Bf109 information, lighting a fuse and running for cover!

[CaptainDoggles]

Originally Posted by ACE-OF-ACES

And before anyone jumps me here.. Note I am not saying this was the case in every case.. All I am pointing out is the idea a Lw 109 fighter was allways outnumbered (jumped by 4 or more Mustangs) in every case is a myth

Hmmm.

Well, I agree that the Luftwaffe were not always outnumbered 100% of the time.

But the whole point of Big Week was to exhaust, attrit and otherwise destroy the Luftwaffe in preparation for the D-Day landings and I'll maintain that Allied air superiority was the norm. Allied numbers were very very high during this period. For example, during one of the Berlin raids, they sent 800 escort fighters. While the Luftwaffe may have achieved local superiority in some cases, this would have been the exception, not the rule.

By February of 1944 the LW was feeling the effects of chronic fuel shortages, and the situation only got worse from there.

There's a report I don't have a link to, made by Galland in April of 1944 that was published in Caldwell and Muller's book. In the report he states that in the preceding 4 months the Luftwaffe had lost more than 1000 pilots. He goes on to state that in nearly every engagement his fighters are outnumbered by more than 6:1.

The Germans experimented with "Big Wing" formations like the RAF had done earlier in the war, and while it was successful in some cases, they soon learned just how hard it is to get a Big Wing together when dealing with fuel shortages and inexperienced pilots.

By June, the Luftwaffe had been rendered ineffective over North-Western France and the Allies enjoyed air superiority for the duration of the D-Day landings.