For that plan to work, we only have the RAF to cease to exist, and North Atlantic to be moved 2000 miles east.
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When Bismarck and Prince Eugene sailed into the North Sea I would have sent G3M and G4M torpedo bombers to attack Hood and Prince of Wales, not Zeros.
Torpedo armed G3M and G4M bombers could have attacked any heavy units coming in or leaving Scapa Flow from the east as soon as they left the short range protection of Hurricanes and Spitfires. U boat sightings of any heavy units outside the RAF fighter umbrella would produce an immediate long range torpedo strike from western Norway.
The entire North Sea would be within range of drop tank carrying Zeros based in Norway, Denmark and The Netherlands. A G4M with German radar escorted by Zeros would be a serious threat to any RAF patrol bomber in the North Atlantic.
Get on Google Earth and look how far a Zero could fly with a drop tank. They flew 500 miles one way when attacking Australia. If all they were doing were fighter sweeps out over the Atlantic and the North Sea looking for patrol bombers it is amazing how much territory they could cover. Flying out of Brest, they could fly to the North shore of Northern Ireland and return (not that they would, just pointing out the distance)
????? The whole premise of this thread is Germans and Japanese switch aircraft. If that's the case then Zeros fly fighter sweeps over the North Sea looking for recon planes and over the Atlantic as well protecting U boats. G3M and G4M torpedo bombers attack anything that ventures out from under the umbrella of the short range Hurricanes and Spitfires.For that plan to work, we only have the RAF to cease to exist, and North Atlantic to be moved 2000 miles east.
Ah, the mystical-magical time machine.
The G3M had a top speed of about 233mph? Even a Blenheim fighter could catch that.
First production G4M was completed in April of 1941.
Number available in May of 1941????
Defensive armament was one 20mm gun in the tail and four Lewis Machine guns (Japanese Navy Type 92)
April and May of 1941 was when the Japanese fixed the wing/aileron flutter problem on the Zero. Zeros Built before then had some real restrictions on dive speed (or never exceed speed ) and allowable G loads.
By April of 1941 there were at least 3 factories making Beaufighters and the First MK IIs were delivered in late April.
No match for a normal Zero but G3Ms and even G4Ms would be in deep trouble if the Zeros didn't get most of the twin engine fighters.
Agreed with different uses. Beaufighter was a definite tail kicker down low.Most of the Early Beaufighters were going to night fighter units.
Wiki says the 200th Filton built plane was completed May 10th 1941, the 100th plane was delivered in Dec. The Weston factory test flew their first plane Feb 20th 1941 and Fairey test flew their first on March 7th.
But faced with a different threat the British could have used different dispositions/deployments.
The first P40 with 4 x .50 didn't appear until a year after the Battle of Britain. Even the P40 A with 2 x .50 was barely in existence during the B of B. At the start of the Battle of Britain daylight raids 36 P-40s had been accepted by the US. By the time the massed daylight raids ended in October 1940 a grand total of 445 had been accepted. The first time a P-40 actually saw combat was in June 1941, by which time the 20 mm Hispano was standard on RAF fighters. If the USAAF had fought the Battle of Britain it would have been with P-26s, P-35s and P -36s armed with 2 x .30s or 1 x .50 and 1 x .30I don't think 8×.303 machine gun would be as effective as 4×0.50 carried by F4F and P-40.
????? The whole premise of this thread is Germans and Japanese switch aircraft. If that's the case then Zeros fly fighter sweeps over the North Sea looking for recon planes and over the Atlantic as well protecting U boats. G3M and G4M torpedo bombers attack anything that ventures out from under the umbrella of the short range Hurricanes and Spitfires.
When shopping the Japanese catalogue the Germans can order their Zeros, Kates and Vals with optional extras; I suggest a pair of Shōkaku-class aircraft carriers.No Pearl Harbor, for one (no German carrier aircraft).
This brings up an interesting point.If this is Axis focused, why no love for the Italians? Can they swap out their Falcos and Sparrowhawks for Oscars and Bettys?
And a similar point, why couldn't the British deal with the Japanese?This brings up an interesting point.
If the British could deal with the agile Italian fighters of similar speed and firepower to the Japanese planes and better protected why would Japanese planes dominate in Europe or the Med?
One possibility is that Japanese pilots, at least into 1942, were better than German pilots (they were certainly underestimated, and IJN fighter pilots, at least, demonstrated long-range navigation skills few contemporary fighter pilots could match).And a similar point, why couldn't the British deal with the Japanese?
Fighting Japan was never a priority to Britain, while fighting Britain was a top priority of Japan. Resources were allocated accordingly.One possibility is that Japanese pilots, at least into 1942, were better than German pilots (they were certainly underestimated, and IJN fighter pilots, at least, demonstrated long-range navigation skills few contemporary fighter pilots could match).
I suspect the reasons that the Japanese air forces did well were multiple and complex. Training and tactics were most likely more important than hardware.
Many many 109's simply ran out of fuel during the BoB, not an issue with the Zero.
Descending into a dogfight is precisely what a Zero pilot would want although it could fight a Hurricane on any terms it wanted.
Japanese aircraft were very well designed for the environment in which they fought and Japanese pilots were probably better trained than any others early in the war and consistently underestimated when first met in action.
The RAF helped Britain to successfully hold the line, Japan never got further than Burma and never managed to cut off the supply roads from India to China, ie. the entire purpose of Japan going into Burma.Yes indeed and this is a classic example of where a hubristic attitude didn't work out so well against those holding it.
If the IJAF was so supreme can we assume they were let down by their IJA colleagues on the ground, especially in 1944 at Operation U-Go? Otherwise how did the RAF stay in the field in India?And a similar point, why couldn't the British deal with the Japanese?