B-29 Escort: P-38, P-47N or P-51H ? (1 Viewer)

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Cockpit roominess might be somewhat exaggerated when it comes to one over the other.
The P-47N was the more roomy one, but from a strategic point of view, I'd use the P-51H for escort and use the range and tonnage capability of the P-47N to run medium to low level attack runs.
Out of the three the P-47N was better suited for that than an escort.
I read they ran 24 hour raids with the N, still requiring a 10 hour flight, still requiring the range.

Why does the P-38 always get the back seat on these types of comparisons?
It was an effective escort and proved to be a handful for Japanese aircraft.
The Japanese airmen, when surveyed, said it was their most competitive adversary at high altitude.
If it wasn't the H but instead the D model P-51, I might instead choose the P-38 for escort.

I don't think anyone is thinking the P-38 deserves the back seat for any combat performance reasons. I think it really is about pilot fatigue as much as any other factor. The P-38 being a twin and ergonomic issues created a greater work load for the pilot than the P-47N. P-38s could certainly have done the job, it is just that the job would have be more difficult for the pilots to endure.

Good point. It does seem next to the Corsair, the 38 was one that won the war in the Pacific.

I hope you are ready to put on your body armor. You may be in for some serious incoming fire from Hellcat pilots and fans. There is also the "Fighter pilots make movies, bomber pilots make history" guys that may want to drop a few eggs on you.

Speaking of the Corsair, couldn't they do the job? Launch from carriers and rendezvous with the B-29s en route, and then return to the carriers?

Even it this were a practical option, do you think HAP Arnold would ever admit to the Navy he needed their help to protect his bombers on a routine basis? Sure the Corsair could do the job, so could the Hellcat but neither would for a variety of reasons.
 
Even it this were a practical option, do you think HAP Arnold would ever admit to the Navy he needed their help to protect his bombers on a routine basis? Sure the Corsair could do the job, so could the Hellcat but neither would for a variety of reasons.

If I recall correctly, the USN began making fighter sweeps into Japanese mainland from February 1945 onwards with increasing strength which targeted the remnants of the Japanese Navy, fighter bases and transportation targets among others.
It is my belief that if Arnold and the USAAF would not have been very enthusiastic about asking the USN for fighter support, the USN would not have been much enthusiastic to lend them either.
 
Wouldn't that be kinda-sorta like asking the USN to station carriers off the coast of Europe to provide fighter support for USAAF bombers?
 
If I recall correctly, the USN began making fighter sweeps into Japanese mainland from February 1945 onwards with increasing strength which targeted the remnants of the Japanese Navy, fighter bases and transportation targets among others.
It is my belief that if Arnold and the USAAF would not have been very enthusiastic about asking the USN for fighter support, the USN would not have been much enthusiastic to lend them either.

You may be right about a lack of enthusiasm from the USN, but then again the USN may have loved the opportunity collect another chip in the interservice rivalry poker game. It may have come in handy after the war when the USAF almost had Congress convinced that Carriers were as obsolete as Dreadnoughts.
 
When do you need it?

If you can wait until the fall of 1945 then nothing beats the P-51H. However for WWII era B-29 missions you need an aircraft that was historically available.
 
When do you need it?

If you can wait until the fall of 1945 then nothing beats the P-51H. However for WWII era B-29 missions you need an aircraft that was historically available.

True, maybe protection was most needed if an bomber was hit and limping home without the protection of the main bomber stream.
Each available escort aircraft has their merits and would do the same job very well.
Cheers
John
 
One of my favorite aircraft. However given the antagonistic relationship between the WWII era USA and USN I cannot imagine the U.S. Army Air Corps adopting a naval aircraft.
 
You may be right about a lack of enthusiasm from the USN, but then again the USN may have loved the opportunity collect another chip in the interservice rivalry poker game. It may have come in handy after the war when the USAF almost had Congress convinced that Carriers were as obsolete as Dreadnoughts.

In that sense I agree, I don't have much detailed information about the inter-service rivalry between the USAAF and the USN but from what I have read the USAAF's struggle was not only against the Luftwaffe in Europe and the IJAF/IJN in the Pacific and CBI, but also for its independence from the Army after the war.
 
When do you need it?

If you can wait until the fall of 1945 then nothing beats the P-51H. However for WWII era B-29 missions you need an aircraft that was historically available.

Depends on the altitude. Above 30k its performance is not a lot greater than the D, especially in climb, and nowhere near the P-47N.
 
One of my favorite aircraft. However given the antagonistic relationship between the WWII era USA and USN I cannot imagine the U.S. Army Air Corps adopting a naval aircraft.

The aircraft that became the Tigercat was originally an Army project called the XP50 this crashed and the Army transferred its funding to the XP65 the Navy joined in and jointly funded development. The Army dropped out of the project for various reasons possibly the fact it was already commited to the P38. The Navy kept its interest but its not too far off to consider the P65/Tiger for the B29 escort role if different decisions had been made in 1941.
 
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Now that's an interesting tidbit.

Why didn't the U.S. Army Air Corps develop a F7F variant ILO the P-61? That would have given us a world class night fighter aircraft. IMO superior even to the RAF Mosquito.
 
Speaking of the Corsair, couldn't they do the job? Launch from carriers and rendezvous with the B-29s en route, and then return to the carriers?

The carriers were only off the coast of Japan a limited number of days. Plus most B29 raids were at night when escort fighters were useless.
 
I don't know much about radar, but the P-61 radar was much larger than the F7F radar being three times the weight. Also, when I saw an F7F, the first thing that impressed me was how small the fuselage was. It was about the size of a fighter, very thin. The radome on the P-61 was huge. I don't know if the F7F could carry the radar the P-61 did. Now about the effectiveness of one compared to the other I don't know. However more power and weight tends to indicate better performance.
 
That's fine if you are building an AWACs aircraft. But would you employ something like this for a night interceptor?
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