Japanese Combat Experience (1 Viewer)

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In many ways that a/c was like its Japanese opponents, highly maneuverable, excelent power loading and wing loading and very good climb rate. This at the expense of fire supression and pilot protection. But one other major difference is that it also lacked the range of the Japanese fighters which was so important in this theater, but as it was meant to be a interceptor it had decent range, better than european contemporaries. (Spit, Hurricane, 109) But not as good as the P-36/P-40. (partiularly comparing those w/out self sealing tanks or armor)

An interesting design though.

And Soren I think you're thinking of the Vought V-141 - fighter or Vought V-143 - fighter developed from the Northrop 3A - fighter
 
Is there even a debate , that the Zero was a superior dogfighter/fighter vs the Wildcat?

Everything I have seen about the subject has landed on the side of the Zero, with absolutley no debate. The results were always attributed to factors that had nothing to do with the AC in question, such as tactics, radios etc.

You guys clearly know your stuff, and what was posted in our forums challeged everything I had picked up in my casual readings. Wondering if it is worth researching a bit more.
 
For performance it's the Zero for sure. In a flat out close quarters dogfight or even a large furball, the Zero would have an almost complete advqantage. But if one was bounced the F4F had a chance, while the Zero had almost none. But the Wildcat's advantages were not in dogfighting performance.
 
Well, not every time were the japanese able to get the upper hand. Also, Japanese zeroes over Guadacanal were operating at a disadavantage, because they were at extended rangee from their base in Rabaul. they were often carrying drop tanks, or the pilot was tired, or both
 
The roll rate for the Zero was not all that good, even at low speeds, at ~200 mph it was about the same as the Wildcat and at 270 mph the F4F started to get an advantage. The Zero's ailerons were virtually immobile above 300 mph (pretty bad at 250 mph as well) similar to the early Spitfire.

The Oscar (Ki-43) is another story with ~160 degrees/sec at 150-200 mph, and kept it much better than the Zero at medium-high speeds. (300 mph range)
 
The A6M in combat with the F4F4 was superior in all flying characteristics except at high speeds. In a dogfight(angles) fight the Zero had most of the advantages and it would also in an energy fight. The tactics adopted by the USN relied on mutual support and were essentially defensive in nature. If one can get a copy of Lundstrom's books, "The First Team" and "The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign" there is an exhaustive study of the USN and the IJN tactics, training and experience from the beginning of the war to near the end of 1942. The early IJN pilots were well trained and some had pre war combat experience. The attrition rate for them was high, especially at Midway. The USN pilots were well trained also particularly in deflection shooting and once they got combat experience and adopted tactics strictly designed for the A6M, they held their own.
 
The CW-21B carried 2x fusalage mounted .50 cal guns with 1x .30 cals in each wing, not too bad. This was the latest and most used model. That model also used 1,000 hp R-1820-G-5 engine and had inward retracting gear opposed to the rearward retracting gear of earlier versions. (same mechanism as the P-36/P-40) With a takeoff weight of 4,500 lbs it had a wing loading of under 26 lb/ft2 and power/weight of over .22 hp/lb

Though the initial climb rate was probably very good, the 5,000 or 4,500 ft/min sometimes quoted seem a bit excessive, and 3,500 ft/min is probably a much closer value, which is still excelent. (similarly the A6M2's climb rate is sometimes given as 4,500 ft/min, it was more like 3,100-3,500 ft/min as well, similar to the Ki 43-II) The higher figures are probably with zoom. (or for the Zero, maybe in US tests with 100 octane gasoline)
 
Air International had a great article in the CW-21B and if I remember there was a claim that the CW-21B was able to out turn the Zero. It does seem that it was just numerically overwhelmed in the battles it participated in.
 
That's not unbelievible.

But there were some other problems with the airframe (and unrelated engine problems that were most likely maintence related, possibly wear related if they were refurbished models for DC-3's) mostly some structural/construction problems, particularly with the skin, though this may have been due to hasty asembly/construction.
 
The Buffalo was less outnumberd. And lower performing... Better armament, armor, and fuel tank protection though. (tougher airframe than the light CW-21 too, pretty tough as long as it was constructed and assembled properly) And it managed to score roughly 1:1 with the commonwealth in Air to Air in Singapore, before evacuation. (a bit better with the Dutch)
 
The Demon was an interesting AC. I believe it was originally designed to be sold to China but then a modified version was sold to the Netherlands. I would like to hear the story about how they performed in combat or actually what happened to them from the factory on. Would make a good book.
 
And I wonder why flush inward retracting gear wasn't adopted for the P-40 like the CW-21B had, the earlier models using the same system as the P-40 with the underwing fairings. The switch to the simpler flush inward retracting gear on the 21B added ~8 mph to the top speed at SL. It would also leave the normal airfoil shape (no longer obstructed by the fairings) on the wing which should allow a bit more lift.
 
I heard, but cannot prove, that these little A/C suffered similar problems to the zero, namely they had insufficent fasteners in the airframe, that made them weak and vulnerable to failure due to combat damage
 
It may have been due to hasy assembly of the already light airframe. iirc they also had similar structural problems to the Japanese planes in dives. (lower dive acceleration, naturally due to the light airframe, but more improtantly the areodynamic stresses put a relatively low redline speed, under 450 mph)
 

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