Bomber stream
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The bomber stream was a
The Kammhuber Line consisted of three layers of zones of about 32 km long (north–south) and 20 km wide (east–west). In each zone there were two German night fighter aircraft receiving ground-directed guidance from the Himmelbett controller within their zone. While the Himmelbett control center could only handle two fighters, this was adequate for dealing with the RAF Bomber Command tactic of sending its night bombers individually, with each bomber plotting its own route to the target, to avoid flak concentrations.
At the urging of British scientific military strategist
In one of the first applications of statistical
A typical bomber stream of 600 to 700 aircraft was on average 8 or 10 miles (13 or 16 km) broad, and 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200 to 1,800 m) deep.[2]
The bomber stream allowed a bombing raid to be completed in a shorter time, further overwhelming the defensive tactics of the German forces. The earlier RAF tactic of sending bombers on individual routes meant that it could take four hours before all its planes would pass over their target; the bomber stream reduced this window to 90 minutes.[3]
The first use of the bomber stream was the first 1,000 bomber raid against Cologne on the night of 30–31 May 1942.[3]
The tactic proved successful and was used until the last days of the war, when centrally-organised German air defences had ceased to exist.
See also
References
- ^ Blum, David M, A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Electronic Warfare Tactics with application to the World War II Era (PDF), MIT, pp. 20–34, archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-29.
- ^ The World at War Episode 12 – "Whirlwind" – 1973
- ^ a b The Thousand Bomber raids, 30/31 May (Cologne) to 17 August 1942, UK: RAF, archived from the original on 6 July 2007
Further reading
- RAF Bomber Command's Operational Research Sectionand did some of the research that preceded the introduction of the bomber stream.