| Popis: |
Even during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, Britain was sending bombers over Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe to destroy strategic and military targets. This chapter describes how, after Pearl Harbor, the United States joined the bombing campaign, dividing their duties between daylight raids (Americans) and nighttime raids (British). The development of airborne radar by British and American scientists gave both nations the ability to “see” targets through clouds and overcast, and even at night, which greatly improved bombing effectiveness. The chapter then describes the joint effort to develop a series of countermeasures, notably chaff, to fool the German radar systems. Another parallel development in this chapter concerns the P-51 Mustang fighter, built to British specifications in America for the RAF. The US Army Air Forces did not initially want it after it entered RAF service in 1942, but when the fighter was fitted with a British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine (which at the time was also being built in Detroit), it became the Allies’ most capable escort fighter, which allowed strategic bombing to extend to Berlin, hastening the end of the war. |
