Why were so few Luftwaffe attacks flown against the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944?
score:30
The Allies had air superiority (as quant_dev commented) is the basic explanation. I'll try to add some details.
First of all, ground support trained pilots were in short supply. Most pilots stationed in France were trained on bomber interception, not close ground support. Pilots/units with this training were usually stationed on the Eastern Front. Training for pilots in general was limited due to shortages of instructors, training aircraft and fuel. Instructors, particularly those in non-interceptor roles, were increasingly assigned to combat units. By the end of 1944, all flight instructors were reassigned to combat units.
German pilot ranks were also decimated by several months of aerial combat against the technologically better P-47 and P-51 fighters and better trained Allied pilots. Over 2000 German fighter pilots had died in combat in 1944 prior to the invasion. This left less experienced pilots for the most part with the job of mounting a defense. They did manage to launch about 100 sorties during the invasion but these were generally ineffective, as you noted.
Adding to this was confusion over the nature of the invasion. As you also noted, German commanders thought that the Normandy invasion was a feint to mask an invasion in the Calais area by Patton's (fictional) First U.S. Army Group. Thus they held their ground and air reserves to meet this perceived threat.
If the strategic bombing of Germany hadn't been as successful, the invasion would have been a much more iffy proposition than it was.
Upvote:3
Not true, my father was at Arromanches on D-day and over following days. They were attacked repeatedly by Ju-88 aircraft dropping Oyster mines within the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches. My rather had a B&W photo of one such aerial mine impacting the sea inside the harbour
He said on one occasion a Ju-88 attacked so low its propellers lifted plumes of spray off the sea behind it.
My father also recalled that his ship (LCH-187) fired on a low flying Spitfire with no invasion stripes. This aircraft was definitely a captured Spitfire flow by Zirkus Rosarius
Upvote:8
That only two aircraft attacked on June 6th is a myth perpetuated by the movie The Longest Day. What we see in the movie was the attack of two FW-190A8 of Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter", piloted by Oberstleutnant Josef Priller (wing commander of JG 26) and Unteroffizier Wodarczyk.
Priller survived the war (at the rank of Oberst, Inspector of Day Fighters (East)), wrote a history of JG 26 from his point of view, and actually worked as technical advisor on the movie set of The Longest Day.
You can see him (his character at least), played by Heinz Reincke, talking about how his squadrons were relocated away from the coast due to incessant bombing of the forward airfields (that order been given on June 4th).
That, plus the 30-to-1 numerical superiority of the Allies in the theater, are good reasons why there was comparatively little Luftwaffe activity.
However, there were several other missions. The YouTube channel Military Aviation History has a very nice video summarizing Luftwaffe operations on D-Day.
Of course, the two planes pictured in the movie are not even remotely looking like FW-190's. They appear to be Bf 108's, which were unarmed. ;-)
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