A detailed look at the tactics and techniques used by both P-47
fighter-bomber pilots and the German flak gunners charged with
preventing their attacks. Analysis will focus on the employment of
Allied tactical air power in Europe from 1943 and how German defenses
struggled to counter the overwhelming air threat.
Since the end of World War 2, the tactical air war over Europe has been
largely overlooked by historians and authors alike in favor of analysis
of the higher profile strategic bombing campaign. Involving just as many
aircraft as the daylight heavy bombing campaign, the fighter-bombers
(principally of the Ninth Air Force) wreaked considerably more havoc on
German ground forces. Indeed, Thunderbolt units undertaking such
missions effectively complemented the strategic campaign, ensuring the
defeat of Nazi Germany. P-47 pilots paid a high price to achieve this
victory, however, as the German flak arm was well equipped (nearly a
quarter of all war-related production was devoted to anti-aircraft
weaponry) with weapons of various calibers to counter tactical air
power's low to medium altitude threat. The USAAF four numbered air
forces that saw action over the European continent suffered significant
fighter-bomber losses to flak. The principle fighter-bomber from the
summer of 1944 through to VE Day was the P-47D, with both dedicated
ground attack units and squadrons that had completed their bomber escort
tasking seeking out targets of opportunity across occupied Western
Europe.
While heavy-caliber anti-aircraft fire was intended to both shoot down
enemy aircraft and force bombers to drop their ordnance sooner or from
higher altitudes, thus reducing bombing accuracy, low-altitude flak
batteries put up a virtual 'wall of steel' for enemy fighter-bombers to
fly through. Damaging a low-flying fighter-bomber made it easier for
other flak gunners to track, engage, and destroy it. Innovations like
lead-computing gunsights gave gunners a higher probability of
intercepting low-altitude fighters. Conversely, the appearance of
air-to-ground rockets beneath the wings of P-47s gave pilots better
standoff range and a harder-hitting punch when dealing with low and
medium altitude flak units.
This volume analyzes the tactics and techniques used by both P-47
fighter-bomber pilots and German flak gunners, featuring full-color
illustrations to examine the Allied tactical air power in Europe from
1943 and how German defenses were overpowered by the air threat.
