Ju-87G Stuka

[RPS69]

Originally Posted by Furio

Russians gained air superiority for RAF and USAAF during the previous year

Nope!
It was really the other way.
Casualties on the home defense, provoqued the removal of full squads from the eastern front. They were supposed to be less important there, than on home defense. Eastern units were depleted on western front behalf. There was an operational atrition on the eastern front, but nothing compared to the attempts on stopping the bomber ofensive.

[Furio]

Originally Posted by RPS69

Nope!
It was really the other way.
Casualties on the home defense, provoqued the removal of full squads from the eastern front. They were supposed to be less important there, than on home defense. Eastern units were depleted on western front behalf. There was an operational atrition on the eastern front, but nothing compared to the attempts on stopping the bomber ofensive.

So, keeping LW squadrons on the Eastern front had no relevance whatsoever in the Western skies, and that is true for any war year.
I think that numbers are more reliable than opinions (mine included, of course). Relevant numbers to be considered are:
How many LW pilots defended western skies in 1,942?
How many in the following years?
In the same years, how many LW pilots were busy shooting down thousands of poor Russians, and how many were lost in the process?
On top of that, how many ground attack pilots could be diverted to fighter units if they were not busy killing hundred of thousands of Russian tank crews?
During 1,943, Eight Air Force bombing offensive ran the serious risk of being stopped, because of clearly unsustainable losses. In that period, how many more pilots would have been enough for LW to achieve that result?

As indicative as these numbers could be, they would not tell the whole truth. Such was the scale of World War II, and such complex the reasons of its final outcome that I’m more than sceptical about any claim, including those about who conquered air superiority.
In any case, I’m leaving for some vacation and have no time to play more with numbers. Have a nice year, guys!
Oh, and many thanks to Daidalos Team. Who knows, perhaps they’ll have some surprise for us soon!

[hun_77]

I just finished with the "Kanonenvögel"-campaign, and I had a lot of fun - thank You very much for the beautiful missions!
To make you jealous: Some old videos from virtual experts.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iqBDiQtGnY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbcX7cqU4Cw

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by hun_77

To make you jealous: Some old videos from virtual experts.

That's some great flying and shooting. I particularly like the way that both pilots use a hammerhead turn to reverse direction and come in for another pass. Both also use rudder extremely well to make fine adjustments in aim, and perfectly correct for deflection and bullet drop.

Of course, in both cases, there's almost no AAA fire.

Had those T-34s been equipped with turret-mounted MG, or if they had mobile AAA support, things might have been very different for the Stuka pilots. Also, human AAA gunners will understand that a Stuka headed into a stall turn is a nice, predictable, nearly immobile target and adjust fire accordingly.