Bombing-Britain
Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.

Unfortunately when you go to the map you get

"Due to high demand, we are experiencing technical difficulties. We hope to
get the map back up and running as soon as possible. Apologies for any
inconvenience."

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Post by SolomonW

Post by Geoffrey Sinclair
Also at phys.org.
https://phys.org/news/2019-10-plotting-air-raids-britain-devastating.html
Which leads to
http://www.warstateandsociety.com/Bombing-Britain

Unfortunately when you go to the map you get
"Due to high demand, we are experiencing technical difficulties. We hope to
get the map back up and running as soon as possible. Apologies for any
inconvenience."

Frustrating, only their publicity agent must be sort of happy.

The spreadsheet of their data is downloadable, it shows they are
interested in "where" and include things like sea mines and later
discoveries of unexploded bombs. If a report has multiple locations
but only a casualty grand total then each location has an entry that
includes the total, so summing them really overstates casualties. If
you remove the duplicates their number killed total comes to around
two thirds that in the UK official history Civil Defence.

Hopefully they will add more details on casualties.

Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.

[Keith Willshaw]

On 11/01/2020 17:15, Byker wrote:
?

From what I've learned about the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe, despite
their high losses, had all but worn-out the RAF. Exhausted British pilots
were getting so little sleep that they nodded off at the controls and
shuffled around like zombies. By the time Der Fuhrer threw in the towel,
the
http://youtu.be/uCu7IT81gh8

Stephen Bungay is his book the 'The Most Dangerous Enemy' dug deep into
the records of both the Luftwaffe and RAF came to the opposite
conclusion. While the RAF had indeed taken heavier losses it was
replacing both aircraft and pilots lost and at the end of August 1940
had as many aircraft available as in May, indeed the obsolete types such
as the Blenheim 1F and Defiants had been replaced by Hurricanes and
Spitfires. The result was that on Sept 1 1940 the RAF was at full
strength with regard to aircraft (670) and had over 1100 pilots
available. At the same time Erhard Milch was reporting that most
Luftwaffe squadrons were seriously under strength particularly with
regard to pilots.

Essentially the RAF could sustain the loss rates while the Luftwaffe
could not. Had things not changed the Germans would have run out of
pilots by 1940. The difference was that Hugh Dowding considered that
there should be 2 pilots available for each aircraft. Not only could the
RAF rotate squadrons but RAF pilots were going on leave throughout the BOB.

In WW2 the Germans never really got the hang of logistics in the way the
RAF and USAAF did.

[pyotr filipivich]

Post by Keith Willshaw
Stephen Bungay is his book the 'The Most Dangerous Enemy' dug deep into
the records of both the Luftwaffe and RAF came to the opposite
conclusion. While the RAF had indeed taken heavier losses it was
replacing both aircraft and pilots lost and at the end of August 1940
had as many aircraft available as in May, indeed the obsolete types such
as the Blenheim 1F and Defiants had been replaced by Hurricanes and
Spitfires. The result was that on Sept 1 1940 the RAF was at full
strength with regard to aircraft (670) and had over 1100 pilots
available. At the same time Erhard Milch was reporting that most
Luftwaffe squadrons were seriously under strength particularly with
regard to pilots.

As has been pointed out many times: RAF pilots shot down, were
shot down over their own country. If was possible for you to get shot
down in the morning and be back up in the afternoon. Possible, I
don't know if that happened.
OTOH, Luftwaffe pilots got shot down mostly over enemy territory.
Even if they made it to the channel, they weren't going to be getting
back to the mess anytime soon. On going problem.

[Keith Willshaw]

Post by pyotr filipivich
As has been pointed out many times: RAF pilots shot down, were
shot down over their own country. If was possible for you to get shot
down in the morning and be back up in the afternoon. Possible, I
don't know if that happened.
OTOH, Luftwaffe pilots got shot down mostly over enemy territory.
Even if they made it to the channel, they weren't going to be getting
back to the mess anytime soon. On going problem.

That was important but equally important in the long term was the
inception of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan at the beginning
of the war. By Sept 1940 the first batch of pilots being trained in
Australia, Canada and Rhodesia were graduating. One thing that is not
well known is that Fleet Air Arm and RAF pilots were being trained in
the still neutral USA. All of this was additional to the 7000 pilots
trained in the UK by the end of August 1940.

The Germans always had this idea that it was going to be a short
victorious war. The British like the Soviets and Americans were under no
such illusion. They geared up both pilot training and aircraft
production for a war of attrition.

Both the Luftwaffe and RAF developed organised systems for recovering
downed pilots from the channel and it was often a race to see which
service would pull pilots out of the water first but this was still not
fully in place in 1940.

