The really successful CAS in WW2 and also today dont stand out at speed.
The Ju87 Stuka, IL2 and even A10 are in no way the faster planes in there time. The are very slow.
Cause you need time to locate your target and then aim and lay down fire on them. Only blast over the area will reduce the chance of being hit but u dont hit a shit either .
You are very correct. Those planes were slow for their time. They also could not operate and survive where there was strong AA, which is the norm on the battle front. The Stuka and IL2 (and Allied CAS) most often had to operate outside the range of that concentrated AA and generally in the immediate rear area. The A-10 was expected to survive only a few weeks in a European war, but at the time there was no other option. They were to be deliberately sacrificed to buy time until American REFORGER units could arrive. Their mission was to destroy as many enemy armored vehicles as possible in the short time they were going to survive. It is why the US military has tried repeatedly to get rid of the A-10. They cannot survive and today there is an alternative when facing peer powers. Today CAS can stay out of range of most AA and drop accurate fire.
The Germans enjoyed the advantage of being first so they could fly slow moving targets like the Stuka over undefended areas and wreck havoc. They were run out of the combat area soon enough. So were the Russian CAS, when faced with opposition, and the Allies in Africa.
It was in Africa that the Allies saw their CAS bombers pushed back to altitudes by enemy AA that prevented them from being generally effective. A new field manual and general understanding among the Allies was established and a three step process to CAS was founded.
- Find and destroy enemy air where ever it may be found. Achieve air superiority.
- Interdict enemy units and supplies moving to the front, before they are dispersed in the battle area.
- Finally, attack enemy ground units in the battle area.
In the meantime they began replacing their slow bombers on the front with fighters to conduct CAS. Even then, attacking front line troops was the last thing they wanted to do, unless their was air superiority and the enemy was on the back foot with reduced AA capability. During Operation Cobra, lead tanks in US columns had direct contact with P-47 pilots flying over head. There was almost no enemy AA or fighter opposition, so the P-47s could loiter, recon the road ahead, and attack targets directly in the path of the armored columns. This would not be possible without the direct contact radios, of course, or if the enemy AA was present. This was 1944 and some of the first examples of decent front line CAS. It was still only possible, because enemy resistance to CAS was almost depleted.
I found an article called
Help From Above, that describes this process. WW2 starts on page 32. I realize that it is to much to read, but it makes it clear that CAS just was not working for the Allies, due to enemy AA, fighters, and the general technology and doctrinal challenges facing any army of the period.
