Context: RAF Bomber Command’s primary tactic during WW2 was to conduct low-altitude area bombing raids one German targets in order to avoid the Luftwaffe’s significant air defense network. The USAAF on the other hand preferred high-altitude daylight precision bombing.
Results were mixed and depended highly on doctrinal rules, but when the USAAF’s XX Air Force tried to repeat those tactics over Japan, they did not experience similar success.
This was due to the jet stream which increased the CEP of bombs to unacceptable levels and the primarily wood-frame and paper construction that hampered the effectiveness of high-explosive munitions.
As a result, General Curtis Lemay was placed in charge of the XX Air Force who, aided by his second in command Thomas S. Power, switched to low-altitude nighttime raids that used napalm and other incendiaries.
The results were extremely successful from an American perspective, and apocalyptic from a Japanese one.
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Context: RAF Bomber Command’s primary tactic during WW2 was to conduct low-altitude area bombing raids one German targets in order to avoid the Luftwaffe’s significant air defense network. The USAAF on the other hand preferred high-altitude daylight precision bombing.
Results were mixed and depended highly on doctrinal rules, but when the USAAF’s XX Air Force tried to repeat those tactics over Japan, they did not experience similar success.
This was due to the jet stream which increased the CEP of bombs to unacceptable levels and the primarily wood-frame and paper construction that hampered the effectiveness of high-explosive munitions.
As a result, General Curtis Lemay was placed in charge of the XX Air Force who, aided by his second in command Thomas S. Power, switched to low-altitude nighttime raids that used napalm and other incendiaries.
The results were extremely successful from an American perspective, and apocalyptic from a Japanese one.