Comments on: An interesting WWII factoid. https://habitablezone.com/2015/01/14/an-interesting-wwii-factoid/ Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:15:13 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2015/01/14/an-interesting-wwii-factoid/#comment-32206 hank Thu, 15 Jan 2015 02:20:32 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=48576#comment-32206 Some may be real, some apocryphal. For example, there's the tale that the Allies had broken the German codes and knew a big air raid against Coventry was on the way. But rather than have the RAF ambush the Luftwaffe, they chose instead to let the Germans attack unopposed to save the secret that they had cracked the codes. Another one is that the RAF begged Churchill to suspend the AA defense of London for one night so their new radar-equipped night fighters could engage the German bombers without having to worry about being hit by friendly fire, or blinded by searchlights. Churchill reportedly declined, saying that it was more important that Londoners knew they were fighting back than to just up the score of Germans shot down by a few more planes. I suspect your tale is partially true, but more for strategic than tactical reasons. German fighters carried only enough fuel for a few minutes of high altitude combat maneuvers. Consequently, they had to be based near the cities they defended. By the Allies constantly attacking deep inside the Reich, the Luftwaffe had to deploy its air forces far from its borders, near potential Allied bombing targets. We tend to think of dogfighting as one-on-one combat between gallant knights, the truth is its more like a war of attrition. We simply could build and fuel bombers and train crews faster than the Germans could replace (and supply) their machines and crews. We simply overwhelmed them by sheer numbers. They ran out of petrol and flyers long before they ran out of planes. And don't forget, the Western Front was just a sideshow. About 90% of the German war machine was being tied down and ground up by the Red Army in the East. Some may be real, some apocryphal. For example, there’s the tale that the Allies had broken the German codes and knew a big air raid against Coventry was on the way. But rather than have the RAF ambush the Luftwaffe, they chose instead to let the Germans attack unopposed to save the secret that they had cracked the codes.

Another one is that the RAF begged Churchill to suspend the AA defense of London for one night so their new radar-equipped night fighters could engage the German bombers without having to worry about being hit by friendly fire, or blinded by searchlights. Churchill reportedly declined, saying that it was more important that Londoners knew they were fighting back than to just up the score of Germans shot down by a few more planes.

I suspect your tale is partially true, but more for strategic than tactical reasons. German fighters carried only enough fuel for a few minutes of high altitude combat maneuvers. Consequently, they had to be based near the cities they defended. By the Allies constantly attacking deep inside the Reich, the Luftwaffe had to deploy its air forces far from its borders, near potential Allied bombing targets.

We tend to think of dogfighting as one-on-one combat between gallant knights, the truth is its more like a war of attrition. We simply could build and fuel bombers and train crews faster than the Germans could replace (and supply) their machines and crews. We simply overwhelmed them by sheer numbers. They ran out of petrol and flyers long before they ran out of planes.

And don’t forget, the Western Front was just a sideshow. About 90% of the German war machine was being tied down and ground up by the Red Army in the East.

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