lesofprimus
Brigadier General
That was just plain stoopid...
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Jabberwocky said:P-38 for two reasons:
1. Rate of climb.
The P-38 was the hardest climbing US fighter of the war. It could get to 25,000 feet while the P-40, P-39, P-47 and P-51A were still lagging far below.
2. Armament.
Heavy, nose mounted and with a large revior of ammunition. .50 cal would light up fuel tanks and punch through armour. The 20mm would do the same and then add 10g of HE to the mix.
The P-38G was the standard for early 1943, capable of about 400 mph at 25,000 feet and able to get there in about 7 min 40 seconds. The H was introduced into service around May 1943 and was just a smidge faster, clocked at about 405 mph at 25,000 feet. The J was introduced late in the year (September) with the redesigned 'beard' nacels, and was significantly faster, clocking about 422 mph at 25,000 feet and could get there in just a smidge over 7 minutes.
Soundbreaker Welch? said:2 weeks.......too bad.
delcyros said:One thing to put less importance to are range issues for interceptions. No long range fighter sweeps or escorts, pure interceptions. Another issue I have with the P-38 is vulnarability. It seems to me that the combination of large target size and the liquid cooled engines can take less battledamage but I might be wrong here.
It undoubtly is the most stable gunplatform the USAAF had and it´s excelled everything in the climb figure...
lesofprimus said:We're talking 1943....
Erich said:wmaxt:
wasn't as effective as the P-38 ? are you basing this entirely on your acct of the P-38 numbers given to total kills ?
~ Man, asking the 8th AF fighter pilots that I have been honoured to interview, they all thought the Stang was superior to the P-38 except in ground attack work
thanks for putting up the comparitive totals, indeed, where was your reference(s) for these please ?
E ♫
Tony Williams said:I'm surprised that no-one has yet mentioned the Bell P-63A Kingcobra - this just sneaks into the 1943 timeframe (first deliveries in October). It had a maximum altitude of 43,000 feet and climbed to 25,000 feet in 7.3 minutes, at which it did 410 mph. That big cannon could (for once) have been useful against bombers too.
The max speed and altitude performance were similar to the P-38J, but the P-63 climbed faster. The Soviets, who were the main users, employed it as a high-altitude interceptor I believe.
Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum