Fact that Mohawks did well in India has nothing to do with two-speed supercharger or any performance in high altitude. All encounters with enemy airplanes there were under 10 000 ft, at least in case of Mohawks.
Oscar was good fighter, but every Allied airplane in CBI was able to hold it's own with Ki-43, nothing special there. It was more about tactic (and circumstances) anyway, as soon as Allied pilots realized they can disengage from Ki-43 at will , "greatness" of Oscar was gone.
I think that is overstating the case quite a bit, both A6M and Ki-43 were still shooting down Corsairs, P-38s, Kittyhawks, Airacobras, etc. even Hellcats in 1943 and 44. It was nice that it was possible to dive away and extend, (or in the case of a P-38, go into a shallow high speed climb to disengage) and with some types it was certainly easier than others. But there was nothing automatic about it, and in fact the Ki-43 was not as "easy" to dive away from as a Zero since it didn't have the same stiffening of controls in a dive that the Zero did.
Also I'd say that generally speaking, Hurricanes and Airacobras didn't do as well against Ki-43s as some of the other types. That might be a subject for another thread though (and I'm not certain about the Airacobras either).
100% sure. 49th FG got some P-40K-1s as reinforcements in October 1942, never Ms. As I wrote, they were still using P-40Es (in mix with P-40Ks) in July 1942 when they replaced them with P-40Ns.
They didn't get P-40K until Oct 1942 but were using them (with Es) in July 1942?
Right, with engine running at 2600 rpm and not at 3000 rpm hovewer.
Do you have any info on performance at higher RPM at that altitude?
Combat reports says otherwise. I can agree with 25 000 ft plus, I disagree with the rest.
Well what the 'pooped out' altitude actually was, may be up for debate, but I can provide pilot anecdotes and interviews, particularly from the Middle East, noting that the early Kittyhawks weren't much good above 12-15,000 feet (there is some variation of these estimates or comments). The -81 and later engined P-40s with the higher supercharger gear ratio did a bit better, but I think still far from ideal as far as higher altitude.
They were not doing this as only option, but ok. Wildcats over Solomons were doing same thing, because it is smart thing to do. What else can you do with Zeros around?
Several pilots active in SW Pacific noted that they actually could out-turn Zeros at high speed, using what sounds like a low-yo-yo. Generally from all the anecdotes and interviews I've read, it does not sound like they dove away so readily. Navy Wildcats in particular were often trying to use tactics like Thach weave. But I don't think you have enough power to do that at 25,000 feet in a P-40E or K.
There is a level of nuance here, but truly avoiding ALL turning etc. and diving away after a single pass is not what most experienced Allied pilots actually ended up doing, with any aircraft, which is why I say the 49th FG experiences over Darwin were somewhat unique.
When attacking airfields the Japanese bombers tended to usually (not always) fly higher both to make it harder on defending fighters and to avoid some of the flak.
Of course it was available. Forget producing them, Australia got chance to get them (or at least try to get them) after fall of France in summer 1940. But as I wrote before, nobody in Australia wanted single seat fighters before Pearl Harbor (at least not officialy). RAAF insisted on two seat fighters, that is why they ordered Beaufighters.
Well Beaufighters certainly weren't a bad choice.
They don't even make two speed R-1830s, I already wrote why somewhere in this thread. But sure, why not, yes, everything is possible.
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This is all over the place. Can you please tell me what is your idea of timeline here? When Australia in this "what if" scenario decides about production of this fighter?
Obviously it's a 'What if" scenario which some people can find inherently frustrating. It is certainly not something which actually happened. Presumably somebody at RAAF would have had to have a lightbulb go off in their head (which didn't actually happen) probably at a very early date in order to make this come together.
And it didn't actually happen so it can seem like an exercise in futility. Hence the separate area for 'What If' threads.
But in threads like this you often learn a lot of details and nuances about military aircraft from the specific time and place under consideration which is one of the reasons I like them. I have certainly learned a lot in this thread, especially as I didn't know that much in detail about the various Wildcat marks and their engines, the various Hawk marks, the exact differences between the Wright R-1820 and P&W R-1830 and so on (which I still get a bit confused on, I hope you will forgive me).