In April -Aug 1944 came some potential air combats I thought would be unique and interesting during RN attacks on Tirpitz - that is, carrier planes vs. German fighters. Does anyone know if any actually took place? It would have involved, besides the Barracudas with the 1600lb AP bombs, Martlets (Wildcats), Hellcats, Fireflies (August '44); does anyone know if Corsairs were involved? That would really be interesting to speculate on air combat vs. Fw-190 etc., how do you think they would have fared? I'm not familiar with what German aircraft might have been in the area.
22 august 44 morning 31 barracudas 10 hellcats 24 corsairs 10 fireflies 8 seafires afternoon 6 hellcats 8 fireflies 24 august 44 33 barracudas 10 hellcats 24 corsairs 10 fireflies 29 august 44 26 barracudas 17 corsairs 7 hellcats 10 fireflies 7 seafires
At Bardufoss was 3rd Gruppe Jagd Geschwader 5 "Eismeer" stationed. Source: De Luftwaffe 1933-1945 III Gruppe, Gruppenkommandeure: Hptm Günther Scholz, 3.42 - 6.43 Maj Heinrich Ehrler, 6.43 - 5.44 Hptm Franz Dörr, 5.44 - 5.45 Olt Rudolf Glöckner (acting), 1944/45 Formed 10.3.42 in Trondheim from IV./JG1 with: Stab III./JG5 from Stab IV./JG1 7./JG5 from 1.Einsatzstaffel/JG3 in Stavanger-Forus (1.42) 8./JG5 from 11./JG1 in Trondheim 9./JG5 from 12./JG1 in Trondheim In 7.42 9./JG5 became 10./JG5 and was transferred to IV./JG5, while a new 9./JG5 was formed from parts of 7. and 8./JG5. In 8.44 increased to 4 staffeln (most of the old 9./JG5 had moved to Germany, and would become the new 8./JG5): 9./JG5 from the rest of the old 9./JG5 10./JG5 from the old 7./JG5 11./JG5 from the old 8./JG5 12./JG5 new In 2.45 9/JG5 became 5./JG5, 12./JG5 became 7./JG5, and a new 9./JG5 was formed from 13./JG5. III./JG5 now had: 9./JG5 10./JG5 11./JG5 Bases: 3.42 - 4.42 Trondheim* Bf 109E 4.42 - 10.44 Petsamo** Bf 109E/F/G 10.44 - 31.10.44 Kirkenes Bf 109G 31.10.44 - 8.11.44 Kaamanen Bf 109G 8.11.44 - 1.12.44 Bardufoss & Alta*** Bf 109G, Fw 190A 1.12.44 - 8.5.45 Gossen**** Bf 109G, Fw 190A
Thanks much to both for the orders-of-battle! I forget about these operations and keep thinking of the January '45 Indonesia raids as the first use of the Firefly, but this was mid '44. If I recall correctly, didn't the British use the Corsair (shipboard at least) before the Americans did?
Remembered one more thing - The British 1600 lb AP bomb for the Barracudas sounds like a huge amount of explosive, considering it's total weight; but that wasn't so, I believe, as an unusually large proportion of the weight was casing? Would anyone know how these performed vs. Tirpitz, and also how they compared to, say, the American 1000 lb bomb used by the Dauntless? Thanks!