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When the Do335 prototype first flew in October 1943, it was clear that a potentially outstanding long-range fighter was in the offing. The question for the RLM was how to best employ it, as the war situation at that time had made the concept of a long range fighter-bomber somewhat superfluous. In a rare outbreak of pragmatism, it was decided to concentrate on development of the '335 as a bomber destroyer. The Luftwaffe's single engined fighters were having difficulty in carrying sufficient heavy weaponry to counter the 8th Air Force bomber fleets that were inflicting increasingly serious damage on Reich industry; performance of these heavily armed Pulk zerstorers rendering them vulnerable to the US long-range escort fighters appearing on the scene. Conversions of existing twin-engine fighter-bombers such as the Me410 were even worse. The Do335, fitted with heavy armament, having a reasonable endurance, and with high performance from it's efficient twin-engine configurations suggested a solution. 10. and 11. Staffel of IV(Sturm) Gruppe, JG3 began exchanging their FW190A-8/R2s for the B variant of the '335 in March 1944 and quickly worked up to operational status, perfecting their repeated dive and zoom slashing attacks to break up the bomber stream while remaining fast enough to cause a serious problem for the escorting fighters to intercept. The '335 may have been fast and heavily armed, but it would be at a serious disadvantage in traditional fighter versus fighter combat manoeuvring. It was shaping up to be a torrid Summer for the 8th Air Force . . . regards, Martin
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- what if?
- Defence of the Reich
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Removed.
