page_title: Defence of the Reich
section_title: American daylight supremacy
hierarchical_section_title: Defence of the Reich / Turn of the tide (1944) / American daylight supremacy
caption_attribution_description: "The Bottisham Four", a famous photo showing four U.S. Army Air Force North American P-51 Mustang fighters from the 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, from RAF Bottisham, Cambridgeshire (UK), in flight on 26 July 1944. The nearest aircraft is P-51D-5-NA s/n 44-13410 ("Lou IV" on the left side, the 4th aircraft named after his daughter, "Athelene" on the right side, probably the crew chief's lady friend or wife), flown by the 361st CO, Col. Thomas J.J. Christian Jr., who was killed in this plane while dive-bombing the Arras marshalling yards on 12 August 1944. The 2nd aircraft is P-51D-5-NA s/n 44-13926, already equipped with the fin-fillet, was flown by Lt. Urban L. "Ben" Drew. This aircraft crashed during a training flight near Stalham, Norfolk, on 9 August 1944, the pilot, 2Lt. Donald D. Dellinger, was killed. The 3rd aircraft is P-51D-5-NA s/n 44-13568 ("Sky Bouncer" later "Alice Marie") flown by Capt. Bruce W. "Red" Rowlett, 375th FS operations officer. This aircraft suffered an engine failure on take-off and crashed on 3 April 1945. The furthest P-51 is P-51B-15-NA s/n 42-106811 flown by Capt. Francis T. Glankler (named "Suzy-G", after his wife), 375th FS "D" Flight commander. This plane was written off after a crash landing at Bottisham following a combat mission on 11 September 1944.
context_page_description: The Defence of the Reich is the name given to the strategic defensive aerial campaign fought by the Luftwaffe air arm of the combined Wehrmacht armed forces of Nazi Germany over German-occupied Europe and Nazi Germany during World War II. Its aim was to prevent the destruction of German civilians, military and civil industries by the Western Allies. The day and night air battles over Germany during the war involved thousands of aircraft, units and aerial engagements to counter the Allied strategic bombing campaign. The campaign was one of the longest in the history of aerial warfare and with the Battle of the Atlantic and the Allied Blockade of Germany was the longest of the war. The Luftwaffe fighter force defended the airspace of German-occupied territory against attack, first by RAF Bomber Command and then against the United States Army Air Forces.
  In the early years, the Luftwaffe was able to inflict a string of defeats on Allied strategic air forces. In 1939, Bomber Command was forced to operate at night, due to the extent of losses of unescorted heavy bombers flying in daylight.
context_section_description: Maj. Gen. Doolittle began his campaign to destroy the Luftwaffe during Big Week, from 20–25 February 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign. The USAAF launched Operation Argument, a series of missions against German targets that became known as "Big Week". The planners intended to lure the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle by launching massive attacks on the German aircraft industry. By defeating the Luftwaffe, the Allies would achieve air superiority and the invasion of Europe could proceed. The daylight bombing campaign was also supported by RAF Bomber Command, when they operated against the same targets at night.
  During "Big Week", the 15AF lost 90 bombers, the 8AF lost 157 bombers and RAF Bomber Command lost another 131 bombers. The 8th AF's strength had dropped from 75% to 54%, and the strength of its fighter units had dropped from 72% to 65%. The Luftwaffe's RLV (Reichs-Luftverteidigung) had lost 355 fighters and its operational strength shrank to 50%. The RLV also lost nearly 100 valuable fighter pilots. While Spaatz claimed it as a victory, the production of German fighters dropped only briefly. Nevertheless, the attritional battle would only get worse for the Luftwaffe. After Big Week, air superiority had passed irrevocably to the Allies. "By early 1944," writes Richard Overy, "the German fighter force was obtaining an average net gain every month of only twenty-six new pilots," reducing the Luftwaffe to "a brittle shield."
  One of the most important developments of "Big Week" was the introduction of the P-51 Mustang. It had the range to escort the USAAF bombers to the target and back again. It also had the performance to engage any piston-engine German fighter in service and the firepower of six .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning AN/M2 machine guns with which to destroy them. The number of Mustangs increased from February 1944 onwards. The rapid re-equipment of USAAF fighter squadrons enabled the new commander of the 8th AF, Jimmy Doolittle, in March 1944 to send out Mustang squadrons in formations well ahead of the lead elements of the bomber formations, to perform air supremacy "fighter sweeps" to clear the German skies of the Luftwaffe, and permit the USAAF's bombers to operate without serious opposition. As 1944 progressed, each in their turn, first the Zerstörergeschwader ("destroyer" wings)' twin-engined heavy fighters like the Bf 110 and the newer Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse, then the heavily armed Fw 190A Sturmböck bomber destroyer aircraft were driven from the Reich's skies by the USAAF's P-51s.
  With such serious Allied fighter opposition, the Luftwaffe was put under severe pressure in March–April 1944. According to a report made by Adolf Galland, General der Jagdflieger, on 27 April 1944, 500 aircraft and 400 pilots had been lost in the 10 previous operations. Galland also said that in the previous four months 1,000 pilots had been killed. Galland reported that the enemy outnumbered his fighters between 6:1 and 8:1 and the standard of Allied fighter pilot training was "astonishingly high". Galland recognised the Luftwaffe was losing the attrition war and pushed for a focus on quality rather than quantity. Galland stated in his 27 April report, "I would at this moment rather have one Me 262 in action than five Bf 109s. I used to say three 109s, but the situation develops and changes."
  The need for technical superiority was evident in the losses in the first half of 1944. The Luftwaffe lost 33.8% of its single-engine fighters and 17.9% of its fighter pilots during February, and reached a new high in March, with 56.4% fighter aircraft and 21.7% fighter pilots written off. The attrition of German fighter pilots continued and peaked in May, when 25% of the German fighter pilot strength had been lost. Between January and May 1944, 2,262 German fighter pilots were killed in the forthcoming battle for air superiority over Germany and German-occupied territories in Western Europe. Galland remarked over the loss of experienced personnel:
  The strained manpower situation in the air defence of the Reich d
caption: P-51 Mustangs in flight, summer 1944. Unlike the Spitfire, the P-51 could "clear the path" for the USAAF bombers to reach their targets. Their presence would break the Luftwaffe in 1944–45
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