Best naval fighter

[the lancaster kicks ass]

oh yeah, and Corp, I've given up my B-17 bashing days...................

 

[cheddar cheese]

i know otherwise.....

 

[bronzewhaler82]

oh yeah, and Corp, I've given up my B-17 bashing days...................

Since when????

 

[cheddar cheese]

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

no really i have, well on the site atleast.................

 

[bronzewhaler82]

I think one of the best naval fighters was the A6M 'Zero'. The Zero first appeared in 1939 and was used to escort Japanese bombers to China and back during the Sino-Japanese war that began in the early 30s and continued into WW2. The Zero entered service with the Japanese Imperial navy in July 1940 - it was completely dominant in the Pacific theatre proving superior to anything the Allies could put into the air - it was robust, manouvorable and had a lightweight construction. Instead of being structured in many different pieces it was only built in two parts, these were attached to each other using a ring of 80 bolts. The only disadvantage it had against Allied fighters was that it had no armour for the pilot and it had no self sealing fuel tanks which meant it could not absorb as much battle damage. As records show one well placed burst of fire could cause the plane to disintegrate - which meant the Japanese pilots had to be more skilled and vigilant than Allied pilots as their plane was more fragile and vulnerable to attack (hence why Japan produced so many excellent pilots)
One of its many success stories was the Battle for Java. On the last day of fighting (8th March 1942) Zero fighters engaged the Allies and shot down 550 allied aircraft including large numbers of fighters such as Brewster Buffalows , Curtiss-Wright CW.21 'Demons' , Curtiss Hawks, Curtiss P-40 (a sad day for the Curtiss company for certain ) and Hawker Hurricanes Japanese losses in that battle were extremely light.

A supercharged model of the Zero was built and flew into service shortly after this battle in 1942 - it was named the model 32 and had a supercharged 1300 Sakae 21 engine.

By 1943 it was becoming obvious that the Zeros dominance over the Allied fighters was coming to an end so the Japanese developed the Zero Model 52 retaining the supercharged engine but making the wings shorter, more ammunition on board and the wings were strenghened. Various other sub-types were designed around this model with more improvements such as more armour, rockets and cannon weapons installed as well as self sealing fuel tanks (one wonders what took them so long! ) in an attempt to keep the Zero on a par with its opponents. The model 63 was designed for use on Kamikaze runs of which 465 were built. A version was even designed with float planes on for out-to-sea patrol usage.

All in all great and varied career for any fighter and greatly loved by Japanese pilots (among the bravest during the war i think)

Although i wouldn't be silly enough to say it was 'the best' i still think it was one of the best and deserves credit as an outstanding fighter that easily belongs somewhere near the top of great fighters of WW2.

I've seen one cut open at the imperial war museaum and i must say it is very simple in design - although all planes from that period looked pretty bleak this one really was rough and ready but it really did the job!

 

[cheddar cheese]

i agree, ive always liked the zero

 

[bronzewhaler82]

Hey! hes back!

#For hes a jolly good fellow for hes a jolly good fellow for hes a jolly good felooooow! and so say all of us!#

 

[cheddar cheese]

less of the praise, ill leave again just joking 8)

 

[jj1982]

You left??? oops i didnt notice!

 

[bronzewhaler82]

It was only a few days ago and they deleted his thread stating he was leaving

 

[cheddar cheese]

should we start a thread complaining about it?

 

[Hugh Janus]

there is no such thing as a "good naval fighter" unless your talking about japanese ones. if you are then it has to be the zero

 

[kiwimac]

Oh I don't know?

I like the Zero, my pick for 'best naval fighter of ww2' but the Hellcat, Corsair, Sea Spitfire, Sea Hurricane were nothing to laugh at.

Kiwimac

 

[cheddar cheese]

yeah, that hugh janus person may have a funny name but he doesnt appear to be very smart

 

[bronzewhaler82]

Yes, He seems a bit..."lost" shall we say to be polite... 8)

He sounds like someone whos taking the piss to me


and by the way C.C...starting a thread to complain about it won't achive much - if you want a complaint to be acknowledged your best bet is to privately E-mail one of the Admin guys...may i suggest Horse? hes a reasonable guy who will listen to anything you want to say...as long as you aren't abusive (I know you won't be)

 

[bronzewhaler82]

By the way...an announcement for all you FAA freaks out there (I mean the word 'freak' in a positive way )

My grandfather recently passed away and left my family some of his treasured wartime photos

He was a Royal Navy Photographer and served aboard the vessel HMS Implacable throughout the war - he flew up on recon missions and often took pictures of enemy ships and positions (most notably a picture of the Tirpitz during its final days)

As a keen photographer when he was onboard with nothing else to do he often took pictures of aircraft on the carrier's deck for posterity i guess...he never would have guessed that one of his grandkids would grow up to be a WW2 aircraft freak ...anyway

I have some unique pictures of all kinds of seaplanes including Seafires, Fireflys, Barracudas, Corsairs, DH Mosquitos and some shots of damaged planes being ditched over the side - i plan to have these old pictures scanned and i will open a thread posting these pictures for all to see as soon as i can...I hope you guys wil appreciate the pictures as much as I do

Cheers

8)

 

[Crazy]

It's good to see that you're back, C.C

I'm not sure why the thread about your leaving was deleted

 

[cheddar cheese]

cheers

as long as you aren't abusive (I know you won't be)

you dont know me too well then

 

[Oleanna]

Best navel planes i think would be the japanese. The kamikaze piliots were guarenteed a kill....Oh by the way, did you hear the one about an irish Kamikaze piliot who flew 22 missions???? LOL. Sorry hope there are no irish or irish decendants on here. They are a nutruel country after all!