Shortround6
Major General
and this is where the comparison or usefulness of the service ceiling comes in. The Wildcats didn't really fight at 30,000ft and up over Guadalcanal, but they could fight at 20-30,000ft much better than the P-40s and P-39s could at those altitudes.The P-36 with better R-1830 in that light does not sound bad. The P-66 with that engine sounds even better.
While a thing or two can be pointed out to the pinsong's proposal (I do it often, not just to him ), even the over-weight F4F-4 was good for service ceiling of 33000 ft, and the F4F-3 was supposedly good for more than 37000 ft.
I would also note that the "book" figures for ceilings apply to a 'standard' 59 degree F day at sea level and the corresponding temperature at altitude.
Go to the tropics and/or North African dessert and the temperature (and thus air density) at even 30,000ft is quite a bit warmer. Warmer/less dense air means less lift from wing and less power from the engine and a propeller with less bite so you can have a several thousand foot reduction in "practical" ceiling vrs the book numbers. For the Wildcat with a "book" number of 33-37K being reduced to 30-33K means you can still fight at 25-26K, If your "book" number was 29.5K then you are in deep crap trying to fight at over 20,000ft.