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Hi SAM, Snip,
As we have discussed previously, fighters using visual means can only rarely even find enemy bombers, and after the bombers are found fighters must make a "stern chase", that is, pursue and catch up to the bombers before attacking. Fighters have a limited time in the air and in those days could use up one half of their fuel and half an hour getting to 25,000 feet. Calculation shows that Eaker was correct - except for radar. The "bombers always get through" was true in 1935 but not in 1939.

Douhet was largely correct in his analysis, I think. First, he died in 1928, long before radar. Second, one half of the weight dropped was to be mustard gas, the remainder high explosive and incendiary. Looks to me that 200 tons of that load per square mile would make things pretty ugly on the ground. That is twenty Lancasters a square mile. Targeting would only mean finding the city getting the present. Repeat this often enough and decontamination efforts would likely be abandoned. If you figure that Germany had 400 square miles of suitable targets then 8,000 Lancaster sorties a month would do it. Would need about 500 airplanes available for each night's work.

Would have been nasty, but nothing compared to N, the Anglo-American anthrax bombing project.

If you divide the total tonnage of Eighth Air Force bombs dropped on Germany by the number of American human casualties you will get a shocking number. Looks to me like four tons per American death. Much worse in the early days. Tons of bombs dropped per bomber lost is maybe thirty tons including milk runs. Need to find higher quality numbers. A rough game though, for sure.