Just watched the 'Night Fighters' episode....
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i saw the P-51 episode yesterday, it puzzled me though would a mustang really survive a 30mm hit from an Me 262 on the wing then still be able to fight like it was shown in this episode
or pure dogfighting from North Africa. Hey how about the defense of Malta by a few obsolete bi-planes! This series could go on and on. And I hope it does.
I wouldn't expect the History Channel to properly research that, it's one of the whole problems with those kind of shows beyond oral history-type value (by which I mean 'here's how it seemed if you were really there' not 'here's how it *was* if you could look at both sides'), and entertainment.Or a whole overview of the Buffalo. (all things considdered it didn't do too bad in Sinapore either, with almost 1:1 air:air for the commonwealth and more for the Dutch)
Many official British historical sources blame the loss of Malaya and Singapore largely on the Buffalo's poor performance. However, the picture is not entirely that of an unmitigated disaster, and many Buffalo-equipped units gave a good account of themselves before they were overwhelmed by superior Japanese numbers. Accurate figures on the combat losses of British Buffalos are difficult to come by. Approximately 60 to 70 Buffalos were lost in air combat, 40 were destroyed on the ground, twenty were lost in various non-combat related accidents, four were transferred to the Dutch, and six were evacuated to India. Commonwealth Buffalo squadrons claimed at least 80 kills, and some units may have achieved a 2-to-1 kill ratio.
The Japanese advance was extremely rapid, and by mid-February 1942, the Japanese had taken all of the Dutch East Indies except Java. On February 26, 1942, the Japanese invasion of Java began, but by this time only a dozen Brewsters were still airworthy in all three surviving ML-KNIL Buffalo squadrons. They still fought on against impossible odds. Their last operational mission was flown on March 7, 1942. Java fell on March 8, and all Dutch forces in the Indies surrendered on March 9.
The Brewsters were completely outclassed by the Japanese fighters which opposed them. The Model 339C and D were inferior to the Japanese Zero in speed, maneuverability and in climb rate. During three months of combat, 30 Brewsters were lost in air combat, 15 were destroyed on the ground, and a number were lost in accidents. 17 pilots were killed in action. Against these losses, Dutch Brewsters claimed 55 enemy aircraft destroyed, a victory-to-loss ratio of almost two to one.
Someone seems unable to understand that not all rounds fired were of the HE(M)type. But hey I'm sure the P-51 was magically resistant to a hit which would sever a Spitfire's aft fuselage...
Someone seems unable to understand that not all rounds fired were of the HE(M)type. But hey I'm sure the P-51 was magically resistant to a hit which would sever a Spitfire's aft fuselage...