Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
there is no way of proving or disproving as it was in combat with Tempests in turns at mid-altitude something it was not designed for.
clearly there are many questions that will never be answered except to be put in as what if's
Mr Erich
Who is the pilot that did not tell the truth?
Willi R. reports as he remembers, but his accounts of damage inflicted on US bomber and fighter forces have a typical 2:1 ratio when examining actual US losses. That doesn't make Willi a liar - just misinformed and that applies to fighter pilots of all nations in many cases.
BTW _ Galland in "First and the Last" is candid that Allied claims to awards review process was more rigorous on the Allied side. I might also add that the rigor for ETO was higher than for PTO for the Allies and the cross references between actual Japanese losses to US claim/awards support that comment
Could you report the books that you have written about Luftwaffe and who publish them? Must be very interesting as you appear to have acces directly to survivors of the period.
Jim - I understand your skepticism based on some of the past dialogues ranging from Dresden to this discussion about "fact, opinions based on fact and 'speculation'
Fact - the Ta 152 was a superb design
Fact - the Ta 152 had just a few more hours of operational experience than the P-80 (which had zero combat missions to my knowledge)
Fact - the Ta 152 had a variety of 'common' early series issues ranging from engines to subsystems - no more than the P-51B or Me 262 - but there was no time to iron them out and apply field modifications.
Fact - there are no substantive facts about engagements that correlate precisely between the combatants.
Opinions based upon facts.
The Ta 152 would have been a handful as an airframe in combat with near equal fighters in the West but apparently had more live experience in the East.
The Ta 152 had the potential to be the best fighter of WWII, including the P-51H and the Me 262 and the Meteor - but the war in the ETO ended before that conclusion could be fact based instead of opinion based.
I am not one of those that 'dismiss' the perspective of the German accounts out of hand.
Opinions based upon facts.
The Ta 152 would have been a handful as an airframe in combat with near equal fighters in the West but apparently had more live experience in the East.
The Ta 152 had the potential to be the best fighter of WWII, including the P-51H and the Me 262 and the Meteor - but the war in the ETO ended before that conclusion could be fact based instead of opinion based.
I am not one of those that 'dismiss' the perspective of the German accounts out of hand.
I don't think anyone really knows how fast the Ta 152 was below or above 35k feet as it apparently never flew with GM1 or MW50 injection. Thus any performance comparison to P-51H is pure speculation.