Also, taking into account the capabilities of the aircraft available it is possible that a concerted bomber effort against a specific element of the German war effort could have bought results, for instance consistent, repetative and concentrated attacks against U Boat bases and construction and repair facilities could have dramatically reduced the capacity of that force to function. As could similar attacks against steel works.
I don’t think there would have been any chance of this in 1918-1919.
The targets, U-boat construction, steelworks, sound alarmingly similar to those of the RAF in WW2. To try to do significant damage to these with the lumbering bombers of 1918 with their small bomb-loads (of tiny bombs) and against defending fighters is surely asking the impossible.
Navigation, even in daylight, and the weather would be much more difficult for a bomber of 1918, as would hitting the target with the bomb-sights available.
As with my point about the Western Front why put our forces into a position that so overwhelmingly favours the defender?
If we want to have an impact on the war better that our aircraft find a U-boat on the high seas when it’s isolated, far from home, where it can be shadowed and hounded at very little risk, where relatively minor damage would prove decisive, where bad weather is a problem for the U-boat too and where if it is destroyed the entire crew will perish.
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