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From: Steve.Hix@Eng.Sun.COM (Eolid enthusiast)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Guns on bombers (was Re: Dirigibles & airships)
Message-ID: <1991Jun29.013041.29761@cbnews.cb.att.com>
Date: 29 Jun 91 01:30:41 GMT
References: <1991Jun18.073814.13457@amd.com> <1991Jun19.010258.10443@cbnews.cb.att.com> <1991Jun20.015312.27909@cbnews.cb.att.com> <1991Jun27.013308.27187@cbnews.cb.att.com>
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From: Steve.Hix@Eng.Sun.COM (Eolid enthusiast)

In article <1991Jun27.013308.27187@cbnews.cb.att.com> christ@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Chris Thompson) writes:
>
>
>From: christ@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Chris Thompson)
>In article <1991Jun20.015312.27909@cbnews.cb.att.com> Steve.Hix@Eng.Sun.COM (Eolid enthusiast) writes:
>          Re: dropping guns from bombers: 
>>Under Gen. LeMay, they switched from precision daylight bombing by B-29's
>>to low-level night attacks, tossing all but the tail guns to get better range
>>and speed, and losses plummeted.
>>
>Were the lower losses due to dropping the guns or going in at night, at low
>level?

Yes.

Oh...dropping the extra weight (guns/ammo/people) gave a boost of range that
allowed the B-29's to fly low which probably helped reduce the usefulness of
the Japanese radar (such as they had), and made interception harder.

Night was probably the major contributor to lowered losses.




--
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  The only drawback with morning is that it comes 
    at such an inconvenient time of day.
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