Please forgive me for late reply, was spending weekend in Netherlands (was amazing!) and driving back takes both time and energy, so only now I've found some time to write a reply. Hope you dont mind
Are you aware of this battle? The P-38's combat introduction in the PTO...
Yes Flyboyj, I'm aware. One thing that makes me always wonder with those kinds of articles is complete like of reference nor details, I would be really pleased to find out what units, Japanese in particular, participated in the fight.
By any chance you know further details ?
And even though that was ONE battle, look at what the participants eventually achieved (Bong, 40 kills, Lynch, 20 kills, Sparks 12 kills)
S. Sakai, H. Nishizawa, T. Iwamoto, Jun'ichi Sasai, ... aces dont win the wars, if they would then Germans would by all means rule the world.
Do you have PROOF that the Zeke maintained a 1:1 ratio against US forces in 1943??? Was it against the F4F? I'd like to see that.
I cant obviously copy everything and post here, but can write up a quote and leave further reference.
Quote comes from Richard Dunn book, so often quoted by me,
Exploding Fuel Tanks by Richard L. Dunn
" Chapter VII. Tactical Consequences - 1943, Page 107 and 108
Optimistic claims tended to give each side an exaggerated view of the relative performance of its aircraft. However, the facts suggest the two sides were relatively evenly matched in early 1943. While Japanese bombers only rarely visited Allied main bases in daylight, the same was true of Allied bombers. After suffering losses to unescorted B-17s and B-24s over Rabaul in January 1943 the US 5th Army Air Force abandoned daylight raids on the target until October 1943. Following losses suffered in escorted raids against Buin in the Solomons in February, heavy bombers did not return to that target in daylight until July.
In a series of fighter vs fighter combats near Guadalcanal in the first half of 1943 the results were recorded by post-war Allied historians based on Japanese and Allied records as follows :
a) April 1 Claims - Japanese 40 and Allies 18:
Actual loss - Japanese 9 and Allies 6
b) May 13. Claims - Japanese 28 and Allies 16:
Actual loss - Japanese 4 and Allies 5.
c) June 7. Claims - Japanese 33 and Allies 23:
Actual loss - Japanese 9 and Allies 9.
d) May 12. Claims - Japanese 25 and Allies 31:
Actual loss - Japanese 7 and Allies 6.
Despite the fact that these combats occurred close to the American bases on Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands and up to 300 miles from the Japanese base at Buin the results were roughly a draw with the Japanese losing 29 Zeros and the Allies losing 28 fighters (and at least 3 others damaged beyond repair). Allied losses included eleven new high performance F4U Corsairs and P-38s. Both sides had additional aircraft damaged. "
Further details, not in English anymore though, can be found here :
No. 1 - 海軍零戦隊撃墜戦記１: 昭和１８年２月－７月、ガダルカナル撤退とポートダーウィンでの勝利 (IJN Zero battle diary #1 - Victories and losses for Zero over Solomon from February to July 1943) :
Amazon product ASIN 4499230624View: http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%B5%B7%E8%BB%8D%E9%9B%B6%E6%88%A6%E9%9A%8A%E6%92%83%E5%A2%9C%E6%88%A6%E8%A8%98%EF%BC%91-%E6%98%AD%E5%92%8C%EF%BC%91%EF%BC%98%E5%B9%B4%EF%BC%92%E6%9C%88%EF%BC%8D%EF%BC%97%E6%9C%88%E3%80%81%E3%82%AC%E3%83%80%E3%83%AB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AB%E6%92%A4%E9%80%80%E3%81%A8%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AE%E5%8B%9D%E5%88%A9-%E6%A2%85%E6%9C%AC-%E5%BC%98/dp/4499230624
Video stills are meaningless unless you have comparative data to match them up against (your example shows this but this was ONE battle that in the end didn't go well for the Japanese, they lost their objective). We could see 1000s of video stills of Me 109s and Fw 190s tearing in to B-17s and B-24s but in the end do they paint a true picture???
You misunderstood the idea as well as the contents of the link. It was only supposed to present that even as late as in 1944 there were occasions where Japanese could do very well and bring down high performance aircraft such as P-38 or F4U with little own losses, those were only occasional successes but that was exactly the point.
And text provides all the important data.
