Depends on what you would have it face. A few P-36Cs fought at Pearl Harbor vs A6M2 Zeros. A few export models fought for China against A5Ms (Japan's previous naval fighter). Mohawks (P-36Cs exported as kits and assembled in India) for a short while were the RAF's only defense in Eastern...
A Zero certainly could have hung around over Britain and fought all day where the Bf109 could only linger a few minutes before needing to RTB.
Uncle Ted
6x .50cal worked just fine vs Luftwaffe fighters. Had the Germans built heavy bombers in quantity, then US fighters might have needed autocannon for air to air.
Uncle Ted
The shape is similar to the Fokker G.I Faucheur and the Swedish J-21a.
However, the G.I was slower, with less power (730-830 hp per engine) and there were not enough of them available in 1940, so it stopped making a name for itself. :).
The J-21 had a single engine and a pusher prop and was...
IIRC, the guns were limited traverse forward; the pilot's gunnery controls were range setting to adjust the gins to converge on the target at range. In local control, they are still firing within a 15-degree cone forward.
Uncle Ted
This is my understanding of the issues with the Ba.88. This is taken from Wikipedia in particular, but I can quote similar information from 3 sources (Wiki is on-lien making cut and paste easy).
I too, started with an image of the Ba.88 and said "Wow! that must move well!". However:
The...
Have to differ with you. The Japanese carrier air groups operate as divisions of two. They were way better than the Americans at forming, travelling, and striking in a coordinated fashion than the USN in mid-1942. They did make coordinated strikes, TBs or DBs striking from two directions at...
Answering as ...
Engines as a group, not just a single design. The Merlin is an excellent a/c engine, a i the DB 605, but the English and the Germans built other engine, too.
Engines as reliable performance, not the performance of any particular aircraft they power - too many other factors...
The despair of aircraft engine maintenance crews
He111H-Z Zwilling
Gott in Himmel! So many engines, all alike!
Not to mention fly by committee.
There was also a Bf109-Z Zwilling, and lest you think this a peculiarly German disease, the US F-82 Twin Mustang.
The German designs were attempts...
Yes, that would be incorrect. Air units did not freely move back and forth as before Spring 1943, the distances were too great. Certainly the only way to get the attending ground elements and their equipment would be around the Cape of Good Hope, which was neither easy or quick.
the 31st FG...
In addition to the other comments, I would suggest that the strike against the Kido Butai was anything but a team effort a there was little coordinated about the strike or rather strikes, as American air attack arrived a single squadrons or groups from Midway or the carriers at random. The DB...
Elbonia has been used by various WW2 arms reviewers as a mean of selecting the worst arms available from WW2. The challenge usually runs like this
You are the Elbonian Minister of War and you are equipping the military of newly-liberated Elbonia from scratch with a choice of surplus military...
Note that sortie were two or three aircraft, rather than the squadron-strength sorties flown earlier in the war.
And yes, thanks for the article.
Uncle Ted