The P 38 Lighting and the Bomber Mafia's Failure In World War Two
In WW2 during 1943 the U.S. Army Air Force failed to provide heavy bombers with fighter escorts when flying deep into Germany. This was due to both incompetence and intent on the part of the Bomber Mafia, resulting in huge losses of U.S. Airmen and equipment.
The solution was right in front of them the whole time, they just refused to take advantage of it until losses were so high by late 1943 that they had no choice.
The P-38 Lightning had been able to fly deep into Germany from about mid 1942 and could have escorted all the way to Berlin and beyond by mid 1943. Not to mention the fact that the P-47 could have escorted deep into Germany early in 1943 had the USAAF simply bought the right drop tanks for it.
The is the story about how some rebels within the USAAF worked under the radar of the Bomber Mafia to get drop tanks into production for the P-38. It's a wild ride so get your favorite beverage and come along for the ride.
Thunderbolt Mug:
Answers to common comments that are just plain wrong. These were addressed in the video but some insist on commenting without watching the whole thing.
1. The Bomber Mafia didn't use P-38s to escort to Schweinfurt because it couldn't do the job due to problems A, B, or C .
Wrong, the P-38's problems in Europe were NOT known to the Bomber Mafia at the time they sent the 38's away. Thus you can't say they sent them away for a problem they didn't even know about at the time. In fact Eaker and his staff specifically said the P-38 was the best choice for escort work. So that argument is dead in the water.
2. The P-38s could not do the job because they were no match for German fighters. First of all that's not true, they were a match, but lets say they weren't. Is it better to have poor escort fighters or no escort fighters? Are you seriously arguing that it's better to lose 60 heavy bombers in one mission than to risk and possibly loose some P-38s? Are you then taking that one step further and arguing that's the reason the BOMBER Mafia decided to forego using escorts? Of course not.
I am just going to delete comments that make points I already addressed in the video unless they bring something new to the table. People that comment without watching the whole video are just a wasting space and everyone's time.