Air Battle of Normandie 1940?

Inspired by this, & by H. R. Allen's book Who Won the Battle of Brtain?.

Allen proposed the RAF, before the Fall of France & the beginning of the Battle of Britain, or during the Battle, should have intensively attacked German airfields in Normandie & the Pas de Calais. Allen argues the bases were crowded with aircraft, inadequately defended with flak, & highly vulnerable. He also suggests the bases were known locations. He argues radar was inadequate to detect low-flying intruder missions.

So, suppose Fighter & Bomber Command take his approach: not with heavies, but with Battles & Blenheims, which presumably are designed for this kind of mission. Suppose they begin hitting German bases at dawn & dusk, attacking with MG & light bombs. Could it have an impact on the outcome of the Battle of Britain? Could it further impact Barbarossa? Attacks on Malta? The defence of the Reich?

Or is Allen completely wrong?
 
I think they would probably work well for one or two strikes. Once the Germans figure out what's going on, Battles and Blenheims over the continent are going to get slaughtered.
 
There was a continuous stream of Bomber Command attacks on the Luftwaffe airfields throughout the Battle of Britain. Mostly Blenheims.
 

Deleted member 1487

Inspired by this, & by H. R. Allen's book Who Won the Battle of Brtain?.

Allen proposed the RAF, before the Fall of France & the beginning of the Battle of Britain, or during the Battle, should have intensively attacked German airfields in Normandie & the Pas de Calais. Allen argues the bases were crowded with aircraft, inadequately defended with flak, & highly vulnerable. He also suggests the bases were known locations. He argues radar was inadequate to detect low-flying intruder missions.

So, suppose Fighter & Bomber Command take his approach: not with heavies, but with Battles & Blenheims, which presumably are designed for this kind of mission. Suppose they begin hitting German bases at dawn & dusk, attacking with MG & light bombs. Could it have an impact on the outcome of the Battle of Britain? Could it further impact Barbarossa? Attacks on Malta? The defence of the Reich?

Or is Allen completely wrong?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Blenheim#Operational_history
[edit]The Battle of Britain
The Blenheim units operated throughout the battle, often taking heavy casualties, although they were never accorded the publicity of the fighter squadrons.

The Blenheim units raided German occupied airfields throughout July to December 1940, both during daylight hours and at night. Although most of these raids were unproductive there were some successes; on 1 August five out of 12 Blenheims sent to attack Haamstede and Evere (Brussels) were able to bomb, destroying or heavily damaging three Bf 109s of II./JG 27 and apparently killing a Staffelkapitan identified as Hauptmann Albrecht von Ankum-Frank. Two other 109s were claimed by Blenheim gunners.[11][f] Another successful raid on Haamstede was made by a single Blenheim on 7 August which destroyed one 109 of 4./JG 54, heavily damaged another and caused lighter damage to four more.[12]

There were also some missions which produced an almost 100% casualty rate amongst the Blenheims; one such operation was mounted on 13 August 1940 against a Luftwaffe airfield near Aalborg in north-eastern Denmark by 12 aircraft of 82 Squadron. One Blenheim returned early (the pilot was later charged and due to appear before a court martial but was killed on another operation), the other 11, which reached Denmark, were shot down, five by flak and six by Bf 109s.[13]

As well as the bombing operations, Blenheim-equipped units had been formed to carry out long-range strategic reconnaissance missions over Germany and German-occupied territories. In this role, the Blenheims once again proved to be too slow and vulnerable against Luftwaffe fighters and they took constant casualties.[14]

[edit]Cologne power stations raid
The action on 12 August 1941 was described by the Daily Telegraph in 2006 as the "RAF's most audacious and dangerous low-level bombing raid, a large-scale attack against power stations near Cologne."[15] The raid was a low-level daylight raid by 54 Blenheims under the command of Wing Commander Nichol of No. 114 Squadron RAF. The Blenheims hit their targets (Fortuna Power Station in Oberaußem-Fortuna and the Goldenberg Power Station in Hürth-Knapsack) but 12 of the Blenheims were lost during the raid, 22% of those that took part which was far above the sustainable loss rate of less than 5%. The England cricketer S/L Bill Edrich was awarded the DFC for his part in the raid.[15][16][17][18][19][20]

They tried this and were repeatedly slaughtered. Not a what if really, as we know how these raids turned out. Night bombing of airfields was useless because of the lack of British bombing aids and light FLAK and poor night flying training made low level bombing too dangerous.
 
There were plenty of German pilots who described them as very annoying and distruptive, despite the lack of effectiveness. If 3 night raids force you out of your bed and into a shelter each time, then you're not going to be in a good mood for flying the next day. If they repeat it often enough, it affects your capabilities.
 

Deleted member 1487

There were plenty of German pilots who described them as very annoying and distruptive, despite the lack of effectiveness. If 3 night raids force you out of your bed and into a shelter each time, then you're not going to be in a good mood for flying the next day. If they repeat it often enough, it affects your capabilities.

Annoying the German pilots for how many British pilots' lives?
 
All of them if you count the ones missed by exhausted and sleep deprived German pilots... :D

I'm in Melbourne at the moment, but when I get back home I'll look up some of the quotes from various units on the effects of the incessent British airfield raids.
 
"Daylight & night raids", I see--but never an actual dusk mission...

It's also possible Allen didn't know they had gone off.:eek:

Without the book in front of me, IDK if when the strikes began would matter: that is, they might be more/less successful in May-July '40 than later.
 
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