U.S. operational service Prewar theory Prewar doctrine was based on the idea "the bomber will always get through".Miller 2007, p. 41. Despite RAF and Luftwaffe experience with daylight bombing, the USAAF still incorrectly believed in 1942 that tightly packed formations of bombers would have so much firepower that they could fend off fighters on their own. Fighter escort was a low priority, but when the concept was discussed in 1941, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning was considered to be most appropriate, as it had the speed and range. Another school of thought favored a heavily up-armed "gunship" conversion of a strategic bomber.Miller 2007, p. 46. A single-engined, high-speed fighter with the range of a bomber was thought to be an engineering impossibility.Miller 2007, p. 42.
U.S. operational service Prewar theory Prewar doctrine was based on the idea "the bomber will always get through".Miller 2007, p. 41. Despite RAF and Luftwaffe experience with daylight bombing, the USAAF sti.ll incorrectly believed in 1942 that tightly packed formations of bombers would have so much firepower that they could fend off fighters on their own. Fighter escort was a low priority, but when the concept was discussed in 1941, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning was considered to be most appropriate, as it had the speed and range. Another school of thought favored a heavily up-armed "gunship" conversion of a strategic bomber.Miller 2007, p. 46 A single-engined, high-speed fighter with the range of a bomber was thought to be an engineering impossibility.Miller 2007, p. 42.