[yarddog]

The Germans, Russians, Japanese and British were also turning out really nice airplanes by 1944. The U.S. had one huge advantage.

We could train our pilots completely away from the war. We were also out producing the others.

[ken5050]

Recent studies have revealed that senior USAAF commanders knew early on (1943)that daylight precision bombing was very ineffective..only some 5% of bombs dropped hit on or close to the target. The Brits gave up on it long before..they switched over to nighttime bombing.. cities...including population..with no pretense of hitting military targets..the cost to the 8th USAAF was catastrophic in terms of men and planes.

So why did they continue daylight bombing. The answer is simple. It was the only way they could draw German fighters into the air..so that they could be attacked and destroyed, to make sure that when the invasion came, the Allies would have total air superiority.

Chilling decision to make...but they felt it was the only way. They knew that Hitler could not let Germany be bombed unopposed....the bombers were the bait to lure the German fighters into the air.

[Kirkwood]

March 1944 - the P-51D arrives. Everything changes.

[pfflier]

The pictures in the post aren’t US Airplanes.

[Mears]

bfl

[yarddog]

Probably the greatest pilot of WWII was Erich Hartmann. He was actually pretty unsuccessful for a long time then just took off.

He is officially credited with 352 aerieal victories and guys who know what they are doing say he actually shot down even more.

I read his book and if my memory is right, Hartmann thought a pilot named Marseille or something like that was the best.

[Skooz]

A few years ago, the local air show was privileged to have a P-47 on display. Beautiful.

The next day, I was driving when it flew right over me, heading home. The big P&R R2800 shook my truck with a rumble I had never heard.

The P-47 was a bad, bad, bad, bad mutha.

[Carry_Okie]

The ability to provide an ally with air support is a major U.S. diplomatic tool and plays a role in war deterrence. Attack Japan or South Korea or the Philippines and you will face B-52s flying from Guam.

Seems "Taiwan" was omitted from that list, probably deliberately.