Best Aircraft in many different roles

[GermansRGeniuses]

An 8 rocket salvo has the same power as a cruiser broadside, not a battleship's...

 

[cheddar cheese]

The Yanks also had Torpedo bombers, didnt stop them converting the P-38...

The Floatplane was only an idea, yea, but it would have worked. And P-38's could carry 14 rockets, I have a picture of one to prove it if ya wanna see...

lanc, I think any plane could be converted to do anything, the fact that the P-38 was converted to do a hell of a lot of things just shows its superior versatility and effects.

Yeah, and how stupid would it be for a fighter to carry 5,200lbs of bombs + ammo and be able to fight its way back...

The P-38 would have also made a superior interceptor.

There a film about the Mosquito on after Xmas sometime, ill probably watch it and have a good laugh...

 

[Lightning Guy]

CC . . . the 14 rocket version was adandoned as it was two complex. It was replaced by a simplier and removable 10 rocket attachment (still 2 more than any Mossie).

Lanc, the US used a lot of PR aircraft, and the P-38 intially was being relied upon as THE US fighter to hold the line. Consequently there weren't as many free to be converted. All told, there were some 500 new build F-4s or F-5s and upwards of 1329 F-5s modified from existing P-38Ls. These figures would compare well against the PR models of the Mossie and obviously the USAAF wasn't using EVERY PR Mossie built. Clearly, in the USAAF the P-38 derivitives were the numerically most important. They were also used for a number of important missions and provided much of the PR work done over the Normandy beaches.

As a bomber it could (and did) carry well over 3,200lbs and I've made that point numerous times before. No fighter of WWII (except maybe the Corsair) could match its load carrying.

The P-38 undisbutably served in more theatres and weather climates and that is a mark of versatility as well.

Finally, a barage of 8 5in rockets was nowhere close to a BB's broadside. It wouldn't even match the weight of one 14in shell. Personally, I am skeptical of it besting a cruiser as most Allied CL's carried 12 6in-guns (more shells of a heavier caliber). The CA's of the UK mounted 6-8 8in guns and America's mounted 9 8in guns. At best, a barage of rockets would best a DD and nothing heavier than that.

 

[cheddar cheese]

CC . . . the 14 rocket version was adandoned as it was two complex. It was replaced by a simplier and removable 10 rocket attachment (still 2 more than any Mossie).

Ah my bad...Here's a picture anyway:

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

Yeah, and how stupid would it be for a fighter to carry 5,200lbs of bombs + ammo and be able to fight its way back...

what?? fight it's way out of the county, with 5,200lbs of bombs it aint goin no further than that..................

the fact that the P-38 was converted to do a hell of a lot of things just shows its superior versatility and effects.

sure that fact that there were considderably more marks of the mossie shows it was more versatile??

No fighter of WWII (except maybe the Corsair) could match its load carrying.

that's single engined fighters, 5,200lbs is nothing extra ordinary for a all metal twin engined...............

 

[cheddar cheese]

sure that fact that there were considderably more marks of the mossie shows it was more versatile??

No that could mean anything, like the plane could have had lots of problems and it kept needing to be improved...

what?? fight it's way out of the county, with 5,200lbs of bombs it aint goin no further than that..................

No, fly out to a captured airfield somewhere in the Pacific where the fighting was, get loaded up with ordinance, fly to taget which is probably only a couple of hundreds miles away, fly back...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

couple hundred miles, you'll be lucky............

 

[cheddar cheese]

If you look at the gfroups of islands in the Pacific you'll find theyre quite tightly packed...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

ok so the americans come across a group of islands, they take one but there's a few more they have to caputure, the island they have has an airstrip, but that japs also have one on their islands, the americans would send in carried born aircraft to take out the jap island, as using the captured stip would be to dangerous......

 

[Gemhorse]

I think the 'Hold the Line' fighters of the Pacific was the P-40's, F4U's and Venturas, that the Aussies Kiwis flew....The US Island-hopping Program was land and force the Japs back, capture a Jap airfield or get the Seabee's to build one, then leave the 'Colonial Boys' to mop-up while the US Fleet Co. barrelled-on off up the Pacific....Not that we particuarly minded, we're only little country's, but we sure as hell mopped-up alot of the S.Pacific with your leftover aircraft....

Personally, I feel the Allison engine was one of the most under-developed engines of the War....it was a great engine....and what a shame it was so neglected....the P-38 could've been a truly 'great' fighter, as other aircraft of yours that used it, could've too....Rolls Royce ended-up buying them out in 1994, such was the spirit engendered between both Companies over the 50-60 years....

Anyway, there's a few P-38's left today....will some enterprising chap tackle building new ones ?.......like we're doing down here with Mosquitos...so that the 'Legend' will continue on, renewed ?........

 

[cheddar cheese]

Personally, I feel the Allison engine was one of the most under-developed engines of the War....it was a great engine....and what a shame it was so neglected....the P-38 could've been a truly 'great' fighter, as other aircraft of yours that used it, could've too....Rolls Royce ended-up buying them out in 1994, such was the spirit engendered between both Companies over the 50-60 years....