[Jim Wilkins]

Post by Keith Willshaw

21:51:16
As has been pointed out many times: RAF pilots shot down, were
shot down over their own country. If was possible for you to get shot
down in the morning and be back up in the afternoon. Possible, I
don't know if that happened.
OTOH, Luftwaffe pilots got shot down mostly over enemy territory.
Even if they made it to the channel, they weren't going to be
getting
back to the mess anytime soon. On going problem.

That was important but equally important in the long term was the
inception of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan at the
beginning of the war. By Sept 1940 the first batch of pilots being
trained in Australia, Canada and Rhodesia were graduating. One thing
that is not well known is that Fleet Air Arm and RAF pilots were
being trained in the still neutral USA. All of this was additional
to the 7000 pilots trained in the UK by the end of August 1940.

Thanks, I didn't know that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Forces_Contract_Flying_School_Airfields

[Keith Willshaw]

Post by Jim Wilkins
Thanks, I didn't know that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Forces_Contract_Flying_School_Airfields

Norman Hanson who as a carrier pilot flew Corsairs off RN carriers in
the Pacific during the invasion of Okinawa was actually in training on
the Brewster Buffalo at Pensacola NAS on Dec 7 1941. After a period
flying Fairey Fulmars he was sent back to the USA in 1943 where he
learned to fly the Corsair at Quonset Point, Rhode Island.

He was one of the first pilots to fly a Corsair off a carrier as the USN
only used them from land bases until much later.
https://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/artefact-month/lieutenant-commander-norman-hanson


He was onboard HMS illustrious off Okinawa when she was hit by a
Kamikaze. While casualties were thankfully small in number and the
carrier was able to resume operations the damage proved to be more
severe when surveyed in port. as it occurred at almost the same point
that had been damaged when she was hit by 6 bombs off Malta at least 2
of which were 500kg SAP and the others 250kg. She was a tough old cookie
who had a long hard war and was hit harder than many ships that went to
the bottom.

http://www.armouredcarriers.com/hms-illustrious-kamikaze
http://www.armouredcarriers.com/adm26783/2014/10/16/illustrious-january-10-damage-report-bomb-shell

Norman had a long and interesting war. I heard him speak once and recall
him telling the group that such was the performance and firepower of the
Corair that when he shot down a Zero he felt like a murderer. The IJN
pilot never even saw him as he dived down out of the sun at almost 500
mph and when he opened fire a short burst turned the once dreaded zero
into a burning ball of confetti.

If you can find his book 'Carrier Pilot' give it a read. Amazon UK have
it available so its still in print and its one of the best books about
the air war off Okinawa you can get.

[Stephen Harding]

Post by Keith Willshaw
He was one of the first pilots to fly a Corsair off a carrier as the USN
only used them from land bases until much later.

The USN VF-12 initially flew the Corsair off carriers for a brief time
before the Navy passed the aircraft over to the Marines.

My understanding is the RN was already using the curved carrier approach
technique for other aircraft (Swordfish?) and it wasn't something
developed specifically for the Corsair.


SMH

[Ramsman]

Post by Stephen Harding

Post by Keith Willshaw
He was one of the first pilots to fly a Corsair off a carrier as the
USN only used them from land bases until much later.

The USN VF-12 initially flew the Corsair off carriers for a brief time
before the Navy passed the aircraft over to the Marines.
My understanding is the RN was already using the curved carrier approach
technique for other aircraft (Swordfish?) and it wasn't something
developed specifically for the Corsair.
SMH

It was used for the Seafire because of the limited visibility over the
nose, so it was nothing new for the FAA when it came to use the Corsair.

[Keith Willshaw]

Post by Stephen Harding

Post by Keith Willshaw
He was one of the first pilots to fly a Corsair off a carrier as the
USN only used them from land bases until much later.

The USN VF-12 initially flew the Corsair off carriers for a brief time
before the Navy passed the aircraft over to the Marines.
My understanding is the RN was already using the curved carrier approach
technique for other aircraft (Swordfish?) and it wasn't something
developed specifically for the Corsair.
SMH

According to Norman Hanson the main problem with the Corsair was Oleo
Bounce which was fixed by mods to the oil valves which Vought then
included on the production line.

[David Lesher]

Post by pyotr filipivich
As has been pointed out many times: RAF pilots shot down, were
shot down over their own country. If was possible for you to get shot
down in the morning and be back up in the afternoon. Possible, I
don't know if that happened.

Not just pilots, but aircraft. The UK would actively salvage fighters
and haul them back to be rebuilt.

This actually caused a morale issue; the public would see many lorries
carrying RAF aircraft wrecks but none with German ones.