Theoretical WWII cross-channel air corridor logistics?

Not enough existing paved airfields. IIRC there were two near the beach head. One near Cherbourg and one @ Caen. There were others that had been improved or built for the BoB with asphalt bonding some gravel or something. Those had been near abandoned in 1942 & neglected. Steady use of those old strips would have required massive ongoing improvement to handle several dozen Dakota's each day. Otherwise the heavy rains of latter June would have turned them to bottomless muck as the thin pavement gave way.

The other half of this is that for most of the battle, until August fuel consumption was far below expected. The lodgement was expanded at a very slow pace. The demand was for artillery ammunition. The Germans we're caught in a attritional battle and Bradly/Montgomery took the opportunity to bury them with incredible quantities of cannon ammo.
 
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Good points guys!
ATL Medium and heavy bombers could be quickly converted to carry dense cargo (e.g. ammo) suspended from bomb racks.

OTL Also look at the cargo panniers hung under post-war, civilian Halifax heavy bombers.

ATL develop cargo panniers that clamp to (heavy) bomb racks. Have the bomber taxi over a waiting truck, pull bomb releases and the truck drives away with the pannier.
OTL AVRO York looked good on paper, but it was primarily a passenger plane and needed much bigger doors to make it practical for cargo-hauling. Only small numbers of Yorks were built in Britain and only one in Canada.
ATL in a Canada-wank, I suggested converting Canadian factories (producing Lancasters) be converted to York production. Ficticious York Mark 2,3 and 4 would grow nose wheels, tail ramps, radial engines, etc.

ATL another chapter - in that Canada wank - had Canadian Car and Foundry building Budd Conestoga transports under license. Conestoga was the only WALLIED transport with a tail ramp. To speed loading, tail ramp was the same height as standard truck tail gates and it had a couple of onboard winches. It's cargo compartment was the same size as modern ISO 20 shipping containers (20 X 8 X 8 feet) ..... almost big enough for a Sherman tank ...... even if it could only lift 1:3 the weight of a Sherman. Hah! Hah! Budd only build 30 Conestoga Mark 1s, but CCF soon develop (fictional) later marks efficient enough to compete with Douglas C47 Dakotas.

ATL The other possible POD is the Chase/Kaiser/Fairchild C-123. It was developed from the plywood XCG-14 which first flew in January 1945. The fort version with a tail ramp was the XCG-18 glider which first flew in 1947. C-123 started as a cargo/assault glider that first flew at the end of WW2.

ATL As for the suggestion of a cargo plane based on B-29 wings and engines .... Boeing eventually built the KC-97 Stratofreighter. Straight C-97s had cargo ramps under their tails, while the KC-97 version had a refuelling probe.

ATL when you consider the distances, fixed undercarriage might make more sense. Try to picture an earlier Shorts Skyvan or Bristol Beverly with strut-braced wings, fixed undercarriage and a tail ramp.
 
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Looking over a map of the airfields used by the Germans in 1940, eight are shown in the 'Normandy' region. One at Cherbourg was used by "dive-bomber Geschwader 1, " & as I understand was paved with concrete (and bombed by the Allies multiple time). That field was captured in late June.

Two fighter Gesch. are shown at the Caen air field, which I believe was paved as well. This was captured 6th or 7th June.

Across the Seine Estuary there was another paved field outside LeHavre. That was not in Allied hands until after 15 August.

At Falaise & at nearby Flers were stationed the 77 & 2 dive-bomber Gesch. These seem to have been grass or gravel covered air fields. In any case they were not captured until after 10 August.

Further east near the Seine River at Cormeilles (sp?) the 76 bomber Gesch was stationed> I'm guessing this airfield was all weather or concrete paved. But again, it was not captured until late August.

There was a unpaved field halfway down the west coast of the Cotintien peninsula near Leese or Lisee. Some sources claim the Germans used it 1940-41. During various stages of planning for Operations SLEDGEHAMMER, ROUNDUP, & OVERLORD this field was a target of Allied airborne forces, but was dropped from the final OVERLORD plans in the spring of 1944. It was captured in late June or early July by US 1dt Army.

I've had folks tell me there was another unimproved airstrip somewhere north west of Carentan, but not been able to confirm this.

So, it looks like two paved tho small airfields, one or possibly two grass air strips available to the Allied air supply effort from the start of July. Of course more can be built, the engineering battalions certainly were capable. There would have been a trade off of something else to make that effort.
 
Of course if the Allies had the airlift listed in this thread, then the invasion itself would have looked very different, and would have been oriented on capturing airfields, and not ports.
 

WILDGEESE

Gone Fishin'
Would an Allies version of this help?

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Possibly based on larger versions of the Horsa & Halicars.
 

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Also, with rear ramp cargo planes, mount the cargo on dollies or collapsible pallets and shove it out the back.
Don't need nearly as much in the way of airfields.
 
Also, with rear ramp cargo planes, mount the cargo on dollies or collapsible pallets and shove it out the back.
Don't need nearly as much in the way of airfields.

You could also get an early start on Standard Shipping Containers that way. Just shove the container out the back, and return. Let the people on the ground handle unloading all the supplies. You could also have it where the supplies are loaded in a certain order so the important stuff is near the doors, and the lower priority stuff is at the rear.

For the container itself, just leave it near the field and use it for storage or as a water-proof command post/first aid station/latrine, or cut it apart and use the metal for some other purpose (Marston Mats?).
 

Driftless

Donor
Maybe an earlier airplane-type cargo container - on the order of these bad boys. You'd need something fairly small, so it could be manhandled inside the cargo area, but big enough to carry useful material without shifting. Aluminum frame - plywood flat surfaces?


air_container_size.gif
 
Another possibility for aircraft is the C-82, which was evolved into the C-119. Have the C-82 development be hastened, or earlier, and the need for more powerful engines recognized earlier.

How much could seaplanes contribute to aerial logistics?

This thread goes well with the older thread about an all-airborne cross-Channel invasion.
 
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