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What do you think might have happened if it had been used in the ETO versus the Luftwaffe, combined with the all-time best kill ratio fighter of WWII, the F6F Hellcat? If the two of them had been deployed to Europe when they historically could have been, what might the result be?
Corky seems to be right. What do you think?
My thought is they'd have been successful and maybe the war in Europe would end a bit sooner and they could be redeployed to the Pacific to do what they did at that time. But the carriers would have faced larger numbers of more aggressive submarines from the Germans and the U-Boat arm was not known for letting ships sail by without trying to do something about it. It might have had an impact if we had lost, say, 5 carriers while deploying the duo to Europe ... carriers don't grow on trees.
What do you think might have happened if it [the F4U] had been used in the ETO versus the Luftwaffe, combined with the all-time best kill ratio fighter of WWII, the F6F Hellcat? If the two of them had been deployed to Europe when they historically could have been, what might the result be?
I think they'd have made a big difference. I don't think the German fighters would have fared any better against them than had the Japanese fighters. And, let's remember, the F4U and the F6F were bombing-fighting aircraft. They weren't just P47s and P51s. We could have sent squadrons of just those deep into Germany in lieu of the RAF and AF bombers to dive-bomb on those same strategic targets and take on the Luftwaffe fighters, at the same time, had we wanted. At any rate, they'd have provided more offensive punch going in with the RAF and AF bombers than just defensive cover. The record in the PTO shows, they took the blows. Had they been deployed in the right numbers in the ETO, they'd have given the Luftwaffe fits, in my honest opinion, trying to keep them off their targets. They were just too good at what they were concepted and designed for, that bombing-fighting double role.The Hellcat's combat radius was 945 statute miles and that is long enough to stand in for the P-51's. I believe the air distance is something like 570 miles. I hadn't considered that, but it might work.
The primary changes to the aircraft it that it uses a Pratt Whitney R-2800 engine with a single-stage supercharger from a Douglas A-26 Invader bomber in place of the two-stage, two-speed, supercharged R-2800-8 engine that was more common to the early model Corsair fighters. As a result, the restored Corsair is about 700 lbs. lighter than a stock aircraft, allowing it to have a better rate of climb at low altitudes and a shorter take-off roll.