Hi folks, I would welcome input on this topic which has been on my mind a lot lately.
It seems that Bomber Command has gotten a bad rap from history as an organisation that practiced "area"bombing vs the USAAF which prided itself on "precision" bombing. From my research it seems the American claim is a bit of good marketing , vs a real accomplishment ( not to take anything away from the courage of the American aircrews, who showed every bit of the "press on" spirit of the Bomber Command crews...). I read that the American commander of the USAAF bomber force wrote privately that "none of his boys were going to go home having to tell their families they bombed cities.." , so they were always told they were attacking a particular factory or installation, when in fact their bombs were just as likely as B.C. to fall in the surrounding area . And the famed Norden bombsight seems from my research to be no more effective than the British equivalent..neither could see through cloud! Both forces relied on H2S to find their targets in bad weather....
Again , not to take away anything from the brave USAAF crews, who took on the Luftwaffe nose to nose, but is the claim of "precision" bombing fair?
I would be interested in opinions and facts from Forum members.
Bomber Command was directed by Churchill to do the bombing. Harris was as keen to punish the enemy in this way as Churchill.
It was the only instrument of war that the British had that could hit directly at the enemy.
As for precision, during the beginning of the war the misses on targets was measured in miles. Even when there was a moon lit night and the target was near a river glowing in the moons reflection direct hits were uncommon. That is why crews who came close were awarded a "Target Token". Later on with Pathfinder help and Bomb Masters it still was not precision. Flares dropped in the wrong places were noted in many ORB summaries. Bomb Masters confused by dummy targets would send aircraft to these targets. Germans would use same coloured flares to redirect the bombers to empty fields.
As for Area bombing when you have a bomber stream that can be a half mile wide over a target that is Area bombing. Look for combat films on USAAF daylight raids see how many aircraft are spread across the sky. It's wide. It was a war of Area bombing, just that it was not always presented that way.
Bomber Command were made to look like villains because of Churchill, first he loved what they were doing, then as ground forces moved across Europe, the airmen who had given so much were left for the politicians to berate and try to push into the background to be forgotten. That is why it took 70 years after the war for Bomber Command's remaining warriors to be acknowledged for what they accomplished. Politicians were too afraid even after all those decades to be associated with the survivors of Bomber Command.
If Bomber Command had not been able to do what they did, we would not be having this conversation, especially not in English. Which is not what your asking, but my point of view the Area bombing was the highest percentage of the bombing especially with heavy bombers. The Dambuster raids would be precision. But Mosquito raids that is something else.
I believe from what I have read the bomber crews in the first year or so of the war were never fully told how bad the situation was. The number of lives lost for no actual damage to targets was simply appalling. Almost similar to over the top charges during WWI . Although I am sure many knew that they were not getting close enough to the target.
No question accuracy improved dramatically during the war. The Butt report ( thanks for the link!) was the beginning , I think, of a real effort to improve navigation , tactics etc. To clarify my question, did the USAAF really practice "precision" bombing, ie did they have tactics, technology that allowed them to do that, while Bomber Command couldn't or wouldn't...? I am very skeptical....like I said in my original post, the claim of "precision" seems to be more marketing or hype than reality. What bugs me is that this characterisation has kind of gone down in history... I have read it in magazine articles, books , seen it in movies, it seems very unfair to me. The Americans practised precision bombing , the British practised carpet bombing we are told. Again, not to take anything away from the American aircrew as far as courage or skill goes, but I think Bomber Command was on the cutting edge of improving accuracy, second to no one. Has anyone seen this topic addressed in a book etc? Cheers, Clint.
Maybe the best way is to take a look at Bomber Command daylight raid, see how precise they were. Comparing daylight raids with night action is like the old comparing apples and oranges scenario.
Which USAAF raids stick out in your mind then lets compare them to a RAF daytime sortie that closely matches that.
And again what are we going to consider precision.
