Picture of the Day - Miscellaneous (4 Viewers)

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Zippythehog]

In the case of the A6M and Vought 143 the total similarities are low wing single engine, single seat, monoplane fighters with radial engines and the similar undercarriage retraction systems. Note that Horikoshi said INSPIRED BY not COPIED FROM.

The Vought used separate wings and fuselage the A6M used a single unit for wing and cockpit with the engine and rear fuselage attached. The armament is different. The Vought did not have drop tanks or folding wingtips or a tailwheel assy that retracted flush with the fuselage etc, etc, etc. No other aircraft had wing spars like those on the A6M. The internal wing structure follows British practice of the time like in the Spitfire and the landing gear strut inflation fittings are again very British just like on all the Brit aircraft of the time.

Like every other designer Horikoshi was keeping up to date on what other countries were doing and, like every other smart designer, incorporating the best of what they had learned.

Voughts claim is as spurious as Howard Hughes claim that it was a reworked Hughes Racer.

The two aircraft were similarly made of aluminum.

 

[nuuumannn]

Okay, so tell me this P-66 (top photo) does not look a lot like a Zero.

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By the looks of things and based on performance, I think it was the other way round, the Vought copied the A6M but failed to replicate its performance!

It's a tired trope based on a complete lack of appreciation for how capable the Japanese designers actually were. As Mitasol pointed out, structurally, the two aircraft were vastly different. The A6M was totally original in structural design. No Western fighter was like it. There were elements that resembled in appearance existing designs, but structurally, the combination of basic design, structural detail, how the fuselage was constructed in sections and so forth were entirely original. Can we please give Jiro Horikoshi and his team credit for the aircraft instead of holding on to old fashioned preconceptions?

The two aircraft were similarly made of aluminum.

Ah, but which type of aluminum?

 

[Viking1066]

Zeros you say? PINS

 

[MiTasol]

The two aircraft were similarly made of aluminum.

Darn - you are right after a fashion - both use Al alloys but the A6M alloy was not available to the US until copied in about 1943.

To be more correct you could have said The two aircraft were similarly made of aluminium alloy although the superior A6M alloys had not yet been invented by the USA.

 

[nuuumannn]

To be more correct you could have said The two aircraft were similarly made of aluminium although the A6M alloys had not yet been invented in the USA.

So, the Americans copied the Japanese? Man, don't let that get out onto the internet at large...

 

[MiTasol]

Yes.

It continues to amaze me how the Japanese were able to copy items like the 7000 series alloys and caseless ammunition and drop tanks with inbuilt anti sway provisions before the Americans invented them