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Surely any US aircraft that wasn't operated either by the British and their allies or by proxy in China doesn't really count for 1941. Do they squeak in for three weeks when the conflict had been going on for over two years?
Cheers
Steve
I'm not sure that Hurricane and F4F-3 were better fighters than P-40B/C/D, P-39C/D, Yak-1, LaGG-3, Mig-3 or P-38D/E.
Actually, just by looking at raw speed, the MiG-3 was fastest of the lot (especially the examples built before Germans invaded), closely followed by Spitfire V and P-38. Granted, the MiG carried quite a light armament, much more close to the Italian and Japanese fighters than what West was beginning to use.
Soviet had 1029 MiG-3 on 1st june 1941 (but only 494 trained pilot)
MiG-3 was surely the fastest allied fighter in high altitude, the Yak-1 was probably the fastest in low medium altitude (taking out the Spit V), i've not counting the twin engined (the P-38D/E almost on paper is much faster and also the Whirlwind would be almost fast as Yak-1)
Wasn't the MiG-3 a bit of a handful?
P-38 in terms of its combat experience and record to the end of 1941 is extremely questionable. For one thing none were delivered until March 1942, though they had been ordered since before the fall of France. 524 were on order as of March 1941, but not a single example was provided until the following year.
When France fell in June1940, the entire French/British contract was taken up by Britain. By July 1941 the RAF recognized there would be a need for high-altitude capabilities, and the original contract was amended to deliver 143 Lightning Is with the V-1710-15 non-turbo-supercharged engines (this was stipulated because of the US embargo on export of its turbo technologies), and the remaining 524 as Lightning IIs with turbo-supercharged V-1710-F5L/-F5R engines (which were never delivered) . Because of its non-turbo, right-handed Allisons, RAF's Lightning I was christened the "Castrated P-38" by the factory. It turned out that the nickname was apt. The first three Lightnings arrived in the UK by sea transport in March 1942. was sent to Cunliffe-Owen at Southampton for examination and experiments. was sent to Boscombe Down for flight evaluation. went to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough for experiments and evaluation.
Performance of the hybrid m which was the only one to anything even like squadron service for the RAF was very poor and RAF refused further deliveries after testing only three examples.
Arguing that the type was in US service is also a bit of a technical con job. The US was not an allied power until December 1941, so unless we are counting that last three weeks of 1941, seems even more of a stretch.
The Typhoon was declared operational in May '42 (but was not trouble free, they not go in combat until november)
In 1941 the Spitfire Vs which equipped the bulk of Fighter Command squadrons were outclassed by the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and suffered many losses. The Typhoon was rushed into service with Nos. 56 and 609 Squadrons in the summer of 1941, to counter the Fw 190. This decision proved to be a disaster and several Typhoons were lost to unknown causes and the Air Ministry began to consider halting production of the Typhoon.
Being the first unit to receive a new type of aircraft is an unnerving experience, especially for the pilots, and it is quite a steep learning curve for th e ground crew, too. No. 56 Sqn, commanded by Sqn Ldr Peter Prosser Hanks, at Duxford, received II first Typhoon lA s on 11 September 1941, with the others arriving throughout
that month; the last one flew in at the beginning of October, to make sixteen on strength .
Training for the pilots of No. 56 Sqn continued unabated until I November 194 1, when one of their aircraft crashed with fatal consequences: this was R7592,
The Typhoon was declared operational in May '42 (but was not trouble free, they not go in combat until november)