GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
I think the Spitfire is over rated because it has those roundel thingies on it...
The one most over-rated plane of WWII
- Thread starter NTGray
- Start date
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
Well you just cant argue with that. After all it did circle the globe, with fare paying passengers.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
I like your moxie, kid!
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Go Grumman! I'm from Long Island.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
All from the Secret base in the Antarctic!
Grumman products were a waste of
Last edited:
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Agree. They should have been made from spruce, birch and balsa.
Make it from what you like, just make it shaped like a P-51.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
Oh, but Grummans were manly man aeroplanes because of their hand-crank main gear.
Hydraulic gear is for girly-men and HIGHLY over rated...
fastmongrel
1st Sergeant
I wonder why the RAF made the roundels out of lead because every time an aircraft had roundels fitted it went slower.
Thumpalumpacus
Major
It's probably a conspiracy to get out of a contract. "The roundels shall each weigh 22 pounds."
That's not even counting the fin-flashes.
Last edited:
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
I KNEW it!
Aluminium ? Grumman are Iron Works.
Thanks for the shout out, Ive edited the post.
GregP
Major
I thought the roundels were substituted for armor plate and nose / tail weight, in lieu of fuel (so it could have short range, like all British aircraft), and were also used to shift the center of gravity so the airplane naturally headed for a coastal British airfield where it would land due to fuel shortage.
Red Stars meant you were going to get shot down, at least in the first two years of the Russian Front.
The U.S. insignia meant you were going to fly an 8-hour mission at high altitudes, see no German airplanes, and would very definitely be freezing when you got home, where you would grumble about the war while drinking lukewarm beer, chasing British women, and generally being an "Ugly American" until morning, when you would do it all over again.
Red Stars meant you were going to get shot down, at least in the first two years of the Russian Front.
The U.S. insignia meant you were going to fly an 8-hour mission at high altitudes, see no German airplanes, and would very definitely be freezing when you got home, where you would grumble about the war while drinking lukewarm beer, chasing British women, and generally being an "Ugly American" until morning, when you would do it all over again.
And yet, across the other side of the world the A6M was found to be more than a match than heavier armoured Allied fighters and pilots flying the type shot down a lot of aircraft with armour, not only that it earned itself a myth of invincibility, which, incidentally is why we are here, so strange logic? Not me. But of course, lets apply yours and say that despite its victories and its formidable reputation in the SEA campaign it wouldn't have been any use at all in the Battle of Britain, that is, if the Japanese had a time machine...
What's not under question here is the US response to a threat, nor its tactics, which were necessary simply because the F4F was outclassed by the A6M. In hands of powers with less training and resources than the US Navy the differences between the two types would have been more marked. To be fair, the standard of aircraft carrier based fighters between 1940 and 1943 up to when the F6F enters the scene isn't that spectacular, there's the A6M, the F4F, the Brewster Buffalo, the Fairey Fulmar, the Hawker Sea Hurricane, the Gloster Sea Gladiator the Supermarine Seafire I (later Seafires were obviously far more potent), so the A6M looks pretty good compared to its contemporaries.
To really appreciate the capabilities of a weapon it needs to be considered next to the other aircraft in use at the time it was, rather than attempting to compare it to everything else. Obviously the A6M was in service until the very end of the war, so that means it was contemporary to almost every fighter in theatre throughout the war, but to begin with, in the first year when the USA is taking its first steps into the war, the A6M is by far one of the best fighters in theatre.