During that mission Wagner shot down 3 Zeros in a P-39!
You mean Wagner claimed 3 Zeros in his P-39 ? Because thats what happened.
On April 30, 1942 both sides presented a considerable activity in a quite confusing manner. It involved early defense of Lae by Tainan Kokutai against B-26s and later P-39s, but also separate actions as far as Horn Island.
First, the Maruders from 19th Bombardment Squadron attacked Lae at 6:40, dropping their 100 lb pills. Japanese scrambled their machines trying to catch the intruders, but despite Lt. Sasai claim of single B-26, none was in fact lost.
Then, action moved to the Horn Island where 8 Rikkos (Navy bombers) armed with 60 kg bombs escorted by six Tainan Ku Zeros, where escorting Zeros spotted four B-26s and decided to carry on attack on Maruders and then satisfied with it, went for a strafing of the airfield. Then bombers dropped their ordnance, damaging and destroying RAAF No. 24 Squadron Wirraways. No losses were recorded here for the Japanese, though one of the pilots was hit by a single round.
Now we come to the Cobra raid, which you're quote was focusing on. As said 11 Aircobras of 8th Fighter Group carried an attack on Lae, with Lt. Colonel Boyd D. 'Buzz' Wagner. Over the target there was a CAP, so when strike was delivered at 14:37 at Lae Aircobras were spotted by Japanese, but still in a swift manner managed to strafe the field and riddled one Zeke and one G4M, while they claimed five bombers destroyed. Then fighters flew offshore, shooting the floatplanes of Kiyokawa Maru Hikokitai, eventually leaving and heading directly across Huon Gulf for Salamaua's.
Eventually Tainan launched more fighters and flew straight at Salamaua, where they caught Aircobras and a fierce dogfight ensued. But how stretched that day was Tainan Ku is underlined by the fact that FPO2c Izumi Hideo was flying his third mission !
So about eight Zeros threw themselves into the Aircobras, and based on the claims Allies were granted 11 victories including machines destroyed and damaged on the ground. However 3 pilots went missing, that was Andres, Bevlock and Durand. Allied pilots were gathered by Wagner and discussion ensued, in which they concluded that Zeros were definitely more maneuverable but Cobra was as fast as Zero and could dive away from it if needed.
On the other side of the Owen Stanley ridge, Tainan pilots landed safely except for missing (lost and killed) FPO2c Izumi Hideo. And that is the only loss recorded by Tainan that day, however based on the confusion in dogfight it is hard to conclude who delivered the killing blow - could be Wagner, could be someone else like Greene. Japanese claimed 2 Aircobras shot down and 2 as probables.
Other losses were 3 fighters damaged beyond repair on the ground and 7 other receiving lighter damage, while Dai-4 Kokutai had 10 rikko damaged on the flightline.
Fact stays, that Wagner did not shoot down 3 fighters but 1 at best, though its still impossible to distinguish who was the actual killer of Izumi Hideo.
Source :
Eagles of the Southern Sky
Early A6M5s were available for the Battle of the Philippine Sea and thus these are contemporaries of the Spitfire XIV.
Ekhem, production of A6M5 started in August 1943. And first models were delivered to Rabaul in the same month or next. A6M5s were in combat since mid 1943, not mid 1944.
Part of the problem was a simple failure of the IJN command as the Kinsei 60 series (AKA Ha-112 II) was being installed in prototypes of the Ki-46 in late 1942 and in the production Ki-46 III during 1943. Thus the IJN could have flown the A6M8 for the Battle of the Philippine Sea although that would not have changed the result given the previous pilot loses.
And still that A6M8 returns ... the relative performance increase was minimal or in fact there was little to none if compared to A6M5.
Ha-112-II delivered almost 1250 HP at 6 km, that is 250 more than Sakae 21. At the same time aircraft was a lot heavier and airframe produced far more drag then A6M3-A6M5 - Cd0 0.0215. I had no idea what was the propeller efficiency of prop used in A6M8, it was larger then Sakae one (3.150 m if compare to 3.050 of A6M5) but if it was any better ? So on a rough calculation I got Cd0 close to 0.0240 which is quite a drastic increase.
A6M8 was a dead end. Just because someone attaches big engine to a small airframe, it wont make it a great or even decent aircraft.