GregP
Major
Never said it was. I said fighters were designed to be optimal, so their "other factors" were also about optinized ... and very simlar.
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wouldn't the radar tecnology on those plane have be an importent factor that we forgetting to discuss about? so how good where the radarsystem and other equipment the He 219 and P 61 used in comparelse?
and to include pilot experience which the LW had much of. Lw radar was not on par with the US or British though looking through the ETO squadrons flying with the P-61 am not impressed by reading through their histories with the performance with the AI as it seemed to fail increasingly from it's first inception in July of 44 till wars end. Still with the LW using only the late marks of VI FuG 220d sets in the Uhu and the silly antlers this was not going to give the big A/C much in the way of aerodynamics
The He-219 A-5 was about a 360 mph aircraft when equipped with the radar and all the guns. Not all were forward-firing. The He-219 could get to about 400 mph when all excess weight was removed as well as the gondola with the 4 20mm cannons. With the gondola it could get to about 385 mph. They made about 300 He-219's. Climbed about 1,800 feet per minute.
The P-61 made about 366 mph, faster than the night-fighter fiull-up He-219, and was a very good match for afully-armed He-219. No P-61's were lost to enemy aircraft, though some were lost to AA and evena friendly Mosquito. The P-61 packed about 80% to 85% of the He-219 firepower, which was enough to destroy any target in the impact zome, regardless of aircraft size or armor. They made about 742 P-61's. Cimbed about 2,500 feet per minute.
I'd take 742 P-61's any day over 300 He-219's. If 19 mph of speed was important, then the He-219 had a slight edge. If not, I'd take the maneuverability and climb rate of the P-61 any day. Nothing particularly wrong with either aircraft, and teh he=219 was a good one. But so was the P-61, and I'll take it most days over the He-219, expecially considering the reputation of the P-61's engines.
The P-61 had highly specialized control surfaces including "spoilerons" (IIRC that is the name of them), a type of control surface fitted to few if any other aircraft, to the best of my knowledge.
the Widow was a good heavy weapons platform which most likely made it the best war ground intruder of any nation, but as a high performance high altitude night fighter..................... no............
Slats can help a lot with maintaining aileron effectiveness at low speeds. Their help in maneuvering (turning) is a lot more suspect. By the time the slots are allowing the wing to generate more lift by keeping it from stalling at a higher than normal angle of attack the drag is skyrocketing.
Slats can lower stalling/landing speeds and perhaps more importantly can maintain the already mentioned aileron control at both landing speeds ( preventing accidents) and at higher speeds in turns maintaining controllability.