Probability of survival

[Andy_L]

@Andy_L

Dyson discusses his work for Bomber command in this (very interesting) article http://www.technologyreview.com/article/406789/a-failure-of-intelligence/4/ (I’m linking to page 4 because it’s most relevant). Reading between the lines, it seems like the bombers had no real defense against German fighters, and thus survival rate depended solely on the German’s success rate at hitting their targets - so the experience of the bomber crew was irrelevant.

I looked a little more closely at the article, and Dyson mentions a German invention Schräge Musik - Wikipedia which allowed fighters to fire on bombers while outside the bombers field of view - rendering experience irrelevant. Dyson notes that had he been able to convince the command that there was a factor rendering bomber crew experience irrelevant, they might have figured out what that factor was, and developed countermeasures faster.

[Atomic_Alex]

@Andy_L

Dyson discusses his work for Bomber command in this (very interesting) article http://www.technologyreview.com/article/406789/a-failure-of-intelligence/4/ (I’m linking to page 4 because it’s most relevant). Reading between the lines, it seems like the bombers had no real defense against German fighters, and thus survival rate depended solely on the German’s success rate at hitting their targets - so the experience of the bomber crew was irrelevant.

Thanks, interesting read.