Which P-40 vs which P-47?
and when?
The only real P-40 contenders for a fast climb are the P-40L and the first few hundred Ns.
How did they achieve this great climb?
They left two of the guns out and cut the remaining ammo for the remaining 4.
You bitch about the short range of the P-47 ( which could actually fly twice as a far as the Spitfire under similar conditions) and then you use P-40s with just 120 gallons of internal fuel (if that) for your climb figures, How far was the P-40 stripper going to get?
You rag on the P-47 for being expensive. It carried twice the guns of a stripper P-40 and with just 267 rounds per gun it carried 2.27 times the ammo of the strippers , With 467 rpg which the early planes could do without under wing loads it is carrying 3.6 times the ammo. Perhaps that is too much but obviously the P-47 has a lot more combat effectiveness than a P-40 stripper. So it is returning value for the money spent on it. At least better than the 2 to ratio some people imply.
And since the P-40 strippers could not even operate at the altitudes needed to escort the B-17s and B-24s the argument about the cheaper fighter really falls flat.
P47 even with the cuffed prop could only hit 2800 ft / min.
it was a heavy pathetic climber compared to its competitors.
Even the M model could only do 3500ft/min.
P40 could do as much as 3500 ft/min and got better fuel economy.
Was a better low mid altitude fighter and would make mince meat out of a Thunderbolt In a dogfight.
Add a 75 gallon tank and you had a decent low mid altitude Escort fighter.
Which is what the Russians used over the P39 and Spitfire.
Only main attribute the P47 had over the P40 was high altitude performance.
It had excellent high speed agility but in a turn knife fight it lost.
Once it's potential energy was used up you better be heading home Or at least taking the time to get it back If you had it.
P38 and P47 were both expensive and maintenance hogs compared to every other US fighter and Axis fighter Of the war.
That is just a fact...
Logistically had the Army and Curtis built the P40Q it would have replaced both P47 and P38 in many roles.
In fact been awesome had it been put in the P51A as it was with the P63.
British loved the P51A and wished the US would have produced them in tandem.
The P51A was one of the best low mid altitude Escort /Attack fighters of the war.
Helped by the fact the Allison could be throttled back to fly at bomber speeds.
Brits kept them to the end of the war.
The airplane every Allied combatant used was the P40.
Look at the Fighter platforms that survived after WW2.
Only country that took it was Taiwan that had US built bases with Long enough runways.