I'm not entirely sure of the number, but I say not too many for the B-17 (A.K.A Flying Fortress) was a bomber and not a fighter. All though the B-17 had multiple gun turrets located around it, it was ment for bombing not dog fighting. The Quantity of the planes that the B-17 crews shot down was not as important as the Quality of the pilots that the enemy lost attacking the B-17's. At the begining of the war the enemy had the better fighter planes and the most experienced fighter pilots in the world were flying them. As the war progressed many of these pilots flying against the B-17's were killed and were not replaced by pilots of the same quality. The enemy did not have the resources to replace their losses and in the end lost the battle of attrition. My father had two confirmed planes that he shot down and members of his crew shot down a few more. My dad said that he and his crew were not concerned about keeping count of planes that he shot down but he did mention that on one mission that a whole group of fighters attacked from the the front and flew into a wall of lead created by a number of B-17's and that made a number of the enemy planes just explode or get ripped to shreds. Nobody took credit for shooting down any of those planes because nobody knew exactly who hit the planes. Sun Tzu said, "appear at places where he must rush to defend"
The bombing turned out to be a latent objective. The manifest objective was to create a second front.
The 8th Air Force's attritional sacrifice in 1943 made the Nazi's have to defend their cities and this action made them take critical resources away from the Russian front. The most critical of resources that the Germans lost were its pilots and they could not be replaced. If the Germans would have had more resources for reconnaissance and other necessities to their Blitzkrieg and Flank counter-stroke tactics they may have beaten the Russians.
Sun Tzu said, "If the enemy holds the high ground, do not ascend and do battle with him. This is positioning the army in the mountains."
The Nazi's were forced to attack the high ground.
Sun Tzu said, "Therefore, on dispersive ground, do not do battle."
The Nazi's were forced to defend from dispersive ground.
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Rommel excerpt:
(a) Through his total command of the air, he alone would have access to complete and unbroken reconnaissance reports.
(b) He would be able to operate more freely and boldly, since, if an emergency arose, he would be able to, by use of his air power, to break up an approach march and assembly and indeed every operation of his opponent, or alternatively delay them until he himself had the time to take effective counter measures.
(c) As a general rule, any slowing down of ones own operations tends to increase the speed of the enemy's. Since speed is one of the most important factors in motorized warfare, it is easy to see what effect this would have.
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i don't know but don't call me mad!!!!!!
The Battle of Britain is the term given to describe the air battle in Britain between the RAF (Royal Air Force) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) in the Summer of 1940. The battle took place as Hitler believed that 'Operation Sealion' (The Nazis plan to invade Britain) would not be successful unless the Nazis had complete air dominance over Britain before the invasion fleet arrived.
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The planes were comparable, and the Nazis had superior fighter formation tactics, but the British had the advantage of fighting over their homeland. If a German was shot down, he became a prisoner. If an Englishman was shot down, he was taken back to his airfield and given another plane to fly. The British also had the advantage of Radar to give them advance warning of the speed and direction of the incoming enemy planes. Later, the British cracked the German code, and could tell what the targets were, and where to defend, well in advance. The Nazis were the aggressors. The British were defending their homeland from attack.
They are two very similar fighter planes used by the RAF during World War 2 but designed and built by different firms. Hawker's "Hurricane" had good maneuverability, and was armed with 4 20mm cannons. It's top speed was 340 MPH. The Spitfire had superbmaneuverability, was armed with 4 .303 machine guns and 2 20mm cannons, and had a top speed of 378 MPH. Both were excellent fighter planes. The Spitfire got "better press", but in truth 60% of the German planes shot down in the Battle of Britain were shot down by Hurricanes.
The Battle of Britain was the period of time when the RAF (royal air force) defended Britain from the air onslaught of the German Luftwaffe (german air force. In the end, Britain shot down so many German planes that Germany had to abandon any invasion attempts on Britain.
i don't know but don't call me mad!!!!!!
The Battle of Britain is the term given to describe the air battle in Britain between the RAF (Royal Air Force) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) in the Summer of 1940. The battle took place as Hitler believed that 'Operation Sealion' (The Nazis plan to invade Britain) would not be successful unless the Nazis had complete air dominance over Britain before the invasion fleet arrived.
Undoubtedly the Germans. British pilots shot down almost always parachuted to safety. German pilots shot down parachuted to imprisonment.
for shooting down the most German planes and baloons,22 planes and 4 baloons
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The planes were comparable, and the Nazis had superior fighter formation tactics, but the British had the advantage of fighting over their homeland. If a German was shot down, he became a prisoner. If an Englishman was shot down, he was taken back to his airfield and given another plane to fly. The British also had the advantage of Radar to give them advance warning of the speed and direction of the incoming enemy planes. Later, the British cracked the German code, and could tell what the targets were, and where to defend, well in advance. The Nazis were the aggressors. The British were defending their homeland from attack.
In late summer 1940, Germany planned to invade Britain but had to have air superiority first. The Luftwaffe launched bombing raids against British airfields, mostly in southeast England, with the intention of putting the airfields out of action and destroying the aircraft on the ground. The British Royal Air Force shot down so many of the German planes that they considered the losses to be too high and abandoned plans for the invasion. If the Germans had been successful, Britain would have been occupied like most other European countries. The outcome of the battle was so important that it became known as the 'Battle of Britain'.
His plane went down, but it is a mystery to this day as to what exactly happened.
He was a WWI German pilot who shot down over 70 planes in WW1.
He was a WWI German pilot who shot down over 70 planes in WW1.
In World War II France was an ally they formed groups of resistance fighters against the nazi's. They also helped british resistance fighters, and british planes that were bombed by the Germans over France. The French Resistance Fighters would watch for British planes brought down by German planes over France, and risk their own lives to hide the crew, look after them and try to get them back to Britain, before the German Army found them.