Cryhavoc101
Donor
A slight off tangent what if is that the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment who suggested removing the turrets from the Lancaster in order to improve its speed by reducing weight through removal of said turrets and surplus crew and this would allow more aircraft to survive gains greater credence as such a change did increase the bombers cruise speed by about 50 mph (80 km/h)
I recall that one Bomber group did allow its crews to 'de-turret' bombers and its losses did drop - I believe it was that Dyson chap who suggested it at the time - a somewhat 'grotesque math' that was simply that by being faster the given aircraft spends less time in the danger area and with less crew each loss of an aircraft is less costly - perhaps if this math was better understood and accepted then Faster Lancasters and More Mossies would be used decreasing losses in aircraft and personnel.
One of the issues with replacing Lancaster with the much smaller Mossie is that the Lanc did carry quite a lot of advanced kit (radar, Oboe etc) as a night bomber in order to find its target at night and in bad weather - and all up this kit would very likely exceed or make a serious dent in the Mossies bombs load to the point of being ineffectual.
I recall that one Bomber group did allow its crews to 'de-turret' bombers and its losses did drop - I believe it was that Dyson chap who suggested it at the time - a somewhat 'grotesque math' that was simply that by being faster the given aircraft spends less time in the danger area and with less crew each loss of an aircraft is less costly - perhaps if this math was better understood and accepted then Faster Lancasters and More Mossies would be used decreasing losses in aircraft and personnel.
One of the issues with replacing Lancaster with the much smaller Mossie is that the Lanc did carry quite a lot of advanced kit (radar, Oboe etc) as a night bomber in order to find its target at night and in bad weather - and all up this kit would very likely exceed or make a serious dent in the Mossies bombs load to the point of being ineffectual.