WaltBJ wrote:

Bah.
The question was - what could have been done better.
Guy, don't tell me selected pilots (Poles; they would have loved the
task) could not have been used to attrit the minimum fuel 109s fleeing
for home, using the one pass haul ass tactic.

There was no shortage of pilots willing to chase. Indeed, that was the
problem -- too many of them wound up getting shot down or otherwise going
down in the North Sea/Channel, which was why Park ordered his controllers
to keep them close to shore.

Once the LW realized
what was going on - and this would happen at squadron level pretty
quick - 109 pilots would have raised the bingo fuel level markedly,
leaving their escorted forces in the lurch.

As for the off-subject topic of using fighter-bombers - lots of luck
with 109s and radar eying them.

The biggest miss of the bombing campaign was ignoring the electrical
grid. Those big transformers in the distribution yards do not grow on
trees and indeed are not heavily stockpiled. Nor are the turbines,
generators, etc - they're built to order, not on spec.

If the Luftwaffe had been intent on a strategic bombing campaign in a war
of attrition, I'd agree, but they weren't. They were hitting what were
essentially tactical targets during the BoB (even the aircraft factories
qualified in this case, given the near immediate effect) so that they
could launch a successful invasion. The Brits could have easily provided
power to essential industries, and it was summer so the weather was good
and the days were long, lessening the effect on the civilian population.
The Luftwaffe didn't hit electricity for the same reason that we (mostly)
didn't in our most recent conflict; why destroy what you're going to need
in a short while, if you don't have to?

Guy