"Bernardz" wrote in message
news:MPG.1a6d2554f613933989840@news...
Say I dropped 1000 tones over a long period of time in a city in the
region 50 square kilometers.

Does anyone know of any tables or formulas that can tell me how
effective in WW2 air bombing of a city would reasonably be?

Also any information on the effect of over hitting would be appreciated.


The problem is the effects are highly dependent on the city and when
in WW2 this was to happen. Consider the differences between the
raids on Hamburg and Cologne with those on Berlin. Hamburg
and Cologne were both easier to find at night and the buildings
more densely packed than Berlin. The technique for destroying a
city was to smash open buildings with HE and then set them alight
with incendiaries. The greater densities meant a higher fuel load
per surface area which was what was needed to start a fire storm.

A number of studies on this subject were done post war, see

U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Physical Damage Division,
Effects of Incendiary Bomb Attacks on Japan, a Report on Eight Cities
(n.p., April 1947)

On Hamburg, see Postol, "Possible Fatalities from Superfires,"
and "The Fire Attacks on German Cities," by Horatio Bond as well as
Fire and the Air War (Boston: National Fire Protection Association, 1946)

Keith