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Did the Thunderbolts use all eight machine guns for strafing? I was under the impression that they turned some of them off. Eight machine guns was how you made sure you hit other aircraft.That means the F4U was, as we all pretty much said, never going to be a long-range escort. I think it would have done better than the P-47 in air-to-air combat, but not quite as good in ground attack ... unless the armament was changed to cannons but, this was covered above sufficiently.
It is something people forget when discussing the radius of a action for a plane. The biggest problem AFAK was in the conduct of a mission, when the formation is going 60MPH slower than planned the various waves to take the bombers in and out get to the RDV point but the bombers arent there.Hi pbehn. I get your point above about the ground speed. Agreed. So, the escort had to fly a much longer mission to escort the slower bombers than the bombers flew. We pretty much all knew that, but perhaps haven't heard it said quite that way. I have expressed it as, "Since the escorts flew faster than the bombers, they needed to fly farther. Said another way, they all needed the same endurance, but at different speeds, so the distances flown were not the same."
That was quite an achievement IMHO. The P-47 didnt become operational until April 1943 when the official doctrine was heavy bombers could defend themselves. To go from "no escorts needed" to "escorts available with LR tanks" in 4/5 months is quick in military terms, especially when it was on the other side of the Atlantic.Oddly the Thunderbolt escorting 8thAF bombers didn't carry drop tanks until August 1943 and then only single 75gal drop tanks. Larger tanks were added later.
Huge blunder to produce Thunderbolts without provision for drop tanks. P-38, P-39, P-40 and P-51A all had drop tanks before then.That was quite an achievement IMHO. The P-47 didnt become operational until April 1943 when the official doctrine was heavy bombers could defend themselves. To go from "no escorts needed" to "escorts available with LR tanks" in 4/5 months is quick in military terms, especially when it was on the other side of the Atlantic.
The blunder is obviously not ordering them, people dont produce things like that unless they are asked. I think you may find the pesky British were involved in some of those types being fitted with bomb and drop tank capability. Further to Milosh' post I think Bill posted that initially the ferry tanks werent pressurised so could only be filled with circa 100 gals which helped a bit on take off and climb. However the P-47 on internal fuel could go further than a P-39 with an external tank and neither the P-39 or P-40 could be considered for use from UK and N Africa is a big place.Huge blunder to produce Thunderbolts without provision for drop tanks. P-38, P-39, P-40 and P-51A all had drop tanks before then.
P-47 on internal fuel could not go as far as a P-39 with an external tank.The blunder is obviously not ordering them, people dont produce things like that unless they are asked. I think you may find the pesky British were involved in some of those types being fitted with bomb and drop tank capability. Further to Milosh' post I think Bill posted that initially the ferry tanks werent pressurised so could only be filled with circa 100 gals which helped a bit on take off and climb. However the P-47 on internal fuel could go further than a P-39 with an external tank and neither the P-39 or P-40 could be considered for use from UK and N Africa is a big place.
I think the British specified drop tanks/ bomb hard points for future Mustangs but the war and lend lease took a hand, the British received 50 P-51As which were operated as Mustang Mk IIs, I need to wait for Christmas to find out in a book lol.Plenty of combat with normal (unprotected) external tanks in '42 and '43. I was speaking of the P-51A, not the Mustang I.
It had over 300 gals compared to 90, but we have been through this, the P-39 couldnt fly from UK and certainly couldnt escort anything with or without a tank.P-47 on internal fuel could not go as far as a P-39 with an external tank.
The P-47N carried over 500 gallons internally IIRC.P-47 on internal fuel could not go as far as a P-39 with an external tank.
If you're referring to the "U" in the USN's designation "F4U", it stands for "Vought aircraft".I wonder if that "U" has any other meaning other than "The Enemy".
Just looked up, the British were receiving Tomahawk IIBs in 1941 with drop tank and self sealing tanks.Huge blunder to produce Thunderbolts without provision for drop tanks. P-38, P-39, P-40 and P-51A all had drop tanks before then.
I believe the idea was to assign a letter consistent with the manufacturers name. The problem is that several aircraft manufacturers had the gaul to use the same first letter in the name of the company.The US Navy had an interesting way of designating aircraft manufacturers, most often by an assigned letter that was not consistent with the manufacturer's name.