well you wouldn't think that about the Dora LG if you were flying it and could outrun just about any Allied escort fighter available ! The JG 301 pilots that had the prime opportunity to fly the Tank have all said the speed and turning rate was incredible.
A small but hard to find volume is the softback Monogram booklet on the fighter with some interesting first hand accounts. I do know as fact that Jerry Crandall has interviewed most of the ex-pilots for his upcoming JG 301 title
another tidbit, a model of my cousin's Fw 190A-9 for all of ya.......
actually the Dora is quite handsome and did well considering the youthfulness and lack of flying hours of the newere recruits in 1945......
JG 2, JG 26 and JG 301 being most notable.
I like the look of the Ta152, and all the Fw-190s. They look tough, and ready for anything that is thrown at them. Then again, who cares about looks if you're the one in the air while your opponent is falling to his death...
the longer wings ment more high altitude balance. What is odd to me if you have seen overhead profiles is the backward cant of the cocpit. Se where it lies; behind the wings and not over the top of them. I think it is a sleek and beautiful perfomer, and I will it say it again as I have so many other times with air-historians.................i wonder how it would of done in high altitude combat with the P-51D ?
High altitude I imagine the Ta-152 would have done rather well against a P-51. At medium to low altitudes, I imagine the P-51 would have had a field day as that long span would become a liability.
since the JG 301 ops mention only mid-altitude flying I would say the unit with the TA's was very successful. there was not one Tank brought down by Allied fighters. One was lost during combat due to a faulty supercharger which shut the engine down, the pilot and ace Herr Sattler was killed. The turning radius was fantastic as Willi Reschke points out with his combat victory over a Tempest.
Knocking down a Tempest doesn't prove much as they were not exactly known for their turning ability. I have always wondered about the Ta 152's rate of roll. From looking at those wings I imagine it must have been relatively poor which is a pity since the 190s had one of the best roll rates of any fighter of the war.