AerialTorpedoDude69
Airman 1st Class
- 173
- Mar 1, 2022
Just a note, the 1,200 HP R-1830 engine in the Wildcat and 1820 in the Buffalo were technically inferior in most ways to the Zero and Oscar's Sakae 11/12 and 21, which made around 975 and 1,115 horsies respectively, with smaller displacement, weight, and frontal area. On paper, the Wasp and Double Wasp appeared to be roughly in the same category as the Sakae, given that they had similar horsepower. But the math shows that the Sakae was marginally better, as it should have been, being a newer engine.The small American radials coped with the enemy. Everybody had the same sized engine up into 1943. By 1943, the 2000HP American aircraft were faster, they had armour protection, and they could carry significant bomb loads. Getting late war Zeroes up to 350mph was a remarkable accomplishment for the Japanese, but the enemy was doing 390mph+.
The small British radials were in biplanes, right? Gloster Gladiators did well against FIAT Cr42 biplanes. The Fw190 had a 42liter engine.
FD=1/2 x p x v(squared) x CD x A
Where:
- FD is the drag force,
- p is the air density,
- v is the velocity of the aircraft,
- CD is the drag coefficient
- A is the frontal area.
The Japanese military leadership were somewhat aware that they would lose a war of attrition. Although in Myths of Empire, it's shown that many leaders in Japan had bought into their own propaganda, believing that the US would immediately sue for peace after the first year of war. As with many illiberal democracies, the truth had been largely covered up by a cadre of sycophants. For example, before the war, a Japanese Major conducted a strategic analysis of the US's war making capabilities and found that war was not winnable. His superiors destroyed the report and drummed the Major out of the service. Similar stories abound in Nazi Germany, with Hitler and his minions frequently ignoring intelligence reports because of their gut "feelings".
This is because the Japanese leadership had tricked themselves into believing that the US would have negotiated for peace within the first year of the war. Their belief was based on a common myth oddly held by both the Germans and the Japanese that the US was "soft" and "decadent". As such, they didn't accelerate the development of a next generation fighter or fighter engine until it was too late. That's why you have the Kawanishi N1K1-J appearing before any other next generation Japanese fighter was available, because it was an unsolicited, private venture, which plugged a hole in the IJ Navy's development schedule.F4U showed up in Jan 1943, by early July there were 8 Marine squadrons operating in the Solomon's.
There were no carrier to carrier battles in all of 1943.
The Zero was in no way, shape or form capable of fighting the F4U on a squadron to squadron (team to team) basis. Zero's shot down F4Us but much more often than not they came out on the loosing end or were not able to keep the F4Us and other US fighters from shooting down numbers of bombers.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.