Bay of Biscay

[ChoppySeas]

Good day all, just finished reading the book Iron Coffins and its a really great account of the uboat war. One thing i took from the book that really stood out, was why didn't the luftwaffe provide better air cover over the Bay of Biscay? It clearly was a huge issue for the uboats making the transit from ports to the black pit and return, especially damaged boats that couldn't dive quick or had any defense. With the amount of losses endured from aircraft you would think that it would have been a priority that the sky be cleared. Most encounters was a single 2 or 4 engine plane, day or night and they would harass the boats continuously like as if they had no opposition. Was it goering who didnt wanna commit any resources to this, no aircraft suitable for the roll? surely drop tanks could be fitted to something. Were these aircraft coming from spain to scan the bay? just food for thought and curious what others think of this.

[EwenS]

There is a long and well referenced article on Wiki about the history of Luftwaffe support for the KM in WW2 which will give you a starting point to further research.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fliegerführer_Atlantik

V./KG 40 and its successor unit ZG.1 operated the fighter version of the Ju88 over the Bay of Biscay (the Ju88C-6) which did exact a toll of RAF aircraft from Coastal Command. As a result the RAF operated Beaufighters and Mosquitos, incl some night fighters IIRC, to counteract them.

[Felix C]

Chris Goss has a very good book on the topic. Bloody Biscay is the title.