Two Thoughts, firstly the Second World War was essentially a ground war involving thousands of armoured vehicles and millions of ground soldiers, the air war though destructive did little to diminish overall manufacturing output.
Secondly, the air war was about maintaining production quotas of aircraft, during the 3 months of the 1940 Battle of Britain, 100's of Spifire and Hurricane fighters were produced to replace loses incurred.

p00hbear

Originally posted by waynos
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Any idea that a serviceable jet fighter might be produced in this timeframe is pure fantasy. Airframe technology was nowhere near ready.
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Certainly, and thats why the whole statement (and probably, the premise of the book) is nonsense. One has to be aware that even after years of wartime experience, the Gloster Meteor was not a really good aircraft. This focus on the jet engine is simplistic; it is not enough to strap jet engines on a traditional plane. Which is why the real development step was the finished jet aircraft. There is no thinkable way the British could have produced a Jet counterpart to the killer Bf-109 in that timeframe.

In the larger context of the war, ( and skipping the whole jet bomber issue which I know not enough about^^)only a jet airplane of the quality of a Mig-15 would have had any meaningful impact on its own. And both Germans and Brits were years away from that proficiency at the time of the war.

Lastly, this british insistence on the magnificence of Frank Whittle borders a bit on the german obsession with Konrad Zuse. Yes, he had the earliest complete Turbojet. But neither Whittle or von Ohain were instrumental in bringing the jet aircraft to the front - a bit like the Wright Brothers invented powered flight but had little subsequent impact on the development of "Flight".

Only with the industry might of the big aeronautical players did it become useful. And in this, the German industry had undeniable advances. Because then one also has to think about the differences between the british centrifugal approach to the german focus on axial flow jets.

A hint here is that centrifugal jets are a niche product today.

Bottom line is, the "jet question" pales in comparison to the strategic blunders of the Germans, and is therefor rather irrelevant to the assessment of this war.

The impression that the Germans concentrated on axials while the British worked on centrifuges, changing tack after the war, is widespread but mistaken.

The He 178 was powered by a centrifugal engine just as the E.28/39 was, the real difference was that the British felt the centrifugal engine offered the chance to put a more reliable and powerful engine into service more quickly, due to it's simplicity, while the axial was seen as a long term prospect, where the Germans went for it from the start.

The 140hr life and of the RR Welland compared to the 25hr max of the Jumo 004 is partly a result of this, and partly down the the material shortages in Germany. While the Metrovick F.2 axial engine that was flown successfully in the Meteor during the war was ultimately developed into what became the AS Sapphire and licence built as the Wright J65 that powered many subsequent types of aircraft.

Why do people say Germany could of won the war?

No matter how you spin it, they were going to get their asses handed to them regardless.
The americans would of eventually murdered them either way, so it doesn't even matter.
Germany knew they couldn't compete with America, which is why they wanted the USA as an ally.

Originally posted by DuceizBack
Why do people say Germany could of won the war?

No matter how you spin it, they were going to get their asses handed to them regardless.
The americans would of eventually murdered them either way, so it doesn't even matter.
Germany knew they couldn't compete with America, which is why they wanted the USA as an ally.

edit on 27-5-2011 by DuceizBack because: (no reason given)

Yes, everyone knows it's "could have"

Can you elaborate on how Germany wanted the USA as an ally? This is not something I've come across before. I know there was an intention to have Britain as an ally, and several times when Germany hoped to 'negotiate' Britain back out of the war after it did begin, but as far as I am aware it was Germany that declared war on the USA?