Aviation Archive - Heavy Fighters of WW2
Aviation Archive - Heavy Fighters of WW2
Key Publishing | 2016 | English | ISBN: 1910415588 | True PDF | 100 pages | 38 MB
Key Publishing | 2016 | English | ISBN: 1910415588 | True PDF | 100 pages | 38 MB
The twin-engined piston fighters of World War 2 were something of a paradox. On paper, it all made perfect sense. Give a fighter double the ‘horses’ and it can carry double the firepower twice as far. This class of aircraft were fast, big and muscular and many viewed them as the future of air superiority. While lighter fighters were intended for defence, the ‘destroyers’, or Zerstörers as the Germans called them, were intended for offensive missions: to escort bombers on missions at long range, then use its superior speed to outrun defending fighters. Little surprise, therefore, that the allconquering Luftwaffe Bf 110 crews were in a confident frame of mind when they first headed across the English Channel to take on the RAF. But the doctrine was flawed and they were ruthlessly shot out of the skies by the RAF’s fast and agile single-seat fighters. Heavy Fighters of WW2