GregP
Major
I re-read Eric Brown's "Duels in the Sky" and found the end to not be what has been posted in the past in several forums, includign this one. I confess I merely perused it before and never read the final chapter … to my loss.
At the end of the book he picks the greatest single fighters of WW II to be:
1. Supermarine Spitfire and Fw 190 as tied for first place.
2. Grumman Hellcat. My personal pick as top or very near the top.
3. North American Mustang IV.
4. Mitsubishi Zeke.
5. Hawker Tempest V.
6. Kawanishi George 21.
He takes into account the basic quality of design, development potential, combat success rate, and the aircraft's influence on the conduct and outcome of various operations. In the Pacific, the Hellcat almost single-handedly turned defeat into victory. The Mustang, though technically superior, never made such an impact in any theater of operations.
He picks the greatest Naval fighters of WW II to be:
1. Grumman Hellcat.
2. Mitsubishi Zeke.
3. Grumman Wildcat.
4. Chance Vought Corsair: Rejected for carrier use at first, it was powerful in the air but never as fit as the Hellcat for carrier duty. A dog on the carrier deck. The rate of climb was never very good in early models and was overstated in later models.
5. Hawker Sea Hurricane.
6. Supermarine Seafire: Short range and very poor deck handling that probably resulted in more operational losses than combat successes.
He picks the most effective dive bomber to be:
1. Junkers Ju 87.
2. Douglas Dauntless and Aichi Val as tied for second place.
3. Blackburn Skua.
4. Curtiss Helldiver.
He picks the best torpedo bomber of WW II to be:
1. Fairey Swordfish.
2. Grumman Avenger.
3. Nakajima Kate.
4. Nakajima Jill.
He says the Swordfish was in action sooner than the Avenger, obtained better torpedo results, and suffered fewer losses. Of course, the "fewer losses" part could easily be due to the fact that the Avenger was used much more in a more hostile sky, but these were Eric's picks.
I'd reverse #1 and #2, not for nationalism but more for performance. The Swordfish was good but obsolete. The Avenger was more modern but suffered from vulnerability due to 3 crew, its payload, and low speed versus a single-seat fighter. The Swordfish was worse in this regard, but the Japanese carriers were MUCH more present than were German carriers … as Germany never had one. If they had, the Swordfish would have died quickly or, at the very least, would have suffered losses similar to or greater than the Avengers since they were largely shot down by carrier fighters out of land-based fighter range. The Swordfish lived due to German inability to field a carrier force. Just my opinion.
Any comments? I respect Eric Brown a lot, but do not necessarily agree with his every choice. Still, he DID fly the aircraft in question and I did not. Makes me want to side with Eric regardless of my own feelings ... mostly ...
At the end of the book he picks the greatest single fighters of WW II to be:
1. Supermarine Spitfire and Fw 190 as tied for first place.
2. Grumman Hellcat. My personal pick as top or very near the top.
3. North American Mustang IV.
4. Mitsubishi Zeke.
5. Hawker Tempest V.
6. Kawanishi George 21.
He takes into account the basic quality of design, development potential, combat success rate, and the aircraft's influence on the conduct and outcome of various operations. In the Pacific, the Hellcat almost single-handedly turned defeat into victory. The Mustang, though technically superior, never made such an impact in any theater of operations.
He picks the greatest Naval fighters of WW II to be:
1. Grumman Hellcat.
2. Mitsubishi Zeke.
3. Grumman Wildcat.
4. Chance Vought Corsair: Rejected for carrier use at first, it was powerful in the air but never as fit as the Hellcat for carrier duty. A dog on the carrier deck. The rate of climb was never very good in early models and was overstated in later models.
5. Hawker Sea Hurricane.
6. Supermarine Seafire: Short range and very poor deck handling that probably resulted in more operational losses than combat successes.
He picks the most effective dive bomber to be:
1. Junkers Ju 87.
2. Douglas Dauntless and Aichi Val as tied for second place.
3. Blackburn Skua.
4. Curtiss Helldiver.
He picks the best torpedo bomber of WW II to be:
1. Fairey Swordfish.
2. Grumman Avenger.
3. Nakajima Kate.
4. Nakajima Jill.
He says the Swordfish was in action sooner than the Avenger, obtained better torpedo results, and suffered fewer losses. Of course, the "fewer losses" part could easily be due to the fact that the Avenger was used much more in a more hostile sky, but these were Eric's picks.
I'd reverse #1 and #2, not for nationalism but more for performance. The Swordfish was good but obsolete. The Avenger was more modern but suffered from vulnerability due to 3 crew, its payload, and low speed versus a single-seat fighter. The Swordfish was worse in this regard, but the Japanese carriers were MUCH more present than were German carriers … as Germany never had one. If they had, the Swordfish would have died quickly or, at the very least, would have suffered losses similar to or greater than the Avengers since they were largely shot down by carrier fighters out of land-based fighter range. The Swordfish lived due to German inability to field a carrier force. Just my opinion.
Any comments? I respect Eric Brown a lot, but do not necessarily agree with his every choice. Still, he DID fly the aircraft in question and I did not. Makes me want to side with Eric regardless of my own feelings ... mostly ...