Different Nazi priorities

If, instead of trying to produce terror weapons, the Nazis had decided to put efforts into Jet fighters and trying to regain at least parity in the air, could that have caused the good guys problems?
 
As I understood it, the problem wasn't jet production, it was shortages of trained pilots and oil. And for the few that did go into the air, there was the Corporal's insistence that the jets be used for light bombers.
 
They did put efforts into jet fighters and they did try to maintain and later regain air parity. The problem is that we were routinely sending raids with more bombers than they had operational fighters in the entire theater.
 
They did put efforts into jet fighters and they did try to maintain and later regain air parity. The problem is that we were routinely sending raids with more bombers than they had operational fighters in the entire theater.

"We"?

Sure the Germans did try to have fighters engaging the enemy bombers, and they did try to deploy jet fighters; and, just as surely, they simultaneously tried to bomb back the enemy with the V-Waffen.
If no money and raw materials are spent on researching, testing, building and employing those, there will be some surplus potential, don't you think so? Now, it's not a given it would go into fighters or more specifically into jet fighters (though the shortage of fuel was much less serious for jet engines than for conventional avgas engines). But if it had been, things would have been tougher for the enemy strategic bombers.
 
they simultaneously tried to bomb back the enemy with the V-Waffen.
If no money and raw materials are spent on researching, testing, building and employing those, there will be some surplus potential, don't you think so?

More specifically, I wonder what could have been achieved by completely giving over the resources of the V-2 program to development & production of Wasserfall AA missiles? Since the Wasserfall missile is a scaled-down version of the V-2, it should be possible to transfer those resources directly to their production - the main problem would probably be the guidance system ... (and the fact that a defensive weapon would certainly be less desirable to Hitler than an offensive one)
 
More specifically, I wonder what could have been achieved by completely giving over the resources of the V-2 program to development & production of Wasserfall AA missiles? Since the Wasserfall missile is a scaled-down version of the V-2, it should be possible to transfer those resources directly to their production - the main problem would probably be the guidance system ... (and the fact that a defensive weapon would certainly be less desirable to Hitler than an offensive one)

The problem is that, by mid 1944, Allied armies were advancing into German territory from several directions. Greater German use of jet fighters (which were in fact only slightly superior to, and greatly outnumbered by, allied fighters) and very expensive SAMs like the Wasserfall would have had no effect on the RAF night bombing campaign and only hampered the USAAF daylight "precision" attacks. Eventually Russian and Wally troops would have overun the airfields, radar stations, and missile sites. The end of the war might have been delayed somewhat, that is all.
 
Yeah, I doubt that it would have made any grand difference, by the time the technology was feasible they were already encroached on all sides by enemy armies. And more importantly, they were low on manpower, oil, and supplies in general. It would be far too expensive, perhaps if they had managed to delay their end for a few more years by focusing on taking the Brits out of the war rather than launching Barbarossa.
 
Maybe a good way to get early german jets would be if they had gone for the He-280, the first jet to fly, in 1941. Not as good as the Me 262, but available in late 1942, sure a bad surprise for the early bombing campaign of the allies.
 
The problem is that, by mid 1944, Allied armies were advancing into German territory from several directions. Greater German use of jet fighters (which were in fact only slightly superior to, and greatly outnumbered by, allied fighters) and very expensive SAMs like the Wasserfall would have had no effect on the RAF night bombing campaign and only hampered the USAAF daylight "precision" attacks. Eventually Russian and Wally troops would have overun the airfields, radar stations, and missile sites. The end of the war might have been delayed somewhat, that is all.

Neither have I claimed otherwise (I'm quite aware that a SAM is hardly a war-winning weapon, especially a first-generation version) nor did the OP - the question was: could it have caused the good guys problems?

And I certainly think it could have done that! Those Wasserfall missiles might have been expensive, but the V-2 program managed to built more than 6,000 missiles that were four times the size of the Wasserfall, including a guidance package that was (at least in the later versions of the V-2) just as complicated as that of the Wasserfall. And while it's not a war-winning weapon, it's a much more efficient use of the V-2 program's resources than lobbing 1t-warheads in the general direction of Antwerp & London.

A massive warhead exploding in a B-17 formation would to a bit more than merely hamper USAAF operations - apart from the actual destruction caused, it would also force the bombers to loosen their formations, making them more vulnerable to fighter attacks. Likewise, once radar guidance had been developed the RAF bombers could have been attacked.

And anything that could have spared german cities from bombardment would be worthwhile, because all the reconstruction from the 50's and 60's is UGLY!!! ;)
 
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