Rising Sun warbirds

[evangilder]

Well, not sure it was smart enough. I had a punding headache and a need for coffee. I think I was pretty much on auto-pilot to the chow hall!

 

[plan_D]

Oh ...I went out last night. I'm always up early after a long night out, it's a miracle. But I went out and didn't fight the road ...but I helped a girl who did! I was stood there waiting for my friend to get some money out and just across the road a girl falls face first into the road. It took my like half a hour to sort her out and I offloaded her on to the police. They were unhappy and wouldn't take her at first until I told 'em I only 'know' her 'cos she collapsed in the street.

 

[Nonskimmer]

I'm assuming they carted her off to the drunk tank? That's something I've always managed to avoid. I'd sooner sleep on a roof somewhere than spend the night in that hole!

 

[plan_D]

Nah, they took her home 'cos it was only like two minutes away by car. She was telling me she was going to walk home while she was still face first on the ground ...which by the way was soaking wet 'cos it'd just finished raining like fifteen minutes before. And she thought someone had stolen her shoes until I picked her up and found them underneath her. The thing is she's very lucky I was there most people would either just leave her ("It's not my problem") or they'd steal her stuff ...or worse case scenario they'd escort her somewhere and rape her. What a silly moo she is...

 

[evangilder]

Scary. I have to admit I don't miss those days. I did have some fun, but I don't miss the hangovers or the odd cuts, scrapes and bruises.

 

[plan_D]

I enjoy 'em. The cuts and bruises don't bother me, they're all stories. But she's very lucky there are still people with some decency around. The bad thing is I might have helped her but how many other women got themselves in the same state and something bad did happen to them. If you can't handle alcohol ...don't drink it!

 

[evangilder]

Or at least don't go out alone like that. SHe could have ended up in far worse shape.

 

[plan_D]

Yes...getting some friends would be helpful.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

For the beer conversation there is now a Thread on Beer continue that there.

 

[Cojimar 1945]

People are free to bring up various faults of the Zero but this is not relevant to the abilities of the best Japanese aircraft because the Japanese had planes that were superior to the Zero. The F2A Buffalo is not regarded as one of World War II's best fightes but analysis of this plane says nothing about the abilities of the best American aircraft.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

People are free to bring up various faults of the Zero but this is not relevant to the abilities of the best Japanese aircraft because the Japanese had planes that were superior to the Zero.

The aircraft that were better than the Zero were not produced in the numbers to really make the difference or were not deployed properly...

BTW the Oscar was the 2nd most "significant" Japanese fighter of WW2.

 

[Cojimar 1945]

That is correct but the US outproduced Japan by a big margin during the war.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

The US out-produced everyone but the japaneese weren't geared up for a big war like that, they'ed placed their production so fully into a few types such as the Zero and Betty that when newer fighters came along it was almost impossible to change production over to the newer, better types..........

 

[twoeagles]

The long war in China had already hurt Japan, and by the time they attacked
the US, they were already rationing. The hope was that Americans didn't
have any fight in them, and would pursue a quick peace. The Japanese
really misunderstood our psyche, although Yamamoto, who had studied in the
US, always knew what was coming...

 

[R Leonard]

but the US outproduced Japan by a big margin during the war

Probably something the Japanese should have thought of before leaping over the precipice.
Discussion usually focuses on the A6M series because most of the really juicy evaluation reports are on the A6M2, 3, and 5.
Probably doesn't hurt either that A6M series (and not counting the A6M2-N), with a production of 10449 made up 32% of total Japanese fighter production. Add in the A6M2-N (327) and you get 33%. Nearest competitor was the Ki-43, with a production run of 5919; 18.1% of overall fighter production and 56% of the A6M production. And it just goes down hill from there:
Ki-84 3510 or 10.8% of fighter production
Ki-27 3399 or 10.4% of fighter production
Ki-61 2803 or 8.6% of fighter production
Ki-45 1701 or 5.2% of fighter production
N1K1,2 1435 or 4.4% of fighter production
Ki-44 1225 or 3.8% of fighter production
J1N 479 or 1.5% of fighter production
J2M 476 or 1.5% of fighter production
Ki-100 396 or 1.2% of fighter production
and
A6M2-N 1.0% of fighter production
and everything else are each less than 1% of production.
So, with the A6M by far exceeding all other fighter production, and the relatively availability of reports, it is not hard to see why there is a tendency to focus on it as opposed to others.

Rich

 

[HealzDevo]

I really do think though that the A6M was being built long after it was no-longer effective as a front-line fighter. That is where the switch comes in around the time of the Battle of the Coral Sea in that you have novice pilots flying machines which have fallen behind the start of the art. True you can make up for this kind of defect if you have a pilot who knows his plane and has studied his enemy well as a veteran pilot, but these were starting to thin out around the Battle of the Coral Sea...

 

[syscom3]

I really do think though that the A6M was being built long after it was no-longer effective as a front-line fighter. That is where the switch comes in around the time of the Battle of the Coral Sea in that you have novice pilots flying machines which have fallen behind the start of the art. True you can make up for this kind of defect if you have a pilot who knows his plane and has studied his enemy well as a veteran pilot, but these were starting to thin out around the Battle of the Coral Sea...

Novice pilots? Hardly. It wasnt untill the Guadalcanal campaign that the IJN started to lose the cream of its pilots.

 

[HealzDevo]

Okay, I had always had the impression that the Battle Of The Coral Sea was when Novice Pilots started filling in the IJN gaps in the line... But still the comment about the A6M Zero still stands that it was less than effective as a frontline naval fighter at that time...

 

[R Leonard]

As most long time readers here could no doubt affirm, I can say some pretty unkind things about the A6M2, but, one thing I would not say is that in 1942 it was less than effective as a front line naval fighter. The A6M2 was, within its optimal performance envelope, superior to its primary adversary, the F4F. Outside that envelope the superiority went away and they were relatively equal, each with their own strong points, each with their own deficiencies. If you want to talk about mid to late 1943, when the F6Fs and the F4Us were appearing on the scene, certainly the A6M2 was by that time clearly outclassed. If you were to speak to the USN fighter pilots active in 1942 (and, unfortunately, there are but a handful of them left) I seriously doubt if you could find a one who would say the A6M2 was less than effective as a front line fighter.

Rich

 

[HealzDevo]

Okay, just the impression I have always got. Okay, its wrong but that is what seems to be behind the lines in most documentaries.