brm_3k Wrote:Sorry, can't agree witht this at all.
Actually, you and I make just about the same case. ;)
If you'll favor my post with a second pass, I effectively state that the .50s and gunners didn't do the USAAF all that much good on day missions. I suggest (though by no means assert) that the short-range defensive .50s might have done more good on the night bombers.
If every Lancaster had had a belly gunner---and two waist gunners who might notice a night fighter slipping back and forth trying to get a visual because their radar readout was really primitive---their odds would have improved on any given mission, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect higher German casualties. (Whether defensive fire would have competed with bad weather in killing night fighters certainly is a valid argument.) OTOH, they would have had to flown 2 missions for every 1 they flew historically. At a minimum, the Germans wouldn't have been so eager to jump Lancasters ...
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