Not looking for trouble here as a "junior member" but I think some of Foss's 26 kills were bettys/other ducks (I know you guys are aware of this already).
The fact that he did have at least "many" zero kills while flying a wildcat does tell you something though. I imagine there were tough times when he would have traded in his wildcat for a spit. If the venerable wildcat was able to hold its own against the zeke (grant it the thatch/weave innovation was essential) how can almost any spit model be thought to be inferior to the zeke? Looks to me that the handful of scrapes between the two provide an insufficient amount of data for decent comparison.
Guess if I need to land on carrier I'd take the zero though...
The fact that he did have at least "many" zero kills while flying a wildcat does tell you something though. I imagine there were tough times when he would have traded in his wildcat for a spit. If the venerable wildcat was able to hold its own against the zeke (grant it the thatch/weave innovation was essential) how can almost any spit model be thought to be inferior to the zeke? Looks to me that the handful of scrapes between the two provide an insufficient amount of data for decent comparison.
Guess if I need to land on carrier I'd take the zero though...