THE LONG- AND VERY-LONG-RANGE ALLIED ASW AIRCRAFT SITUATION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC
(BY TYPES AND SQUADRONS, MARCH 1943)1
Generally, historians and authors of the Battle of the Atlantic substantially understate the numbers of Allied ready or near ready long- and very-long-range ASW aircraft in the North Atlantic area. Assuming an aircraft with a combat radius of at least five hundred nautical miles to be “long range” for ASW purposes, a reliable figure is sixty-one squadrons comprised of 732 aircraft. Although many units were in transfer, working up, or otherwise in flux, the following is a reasonable snapshot of the situation for March 1943 by aircraft type, squadron, and location.
