But how does Germany Intercept the bombers? They have to detect, scramble fighters and get to height in the time it takes the bomber to reach the target? You could escort with fighters, or have a higher flying faster bomber. If the target is the Rhur and bases are in France you dont need long range fighters. Its only if France has fallen or if you are penetrating deep into German observed territory, or if they have a long range radar network. FREYA gives 8 minutes warning early war. Once you try to penetrate a long distance into observed territory that changes but up to mid 1940 not an issue. Even if you do have longer ranged fighters the attack will be limited to their range and the hope that using Mk1 Eyeball scouting ahead or at low speed to match the bomber and Mk1 Eyeball you can successfully attack the defending fighters before they get engaged. Which worked so well for the Luftwaffe over England. Even then flying in daylight does not solve the weather, or accuracy problem.
You cannot accurately bomb a target unless you can see it, and can fly straight and level for long enough to set up the bomb sight. In daylight only 10% of the time do you have clear weather. The accuracy issue is a miss by 5 miles or 500 yards is still a miss. The only solution to that is drop lots of bombs in the same general area at the same time, preferably on an area target OR have really expert crews and highly specialised weapons with very advanced equipment. Exactly the same technology that enables you to do this in daylight also enables you to do the former at night and until you have built a very large number of aircraft able to sustain attacks over time its not going to work anyway.
The 8th in 1944 (in 43 they are just getting massacred) are blind bombing, mostly, inaccurately, always and have a numerical superiority of fighters often and some degree of controlled intercept. Additionally the non strategic parts of the allied air forces are beating up northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands so any german defences, Radar, Fighters and flak are under attack anyway and any of those attacks might be a sweep ahead of an incoming raid forming over East Anglia.
Who do you defend against? And how. Same detection issues apply until you can deploy radars and control systems. The possible opponents are the IJN. Italy. France, USA. Well the last two are out. Italy only applies to the Med, fair enough, but really only part of the Med and the red sea, possibly Gib. The IJN attacks and all other things being equal they are now in a war against a vastly superior Navy, not constrained by the treaties now with the USN sitting across your own supply lines. The main defence against them would be early detection of the approaching force and sinking them. So maybe having ASV equipped scout planes is a better idea.
But from about 36 the primary threat is Germany. Again no war and there will be GCI stations at major bases and point defence fighters. Italians randomly bombing the Western Desert is not an issue. Long ranged escorts are useful but not in any way decisive. Look at the US or IJN losses while escorted against paltry number of defending CAP in the Pacific in 42. Less than if unescorted for sure but not impressive. Long ranged interceptors only useful if you have long ranged detection, and the intercept point can be anywhere between detection and weapons release so long is a relative concept.
Again its a time and resource issue. Both are finite. What's more useful, building long ranged fighters in an effort to escort the small number of bombers you have at best 10% of the time when you can see the target. or building more bombers and enabling them to navigate accurately enough at night all the time which also gives enough bombs on target to increase the damage to the target. or building more point defence fighters to protect your industrial base so you can do more things over time.
