On Oct 3, 8:00 am, "rob" wrote:
"Eunometic" wrote

Essential
Wellington: Britains Medium bomber and an important coastal command
aircraft.

For a short while, they probably wouldn't have missed it had it not been
designed.

I was suprised to learn that the Whitley had actually lower attrition
since it had been designed for night opperations from the start and
also did the u-boat patrol business.





Non Essential:
Beaufighter;

Invaluable in the anti-shipping role. Made a large if not desicive
contribution to the campaign in N Africa by interdicting Rommels supplies.


I'm slowly getting convinced that it was essential but retain doubts.

Had the Luftwaffe been on the ball it should have failed.


Tempest and Typhoon
Wasn't the Tempest the quickest thing the RAF had for a while?

Clostermann talks of it doing something like 460mph TAS at 3000ft I
think. Not that I believe that.

The 1942 Mk XII spit could chase down V1's.



Not inc
Meteor
These two types were very fine aircraft in the CAS and strike roles not to
mention all the V-1s the Tempest claimed. They probably wouldn't have been
missed much in the Air to Air role but unless you're putting iron on the
ground Air superiority is just for show thus I would say they were essential