Who Could Have Won WWII?

[aspqrz]

Originally Posted by RN7

The Battle of Britain occurred in 1940

Indeed it did.

Originally Posted by RN7

Distance from Berlin to London: 933 km
Distance from Berlin to Glasgow: 1,205 km
Distance from Berlin to Cardiff: 1,140 km
Distance from Hamburg to London: 721 km
Distance from Hamburg to Glasgow: 949 km
Distance from Hamburg to Cardiff: 920 km

Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber range 1,540 km.
Arado Ar 234 jet bomber range 1,556 km, maximum speed 742 km/h.

Heinkel He-177: Aka Luftwaffenfeuerzeug ('Luftwaffe Lighter') because, like the B-29, it kept bursting into flame at exactly the most embarrassing moments possible.

Only available after September 42 as a semi-usable aircraft, and only in small numbers (~600 built in the next 20 months, about 30 per month, and from then to August 44, when production ceased, the rate was around ~34 a month ... as a comparison, ~7300 Lancasters were produced from 1941, and ~11400 Wellingtons from 1936, and ~6100 Halifaxes from 1940.

Arado Ar-234: Only 210 produced, and only operational from September 1944. They were also hangar queens ... 'The Jumo 004 engines were always the real problem; they suffered constant flameouts and required overhaul or replacement after about 10 hours of operation.'

Why? The problem with the Nazi jet engine program is well known - lack of tungsten. Something they could. not. get.

And, oh. deer. The actual operational radius (the 'there and back' range for non-suicide non-one way missions) for the Ar-234 was 800 klicks, not ~1500 (that's the one way suicide mission range).

The Commonwealth managed to produce 26,000+ bombers to the piddling 1000 you think are so great.

Originally Posted by RN7

The principle escort fighter for Allied bombing raids on Germany was the P-51 Mustang, an American aircraft.

Which wasn't worth spit until it was fitted with BRITISH RR Merlin engines.

Originally Posted by RN7

The He 219 night fighter had a range of 1,540 km.
The Bf110F-4/G-4 night fighter had a range of 2,410 km.
The Me-262 jet fighter which was used as a day and night fighter had a range of 1,050 km which was superior to a de Havilland Mosquito F Mk. II and about the same as a Hawker Tempest V without drop tanks but a lot faster.

HE-219: Only 300 built, from mid 43. Mincemeat during the daytime.
Bfe-110: ROTFL! A worthless aircraft except as a Night Fighter ... where, quite properly, it remained over Germany.
Me-262: Operational from April 44, ~1400 produced. Another hangar queen ... for the same reason. Worse, in fact, did you know that the Jumo engines had a tendency to, without any warning whatsoever, catastrophically self destruct and shed turbine blades ... which is why they were mounted under the wings (to provide some protection for the pilot) ... and they were, like the jets in the Arados, good for about 10-12 hours before needing a complete rebuild, then another 10-12 hours before they were junked ... if, of course, they didn't catastrophically fail first.

Bf-109: Rather more common than any of the above. Operational Radius = 850 klicks.
Fw-190: Again, more common than any of the above. Operational Radius = ~835 klicks.

Operational Radius = This is the 'there and back again' range ... half the maximum combat range, in effect ... and this is the actual maximum escort range. Practically, escort range will be much much less than half the operational radius because, oh, y'know, there's an actual need to have fuel to fight off those attacking RAF fighters?

The Brits produced ~132,000 aircraft, a large proportion of which were complex multi-engine types. Canada produced another ~16000.

The Russians built ~158,000.

Germany built ~120,000 and the Italians ~18,000. Mostly simpler single engine types.

And British jet engines didn't catastrophically fail or need to be junked after 20 flight hours.

So your point is, what, exactly?

Phil