August 30th, 1943
London - Air Marshal Harris, Chief of Bomber Command Home, presents to his immediate superior, Chief Air Marshal Freeman, the detailed results of the Battle of the Ruhr in a one-on-one meeting.
"In summary, Sir, we may consider our operations against the Ruhr to have been great success. Reconnaissance shows that Remscheid is the worst hit city, with 83% of the built-up areas destroyed. Next came Wuppertal, with 74%, and Dortmund was burned down to 35% and then flooded when the Mohne dam burst. Duisburg was 51% burned and there is no sign of reconstruction. According to the French services, which have agents among the men of the Obligatory Labor Service, the city was practically abandoned because its water, gas and sewage systems have been put out of action. Overall, we believe that industrial production in the Ruhr has been cut in half. The cost was 640 bombers lost, 2,126 damaged, 2,990 crew members killed, 766 reported taken prisoner and about 40 missing."
- How did the different types of aircraft fare?
- Sir, the VHAs and Mosquitos were almost immune to losses, the Victorians and Lincolns because of their altitude and the Mosquitos because of their speed. As a result, the squadrons equipped with them see their know-how improve visibly, both in terms of bombing accuracy and operational readiness. On the contrary, the operational effectiveness of the Wellington, Halifax and Lancaster squadrons, in that order, was severely reduced due to the very heavy losses suffered. Bomber Command Home needed
needs three months to recover from its efforts. We still have the bombers, but as was to be expected, the efficiency of most of our squadrons is so reduced that they now have to limit themselves to second-rate, poorly defended targets.
Thinking the occasion favorable, Harris begins to plead his case, as he had done on several occasions: "Sir, with more bombers, a more powerful BCH..."
But Freeman cut him off, as always: "Impossible, Arthur, for all the reasons we know so well. This battle gave us the right to sit at the head table, we proved that strategic bombing could greatly reduce German war production, which earned us the approval of the Navy and the Army and justified the investments made for us by the country. The question now is what to do with this success.
Then, changing his tone, "What did Gibson say again?"
- Gibson was interested in the tactical aspects, Sir. He worked with Wallis, among others. Our basic tactics work well, but they depend too much on raw bomb tonnage. Our best assets are the Mosquito, which is very accurate and too fast for the flak and night fighters, and the Victoria, which is expensive and difficult to build, but which flies over the enemy defenses, even if, from such a high altitude, it cannot use conventional bombs and hope to hit the target city. As for the Lancaster and the Halifax, they can carry more bombs, but they are vulnerable. As far as bombs are concerned, what works best is a combination of a good quantity of conventional bombs dropped by heavies or Mosquitos, Penetrator bombs dropped by the Victorians, and thermal bombs that we can put on the Wellingtons, as long as they are not replaced. They pass last, which reduces their losses, because the Flak and the fighters are hampered by the smoke. The Windows are working well, but we need a lot of night fighters to go and break the German night fighters on their grounds. We could also use the VHA bombers to harass these fields. And then, we are considering arming some of the planes with anti-personnel bombs, in order to hit the Flak personnel: the servants of the guns and searchlights.
Freeman sits back in his chair wearily: "At least things are clear. The Mosquito is gradually replacing the Wellington. The Halifax is good, but it cannot be improved and we can't replace it with the Victoria, whose rate of production is too slow. We need the Lancaster, which is the best conventional heavy, and which we can still improve. Where does Avro stand?"
Harris smiles slightly: "Well, Sir, first some good news. Bristol continues to develop its 182..."
- No, Arthur! I agree that this plane would be a good addition to our air force, but the Treasury will never agree to allocate a larger budget for bombers, besides the Army and Navy would not support us. The Air Force cannot afford to repeat the terrible errors of judgment of the recent past. We are not above civilian control and we must take great care to work with the other two Services. I have told you before: we are under the microscope and we must limit our ambitions to the extent that we can. In fact, I don't think we can manage to deploy the 32 Halifax and Lancaster Squadrons that we wanted to deploy in the BCH.
Harris tries to protest, but Freeman cuts him off again: "You have to play the long game, Arthur. How we do it will affect the perceptions of the other Services and our credibility with the Treasury. Well, replacing the Wellington with the Mosquito is obviously a very good idea and both Alan and Andrew have told me that it makes an excellent impression at the highest level. We will also be able to convert some Halifax squadrons to Victoria, but no more than two or three. We need to stop production of the Manchester in favor of the Lancaster; Bomber Command Far East will receive instead of the Manchesters the Halifaxes replaced by the Victoria. We must also stop the conversion of Lancs to Lincolns, two squadrons of Lincolns will suffice, simplification, simplification! As for Bomber Command Middle East, it will end up with what the others did not want. That's it, but none of this tells me where Avro is, for God's sake.
Harris opens a file, "They've made good progress, sir. Within three months, they can improve the aerodynamics of the Lancaster's engine cowlings with the help of those Frenchmen who once worked at Bristol, put in Merlins with a higher compression ratio, lengthen the wingtips, and the whole thing will give us ten mph and a thousand feet more altitude. Within six months, we can have a longer wing and powerful turbochargers, a more aerodynamic nose, without a front turret and with a redesigned cockpit, plus better flight combinations and better heating to be able to climb higher for at least an hour, which will allow the aircraft to fly over almost all of the Flak in the target area. This is not ideal and we will have losses from anoxia and hypothermia, but the operational casualty rate should drop very significantly. Another improvement would be to replace the Merlins with Griffons. The Rolls Royce people are counting on this new engine.
He turns a page: "At twelve months, Sir, there are even more original prospects. The people at Avro talked to Whittle at Rolls Royce Power Jets, and he sent them to Metropolitan Vickers. They came back with a weird idea: add a jet engine between the inner and outer nacelles of each wing of a Lancaster. These engines would provide about 2,000 pounds of thrust each. This would make it possible to escape without difficulty from a night fighter attack, or to get out of a cone of flak searchlights. The only trouble is that it would reduce the bomb load a lot !
But, based on this concept, Avro had another idea. They planned to buy the Armstrong-Siddeley design team and, with their help, they thought that by early 1945 they could come out with something like an extended wing Lancaster with two Bustard engines in 2 and 3, each giving in the 3,000 hp range at takeoff, and two large engines of 3,000 or 4,000 lb thrust in 1 and 4. The range would be less than that of the Lancaster and the payload less, but the plane would be very fast and fly very high."
Freeman opens surprised and interested eyes: "This could be interesting. That is, if we can develop these famous high-powered jet engines.
He falls silent for a few moments. These "paper airplanes" are certainly fascinating, but Freeman is far too good a technician to believe in the success of such ideas, at least in the time frame announced. And what good is a bomber that would have the choice of carrying bombs or fuel to run its engines, which are very greedy? However, we have to make a decision and give Harris a bone to pick. And then, there may be secondary benefits...
- All right, Arthur, let's go. Tell them to move on. First priority, of course, we'll need Lancaster with Griffon engines and long wings. As for the more... original projects, the Treasury should appreciate it: a hybrid Lanc' could extend the life of the guy for years, even if it should only be used for reconnaissance... Speaking of innovations, it will be necessary to inform all the manufacturers that they should try to launch projects before the end of the war, to avoid seeing their development stifled by the budget cuts that will follow the victory!
.........
In the immediate future, a new task awaits the Bomber Command Home over Germany. This time, it would not be alone, the Americans would come to the rescue, but after the success of the Ruhr operations, the RAF is to lead the way, not the Yankees with their crazy designs.
