Again, not betting the croc dollar...

But the first American daylight raid into Germany was Bremershaven and I believe it was late February, early March 1944. (If not during Big Week, immediately after) The tactical and strategic decision to use the bombers as bait doesn't come down the pipe until Gen James Doolittle takes command of the 8th Army Air Force in January, 1944. It was Doolittle's job to get air supremacy. So from Jan 1944 on, the idea of precision daylight bombing shortening the war was the mantra fed to the public and the troops.

Let's not forget a couple of things.

1) It worked. Jimmy Doolittle was right, however horrific the costs. He attacked targets the Germans HAD to defend, and gutted their fighter force to do so.

2) This cannot be debated in a time where no one seems to know/appreciate TOTAL WAR. What bugged the camel piss out of me is that this mantra of precision bombing from January 1944 to the end of the war is STILL being sung... When it obviously was not the case. It almost borders on revisionism, except for the whole "this is the song we sang in '45, let's keep singing it now in 2011!" thing. We acknowledge two flag raising's on Iwo Jima because there were TWO flag raising's on Iwo Jima... A little known fact until recent publicity and a couple of movies. After the surrender of Corrigedor (sp?) we lost a little more than 22% of our surrendered troops in one march, the Bataan death march. After the 6th Army's surrender in Stalingrad, Von Paulus lost 95% of his men, dead. AFTER THE SURRENDER. Almost 95000 men went into captivity in January 1943, less than five thousand came back after May of 1945. Is this hidden? Lied about? Just because its lost in the brutality of the Eastern Front doesn't mean it is distorted.

The use of bombers as bait to flush the German fighter force in the six months before D Day was a documented, real policy. Why did it take nearly seventy years for a documentary to say it? How many World At War, Time Life specials, History Channel series, Military/Wings Channel shows did we wade through BEFORE WWII in HD/The Air War?

And Ryan, have to ask. Will you ever look at Andy Rooney the same way again? I ALMOST want to start watching 60 Minutes on CBS BECAUSE that's Andy Rooney.

Almost. Hahaha.