discussion

[Hard Sarge]

well the last one didn't work too well

so how about this one, the Big Wing from BoB

the tactic itself
the way it was handled

was it a good idea, was it the right way to go, or was Park correct

[von Shagmeister]

The Big Wing was effective against large formations on deep penetrations. Against shallow penetrations the time taken to form the Big Wing prevented its effective use. So Leigh-Mallory and Park were both correct in their assumptions, it just depended on how the Germans employed their own formations as to whether the Big Wing was effective or not.

[Hard Sarge]

well, yea, but it is more complex then that, and it ruined careers and put others into places they may not of belonged, the way it was handled, and the out come of how well it did

(the Big Wing, tended to claim more kills then the RAF awarded for the day)

time to target, was very, very poor, Dunforth (?) to Hornchurch in 25 minutes, after all squadrons had taken off

and it can kind of been said, that the Big Wing only ended up working because the LW started to go after London, with out that as the target, it would of failed

and, 12 Group would not do as they were told (which is touchy, as they were not under 11 Group command, but were there to support 11 Group

(now, I can agree with Bader in the tactical side, he never followed ground control commands, as to height and directions, but he also didn't fly to where he was suppost to (once combat begins, all is fair, but if you are suppost to fly towards Hornchuch, and he decides to fly to the coast instead, something is wrong)

[Gunnerchimp]

" the Big Wing only ended up working because the LW started to go after London, with out that as the target, it would of failed"
 
Totally agree, the concentration of the bombing effort on the capital meant that the 12 group Big Wings were given time to form up and head for the target area. After all, there was only one way those huge formations of bombers were going. If there had been multiple raids looking for multiple targets, then the concept would not have been so successful. A common complaint was that the Wings took 20-30 minutes to fully form up, which seriously reduced the endurance of the fighters involved. Also, the more fighters you throw into the fight, the more chances you have to lose them - albeit with a heavier impact when initially committed to battle. Targetting London also meant that the escorting Me-109s only had enough fuel for 5-10 minutes of dogfighting, before having to turn for home. This will have had an impact upon the number of kills achieved, as the bombers were left unprotected for longer periods. Therefore it was the right tactic for that target, as pointed out by Von Shagmeister.
 
Will the new game reflect this better than in the orignal BoB? There are many instances where you think "there's no way those pesky 109s could have got that far", especially galling after they've chewed up your intercepting squadrons!

[Hard Sarge]

closer to the coast, they can and will control the skies, if put up in numbers, but the deeper they go, the weaker they end up being