Recent content by Conslaw

No argument on that point.

As an official government document, the actual text should be in the public domain. The publisher of the print version can copyright unique content added to the print edition.

As I understand it, the only operational F4F Wildcats in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor were 11 Marine F4Fs at Ewa. I am not aware of any other operational Wildcats, but the Navy may have had some in a depot waiting for assignment to carriers. These planes would not have had pilots or...

The Navy would not have abandoned Pearl Harbor. Hawaii defenses had already been strengthened by June 1942, and efforts were ongoing. Even in December 1941, Japan was only able to achieve the results it did with more than a little bit of luck combined with the fact that the US was not...

Zuikaku & company may have been fit to escort a convoy to Kiska while they were training an airgoup. The training of US carrier personnel in the early carrier raids was crucial, and it may have made the difference between Yorktown and Enterprise being effective at Midway and Hornet not being...

The US Navy, the US Government, showed no signs of giving a s--t about the Indian Ocean. Once the Burma Road was lost, the US seemed to have no significant strategic interest in the area. By the middle of 1942, American losses to U-Boats in the Atlantic were, in the big picture, actually the...

RCAFson, you are right that concentrating all the carriers at Midway could have ended up with a resounding defeat of the USN, but if the USN knew of the forces coming it gave the USN reason not to engage. The USN didn't just know what was coming. it knew what wasn't coming (within a margin for...

True to a point, but although the US Navy brass couldn't have known it at the time, US subs would not accomplish a lot until well into 1943, and by that time Midway could have been retaken. In fact, I think it is likely that the 1st Marine Division that took Guadalcanal would have been...

I was deliberately ambiguous when it came to the Aleutian campaign because it is not clear if it would go on without the small carriers. Assuming it did, then yes, the Japanese would use more fuel. If not, well, in this operation the Japanese would not use more fuel - but they would also not...

If the IJN had brought 6 or 7 carriers to attack Midway, the odds are greater, under his principle of “calculated risk”, that Nimitz would have avoided carrier combat entirely. Now, ignoring the issue of whether Japan would or would not have successfully taken Midway, this scenario creates...

How is that XP-67 Moonbat book? Did you learn any interesting tidbits. It's hard to find good quality info on that plane.

I recall reading forums concerning the early combat flight simulations that the model of the P-38 was defective because it was coded as a target with 100% of the space between the booms being counted as hits. I don't think this is 100% reliable, but I can understand why they might have coded it...

All of the Wildcats that Great Britain took possession of in 1940 - in time for the Battle of Britain, were the "G-36A" model that were originally built for the French. These planes had a 1,000 Horsepower R-1820 engines and did not have two-stage turbochargers. I haven't seen performance...