What effect would there be on the Battle of Britain if instead of the Hurricane/Spitfire the Brits had the Bf109 and the Germans the Hurricane/Spitfire?
Battle of Britain - Specification Swap
- Thread starter Ian Hathaway
- Start date
RodentRevolution
Banned
We getz cannonz wiz dat?
Not a huge great deal, performance wise all three aircraft in combat were mostly limited by the talents/recklessness and plain dumb luck of the pilots flying them when up against each other. However the Germans had less efficient manufacturing process, less efficient maintenance and support and were at a range disadvantage, not to mention command and control disadvantage over British soil.
What you would see is the British Messersmith product see extensive upgrades throughout its carrier on a far greater scale than it did OTL while the Hurri and the Spit get rather less, though oddly the Hurri would likely fly for longer in German service post BoB
Not an expert, but it seems to me that the aircraft were so comparable in performance that there wouldn't be much difference. The really decisive factors in the BoB have always seemed to boil down to the ranges involved, the command and control systems at work, and the ability to make good losses. The Germans would still be on the wrong side of all of these.
Swapping Hurricanes and spitfires for ME109's WIMHO make little difference. Now Swap Dowding for Goering and you do havepotential game changer!!!
So British 100% Bf109E v German 40% Spitfires and 60% Hurricanes if the Luftwaffe squadrons are equipped in the same proportion as the British.
The Spitifre and Bf109E were on balance about equal and on balance the Bf1109E was superior to the Hurricane so the British have a clearer victory.
A secondary considerations is that the Bf109 was easier to make than the Spitfire. I don't know if it was easier to make than the Hurricane, but the Hurricane was easier to make than the Spitfire. I don't know, but sususpect that the Air Ministry placed initial production orders for 300 Spitifires and 600 Hurricanes instead of 900 Spitfires because the Hurricane was more likely to be delivered closer to schedule.
Also the Germans bombed the Supermarine factory IOTL and IIRC the Castle Bromwich factory hadn't come on stream. That would be less of a problem with the swap because the Bf109E would be being built instead of Hurricanes by Gloster and Hawker.
There is also the consideration that the Bf109 armament was more suited to shooting down bombers ... another plus for the RAF if they had the Bf109.
Another way of putting the question could have been what if the RAF was all Spitfires and one the Bf109's rivals was selected by the Luftwaffe. The most likely alternative being the He112.
IIRC the Hurricane was considered a better bomber destroyer than the Spitfire so probably an improvement of 40% in that characteristic. However, I included things like the above when I said that on balance the Spitfire and Bf109 were equal and that the Hurricane was inferior.
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Hurricanes were not better bomber destroyers ... what you might be referring to is the fact that during the BoB Hurricane squadrons were sent against bomber formation whilst Spitfire squadrons were sent to take on the fighters.
In which case I think you need to get a grip .... this is a genuine question.
No I wasn't. The Hurricane was a steadier gun platform than the Spifire and the concentration of the armament in two groups of four was superior to the layout in the Spifire. IIRC it was also easier to reload between sorties so the turnaround was faster.
Also the Hurricane had its armament upgraded sooner and the upgraded armament was heavier with the 12 machine gun Mk IIB and four cannon Mk IIC.
Okay I'll agree with all that but it still didn't have the punch of the Bf109.
I'll not argue with that. However, I think the improvement in performance over the Hurricane is more important.
I haven't looked them up but I'm sure that the Bf109E had a better rate of climb and higher ceiling that both British fighters. If that is correct the scrambled British fighers are going to be higher than when they meet the Germans who will be lower. That would reduce the height advantage that the Germans often had.