Was the Zero too good?

[P-39 Expert]

All the "accepted" history of the Wildcat (and P-40) been worse than the Zero is true, but they were both of very similar performance and generation, and it came alot down to the pilot......unlike the Hellcat or P-38 which if flown within its best performance limits dominated any Zero.

I'd say the Zero improved more than the Wildcat during the war. The Zero A6M5 was probably better'er than an Wildcat FM-2, than a Zero A6M2 was over the Wildcat F4F-3?!?

Regarding Zero performance vs Wildcat and P-40, here's a Zero plotted on top of a P-39K performance chart.

 

[Ivan1GFP]

No aircraft is made in a vacuum.

That's probably because they couldn't fly in a vacuum.

'-)
- Ivan.