Hypothetical Shenanigans...

[[TWB]80hd]

RLM chooses the FW 187 instead of the BF-110...

 

How does the Battle of Britain change?

 

What about the rest of the war?

 

 

[Finkeren]

Arguably you would have gotten something more similar to the P-38.

 

I don’t think it would have mattered much for the BoB. However, later on it would have stripped the Luftwaffe of what was their most effective night fighter for a long time.

 

The Fw 187 probably wouldn’t have been an effective night fighter.

[[TWB]80hd]

Arguably you would have gotten something more similar to the P-38.

 

I don’t think it would have mattered much for the BoB. However, later on it would have stripped the Luftwaffe of what was their most effective night fighter for a long time.

 

The Fw 187 probably wouldn’t have been an effective night fighter.

 

It was exceptionally faster than the 110 (Than even the 109E), handled much better, and could have flown without escort, at least...

 

It's tough to make a call nachtjaeger  wise, but I won't argue that point.

[Lensman]

Unless Goering had targeted 'Chain Home Command' (r.a.d.a.r) to destruction this argument is academic.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Lensman

[Gambit21]

Unless Goering had targeted 'Chain Home Command' (r.a.d.a.r) to destruction then this argument is academic.

 

Basically my first thought as well.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

I thought, just as importantly, the Luftwaffe changing from the destruction of military installations and the RAF to targeting civilian targets significantly contributed to their loss in the Battle of Britain.

[BeastyBaiter]

No change, it was poor strategy that was their problem.

[ShamrockOneFive]

In studying in a lot of history classes and some notable courses on history of modern war, it strikes me that logistics and overall strategy matter most in war than individual pieces of equipment. Sure if you have a game changer then things become different on a strategic level but the question here is: does this aircraft change the strategic situation in the late summer of 1940? Not really. It reads as if this was a better heavy fighter than the Bf110 was but it wouldn't have dramatically changed the fundamental strategy or the logistics issues.

 

I don't have the numbers but it was important to note that Britain's industry was in recovery from the Great Depression in 1940 and was beginning to produce enough aircraft by the end of the battle to replace losses. The numbers were tight but they were able to keep aircraft production going and the training crisis was largely abated by the end of 1940. Now... if Focke Wulf could produce more of these in a dramatic way (better than the Bf110 and Bf109) and the Luftwaffe pilot corps was able to replace pilots more quickly then maybe.

 

Still... fun to think about. What if's are always interesting. A lot of things wouldn't change but there is a knock on effect sometimes that is difficult to fully reason through. A lot of times the course of the war was set at far bigger levels.

[Royal_Flight]

Unless Goering had targeted 'Chain Home Command' (r.a.d.a.r) to destruction this argument is academic.

I'm sure everyone knows this already, but after the first strikes, people we're working round the clock to clear debris and repair equipment at the chain home radar sites.

All the equipment was mounted above-ground in wooden huts and incredibly vulnerable.

But after it became obvious that the radar was still operational, the Luftwaffe assumed that they would be well-dug in and protected and inferred that further air attacks would be pointless as it was unlikely to cause any damage.

[III/JG53Frankyboy]

i am more in : equip all these ZGs with Bf109Es with droptanks !

 

but anyway , it would have changed nothing as already said.

[Monostripezebra]

nothing changes much.. as long as logistics and numerics are still unchanged. That is the law of warfare..