World War II in Europe by R. Conrad Stein

Author:R. Conrad Stein [Stein, R. Conrad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4645-0417-4
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2011-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

When a bomber was hit and began to straggle, the fighters pounced on it, “like wolves on a wounded deer.”

Clearly, the Americans needed fighter aircraft to protect their bombers on daylight missions. But no Allied fighter in 1943 had enough range to make the 1,500-mile round trip to Germany. Then a superb plane called the P-51 Mustang appeared in England. A joint American and British development, the single-engine Mustang was swift, nimble, and sufficiently long-range to serve as a bomber escort. Many aviation experts hailed the Mustang as World War II’s best fighter. Bomber crews called the planes their “Little Friends.”

In 1944, the British continued their night operations while American bombers stepped up their daytime raids. Germany was subjected to terrible round-the-clock bombing. The week of February 19 to 25, 1944, was called “Big Week” by the Allies. In a period of just more than five days, the Americans put 3,800 bombers over Germany, and the British 2,300. During Big Week, the Germans lost 450 fighter planes, most of them to Mustangs. The American air operations commander, Henry “Hap” Arnold, said of Big Week, “Those five days changed the history of the air war.”

After the Big Week, the Allies enjoyed command of the skies. The once-proud Luftwaffe was too weakened to stop the relentless round-the-clock bombing. General Adolf Galland, the head of Germany’s fighter command, lamented, “The raids on Germany were fatal. … Hardly a day and rarely a night passed without heavy raids. One German town after another sank into ruin.”1

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