P-38 Range, Deceit, and Bomber Mafia Treachary
This P-38 video has grown quite a bit. I'm doing the final editing now and it looks like it will be one of my longest videos.
When someone, especially a bureaucrat wasn't to stop you from doing something, in this case developing drop tanks for escort fighter one of the ways they do it is to put up road blocks that make it impossible but not technically illegal. That way they have some plausible deniability if it turns out they made the wrong call.
There were some other tactics used by the bomber mafia. One was to occasionally write something that made it look like they were interested in drop tanks. That way if questioned, they could pull that out and defend themselves with it. They didn't know we, sitting here in the future would have home computers allowing a rapid search of hundreds of documents. They didn't know we could find all the ones that reveal the truth which is that there are far more documents preventing drop tanks than allowing them. Plus the ones preventing were from the higher ranking officers including Hap Arnold, thus were controlling.
Perhaps the best tactic they use to get away with things is by making the entire issue too complicated to be explained in a two paragraph newspaper or a 3 min segment on a news program.
Here we are 70 years later, we can look at the actual documents and we have a platform which allows for a one hour look at how the whole scheme worked. Best of all, we don't even need the documents, we can simply look back in time to see what they actually did and determine their motivations that way.
This video is going to be hard hitting. I think these bomber mafia tactics worked and are still in use today. That's part of why I think it's so important to understand.
I really appreciate you folks being here on Patreon and I'm looking forward to sharing this video with you.
Greg
Comments (23)
I grew up in Dayton, OH, so made many visits to the US Air Force Museum as a kid. While following Greg's coverage of the Bomber Mafia and range debate, I recalled seeing a plaque bearing the poem "An Escort of P-38s", written in 1943 by a B-17 gunner, which I believe was on display near the P-38 in the museum. If you aren't familiar with with the poem, here is a link: https://p38assn.org/songs.htm It never made sense to me why this fighter was so popular among the bomber crews (as claimed in the poem), yet wasn't available to escort them fully. I didn't understand all of the technical issues at the time, but Greg's series has filled in a lot of the missing information. It's a damn shame so many of those crews had to die unnecessarily.
I am just now getting into this P-38 series. Being aware, somewhat, of Lindbergh's work, I always wondered if the P-38 could have been the greatest fighter in WWII if used properly? Or, at least, have a better standing in the ETO. Any way, on to the videos, I have been greatly looking forward to these. Thank you.
Loved the video Greg. I do have one question though. Why was Hap Arnold so against the idea of long range fighter escorts? I don’t understand why he was so motivated to shut the idea down.
Greg, I just wanted to add my thanks and appreciation for the content you produce. I’m a retired field engineer and worked with robotic equipment during my career. I’ve always had a love of planes (both parents were pilots…dad was a corporate pilot, instructor and briefly an FAA Examiner). I also am a history buff, especially WW2 and military aircraft…so I enjoy your work even though some of it is over my head. It gives me the opportunity to “geek out” on the technical aspects rarely covered by others. My budget is limited but I enjoy supporting you and a couple other content generators. Keep up the great work!! Eric
I would love to see greg look at what the paddle props should have meant to planes like the p38,p39 and p40. Also why the brits didn't seem to see the big advantage the p47 got from the new props right in front of them. Say a mossey with the p51 4 blade prop or a cut down p47 props. I know in a earlier p38 video he talked about it not being worth it when the p51 and p47 were already there.
Maybe not so much on the 39 unless it was given back its turbocharger maintaining power to low density higher altitudes. The potential of the P38 as a superprop was shown in the single P38K with 2000? hp Allison's and paddle blades. Unfortunately little seems to exist about it, not even a picture.
Looking forward to the new video!!
The longer the better! :)
can't wait!
Looking forward to it. Good research takes time.
I think you mean 'treachery' - no?
fixed
Read the book “The Bomber Mafia” by Malcolm Gladwell. One might get a different picture of this group.
That book is crap. Full of ignorance and errors.
Soo. . .back in the 20's and 30's the Deep State already existed. My my oh my how times have NOT changed. Now we have the blasted F-35, B-21 and all sorts of other gizmo's that make no sense and don't win Wars. They just drop bombs and piss people off. Thanks Deep State. You're still doing your best to kill our Military and Country from the inside out.
If you mean government bureaucracy then yes. It's existed since the start of the country and every functioning society has and needs one. If you mean the conspiracy theory about some shadow government inside the government, then no. That's a conspiracy theory. It's not true and has never been true.
This is perhaps a dumb question, but why were the bomber mafia prejudiced against drop tanks if having them would have meant fighter cover for more of the bomber's mission?
Hi Ian. It's not a dumb question at all. The Bomber Mafia was essentially married to the unescorted bomber doctrine. So any money spent on any other project was money that couldn't be spent on more big bombers. The is another much bigger reason, but it's too complex to describe here in the comments.
35+ years as a Navy engineer (civilian), and yes, this sort of thing still goes on. People in high places arbitrarily demand to have things their way, even when "their way" is clearly detrimental to the mission.
Alas, the authority of those with pet projects is too often used to push them through. There are "firewalls" in the system that impair direct communications between those who need the materiel to carry out their mission and those making design decisions in implementing particular functions. The firewalls exist so that personnel aren't constantly interrupted by Engineers and so that the personnel don't constant interrupt the Engineers. It is therefore necessary for those involved in the development of materiel to have first-hand experience in the field so that not-too-stupid materiel is delivered. In the field of aviation, it's clear that e.g. Kurt Tank had a lot of experience with aircraft on the ground and in the air.
I really appreciate all you're doing. This is what makes the Internet great.
I am all aquiver with antic Ipation
Seriously. This sounds juicy!