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Never heard too much about the Wildcat being hard to taxi, takeoff or land. Eric knows piltos who currently fly an FM2, maybe we can get some current info on this aircraft.How about the FM2/F4 seriese, they had a quite narrow gear and were carrier borne to boot, we all know about the Seafires issues so how did the Grumman cope?
To be fair, there's alot of variability involved so making conclusions off a few given data examples can be a dangerous thing. If this thread....which has morphed mysteriouslyfrom 109 landing gear issues into who had the better airforce, has proven one thing, its that data can be used to support just about any argument.
There have been alot of incidents where a small outnumbered force of fighters has come away with a positive kill ratio, the Germans made an artform of it over North Africa using 2 plane Rottes. At the same time however, bringing more planes to a tactical battle can and sometimes does have an impact, if other variables play out right and the pilots can maximize their assets and get shots in and overwhelm the oppositiion.
As for small casualties.....small losses are the norm. Excessive casualties are exceptions. The major factor i singled out that increased the average kill rate per skirmish was not numbers but the firepower of the planes. This is especially evident in my opinion from reading the day to day accounts from Shores 2nd TAF book. The cannon armed and .50cal armed fighters doubled the average kill rate from 1-2 planes to 3-5 in many cases. That seems like not alot but over time, it adds up...esp if one factors in wounded and killed pilots. Therein lay the demise of both the Japanese and German airforces.
i do know one of the tricks they liked to pull in the P40 ...which came from a well known ace....was to hit the retract for the gear while going down the runway. the weight of the plane would keep the gear down but once sufficient pressure was released the gear would retract....rather quickly. this practice was forbidden....but cadets still did it from time to time.
Three points I would like to make.
1. This is the internet. I would like know what the statistics are when someone Googles "pole barn' and how many RELEVANT website returns one gets? This is an OPEN forum where, while it may be distracting for some, thread topics may go off track alittle, as long as its civil. Which brings me to point number 2...
2. The "Report' Button is to report violations of the conduct and rules of the board. Insulting other member, insulting someone's service, etc. It is NOT because threads may wander at times and the thread originator is pissy.
3. And I would be very careful trying to expose supposed flaws with the Moderators or Admins. If you have a problem, use the PM feature - don't air it in public.