Comments by "Gort" (@gort8203) on "The Breda Ba.88 Lince; When Propaganda and Reality Crash Together" video.

  1. The idea emerged in the 1930s when the new bombers were often as fast as the short-range single-engine fighters at that time, despite being so lightly armed as to make it questionable they could destroy a bomber if they caught it. For example, the USAAC issued the specification for a twin engine fighter that led to the Lockheed P-38 because there was no existing engine that could lift the weight of armament desired to the speed and altitude desired, so it would require two engines. The heavy fighter could also hold more fuel and have longer range for offensive operations such as fighter sweeps and bomber escort. There were no expectation that a single engine fighter could achieve the range necessary to escort long range bombers. Unfortunately the German RLM gave the twin engine heavy fighter a bad name because they made the Bf-110, 210, and 410 too heavy to succeed in combat against single-engine fighters. The problem was not that the Bf-110 had too many engines, it was that it had too many crewmembers plus defensive guns and was more like a light bomber than a fighter. In the Battle of Britain it could stay with the bombers longer but failed as an escort fighter due to poor performance against single engine fighters. The heavy fighter concept had a second wind at the end of the war with designs like the North American P-82, Grumman F7F, and Dh Hornet, which unfortunately came too late to prove their capability in combat.
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