soc.history.war.world-war-ii

On Feb 26, 1:03 am, "Geoffrey Sinclair"
wrote:
> "Andrew Clark" wrote in message
> To quote Jim Herring, the formula for calculating radar horizon
> is as follows,

Yes, we now have a fantasy radar capability to go along with a fantasy
IR/TV/radar capability, to fit in with a fantsay antiship capability,
to fit into a fantasy scenario now described by its creator as
"silly"?

Will the fun never end? :)

> > Really? Could the USN in the relevant period conduct flying operations,
> > fleet manoeuvres and replenishment ops in radio silence?
>
> The replenishment operations would be beyond the range of
> Luftwaffe bombers, or at least most of them. The flying
> operations used VHF, short ranged in theory, very long range
> in practice if you were in the correct area to catch reflections
> from the ionosphere etc.
>
> Fleet manoeuvres would be controlled by the fleet flagship, which
> can be separate from the carrier force.

And by TBS (AKA as Talk Between Ships, although that was not in fact
what the acronym stood for) voice radio, which was also a short-range
VHF system specifically designed for tactical radio security.

> The reality is the Luftwaffe lacked the control facilities to concentrate
> fighters against raids. See for example the problems the RAF had in
> 1940 even with the most advanced system in the world.

Quite simply, it also lacked the ability to generate a daily sortie
rate that came even close to matching its numercial strength. If we
look at the "peak" of the battle of Britain for example, we find that
a force of some 2,000 nominally operational aircraft managed to
generate a maximum of around 1,000 sorties per day, and that only on
selected days.

> >>>And what if the Luftwaffe sends swarms of radar or IR guided missiles
> >>>into the fleet?
>
> >> In 1940?
>
> > Fair point. Those missiles did not exist until 1943.
>
> Yes the 1943 Luftwaffe was really necessary at times to "win" this
> scenario.

Er, they didn't exist in 1943 either? Fritz X and Hs-293 both were
command guided, by radio or wire, and had **no** terminal guidance
system, testing of the system began in spring 1942, so it cannot be
backdated to 1940 very easily either. Neither was Fritz X a "missile"
in the accepted sense, it was a guided bomb. Hs-293 at least was a
"missile" since its flight was initiated by a rocket motor, although
it burned out in 10 seconds so was glided to target. But its first
test was 18 December 1940, so I'm not sure how far it could be
backdated either. Hs-293D was tested with a TV guidance package in
1944, but was never successful and was eventually abandoned, mostly
due to the short signal range of about 4 kilometers. No IR guidance
system was ever developed, although experiments were conducted with an
IR proximity fusing system for use against bomber formations.

> How come the IR homers were not used, instead using humans
> to guide the anti ship missiles?

Er, because they never existed? Nor did the "TV" guidance alluded to
in an earlier post (hint, the first TV guided missile was deployed
operationally by the US Navy). Nor the "IR" reconnaissance systems
referred to in an earlier post.

But it's his own "silly" fantasy, so I suppose why not? Why not give
them individual rocket packs as well so they can conduct commando
assaults on the fleet with their hard-bitten, elite, Brandenburg-
Luftwaffe-Fallschirmjaeger-Panzer-Rocketmann-Korps? :)