The Allison may have been underdeveloped in general, but the Allisons being put into P-38 were very developed indeed.

BTW, the P-38 was a truely 'great' fighter.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i've read about that mossie project, it's truely amazing...............

 

[Lightning Guy]

The Ventura was a patrol bomber, not a "hold the line" fighter by any means. The F4U was also beaten into service by the P-38. The P-38 was more of a "hold the line fighter." It was certainly the first USAAF fighter to match the Japanese on equal terms.

Also, I don't think the Mosquito ever served or was even intended to serve as a pure fighter. That's an advantage to the P-38.

 

[wmaxt]

couple hundred miles, you'll be lucky............

On internal fuel the P-38 was capable of a radius of 450mi some combat and return with the 5,000+ load the limit was hard points, two heavy and(normaly) 10 for rockets. The picture thet CC showed them on 0-length launchers which could have been fitted in the field - it was the "Chrismas tree" 14 rocket launcher that was abandonded.

 

[wmaxt]

Yeah, and how stupid would it be for a fighter to carry 5,200lbs of bombs + ammo and be able to fight its way back...

what?? fight it's way out of the county, with 5,200lbs of bombs it aint goin no further than that..................

the fact that the P-38 was converted to do a hell of a lot of things just shows its superior versatility and effects.

sure that fact that there were considderably more marks of the mossie shows it was more versatile??

No fighter of WWII (except maybe the Corsair) could match its load carrying.

that's single engined fighters, 5,200lbs is nothing extra ordinary for a all metal twin engined...............

The point is that the Mossie was set up at the factory to do a single type of mission. The P-38 had the droop snoot, and the PR (which was considered one of if not the best PR plane of the war) and the rest. The rest could do everything the Various Marks of Mossie but each plane/each day could do - that's versality.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Good points.

 

[Medvedya]

Do they have a website for that Mosquito project?

 

[Lightning Guy]

The 14 rocket installation wasn't the "Christmas tree" arrangement. That arrangement carried 10 rockets in two inverted Christmas trees. The 14 rocket scheme had to be abandoned since it required structural changes to the wing. Additionally, the zero length launchers could not be removed adding permanent weight and drag. Also, will the P-38 was normally limited to the 2 hard points, planes with the field were often modified to take a total of 6 hard points and 6 500lb bombs were regularly carried.

 

[Gemhorse]

Unfortunately there is no direct site for the Mosquito Construction going on in Auckland, NZ, but it is generating alot of interest worldwide...
Warbird websites around NZ have some stuff updating developments, and I think www.mossie.org , the main Mosquito website worldwide, has note of the developments...
As I understand it, Glyn Powell, the chap whose behind it all, got the remains of one of our serving Mossies years ago, and became determined to build from scratch...He made the moulds for the fuselage from original drawings etc. [ the first person to do so since the War] and one of the first sets made are off to Canada to their Mosquito Restoration Group, who are also very pro-active about this Development Program...
- Out of 31 worldwide survivors, NZ has about 6, and after RR299 crashed in 1996 in the UK, [ the last flying Mosquito], it's galvanizing the whole Mosquito Restoration Movement to get them flying again....

The best PR aircraft were Spitfires and Mosquitos, a role they carried-out right through the War....and although they were not intially designed as a pure fighter, at the time of it's maiden flight, the Mosquito was faster than the current Allied fighters....so they made 3 main variants off the same mould; - PR [un-armed]; Fast bomber [un-armed]; and the Fighter/bomber, with 4x20mm and 4x.303.....and what awesome service they got from these incredible, inexpensive aircraft !!!

All this occurred earlier in the War, the P-38 came into it's own in the PTO, MTO, but the ETO was really the P-51's ballpark as escort fighter, the P-38 pilots suffered from no heating at altitude...and it never undertook NF duties in the ETO, that was ALWAYS the Mosquito's sphere of speciality....which it continued in, After the War....
- P.38's were scrapped at War's end...what you have left today is IT, and some are total rebuilds from wrecks....

Venturas served in Aussie and Kiwi AF's in the PTO, and with 4 forward-firing guns, carried-out many bombing and ground-attack sorties with P-40 and Corsair escorts....like I said, these 3 aircraft types did the majority of 'MOP-UP' Missions while the US Forces barrelled-on off up the Pacific....The Aussies also had some Mustangs, Mosquitos and some PR Lightnings [on loan]......

Mosquitos have earned their legendary place in History....
I personally preferred the Corsair to the P-38, as Best US Fighter/Bomber.........

 

[Lightning Guy]

There were something like 1200+ PR versions of the P-38 and that has to count for alot. Also, it flew in more theatres than the Mossie and that is important to.

As far as the Corsair is concerned, it was unable to match the P-38 in climb, dive, turn, payload, radius, or firepower and every other attribute would be pretty close.