What if: Mosquito vs P-38

zarglink said:

*SNIP*

as an overall aide to the war effort the mosquito was superior, think of something like the sherman tanks vs the panzers. the shermans were horrible but they were soooo much easier to make.

*SNIP*

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Not to pick nits but:

Dispelling the myths surrounding the M4 Sherman - Knowledge Glue

Just as a primer regarding the M4 Sherman. As Tomo said, don't fall for the myths. There are more resources out there that prove the M4 was a pretty good tank that I can happily point you to, but I don't want to start derailing this interesting thread with an armor discussion.

It is rather difficult to compare the two aircraft other than they were both twin engined aircraft using liquid cooled engines.
Different size, different missions (originally, they crossed over a bit later) which resulted in different strength factors and different capabilities. The Mosquito was a light/medium bomber which gained guns to use as a nightfighter and strike aircraft. Nightfighters rarely having to perform hard turning/maneuvering dogfighting antics. Not to say that some Mosquitos didn't get into dogfights of a sort during daylight missions. P-38 started as an interceptor, moved to general fighter and then to fighter bomber/strike aircraft. AS a night fighter it was a johnny-come-lately and required compact later generation radar in order to do the job at all.
The P-38 could most certainly NOT replace the Mosquito as a bomber (little range with under wing bombs and using internal fuel) or night fighter until the radar equipment got small enough, several years too late.
The Mosquito could not perform the day fighter role as in escort bombers and take-on German single seat fighters on a consistent basis.

I am happy this thread came back to life ....

Shortround6 said:

The Mosquito could not perform the day fighter role as in escort bombers and take-on German single seat fighters on a consistent basis.

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How about:

Mosquito Mk. VI modified:
Merlin 61
Machine guns and second crewmember omitted to save weight .
External bomb/wing tank racks removed.
Whirlwind canopy
Metal wing spars to save weight
Strenghtening of the wings to achieve 8g limit load.

Timppa said:

How about:

Mosquito Mk. VI modified:
Merlin 61
Machine guns and second crewmember omitted to save weight .
External bomb/wing tank racks removed.
Whirlwind canopy
Metal wing spars to save weight
Strenghtening of the wings to achieve 8g limit load.

Click to expand...

this looks like a request for the DeHavilland DH.103 Hornet.

Mossie was never a day fighter though it often operated in daylight, shot down a claimed 650 enemy a/c in 1944 including thirty something FW 190s in daylight losing just two of their numbers to enemy fighters until late in the war, whilst operating in the FB role.

not bad for an aircraft designed primarily for recon and then as an unarmed bomber. what the mossie could do ALWAYs confounds people.

now, it was no wonder weapon. There were things it could not do. it was an intruder, a nuisance weapon, it couldn't do what the P-38 was assigned to help achieve, it couldnt do what a B-17 or a B-24 was given to do. it is s stretch to say that it could stand shoulder to shoulder with a stuka, or a DC-3, or even a Swordfish, and yet to various degrees it could do the jobs of all these a/c.....up to a point. It was its versatility that was its great strength.

In the context of this thread we often forget the Mosquito was designed as an unarmed bomber from the outset, whereas the P-38 was not. The only reason the Mosquito got accepted for production was if de Havilland expanded on its repertoire, so the first production contract was for a photo recon machine, then a night fighter and then a bomber.

I absolutely adore both aircraft, but in terms of pure performance, the late model P-38s for sure. The P-38L outpreforms the Mosquito Mk. FB VI in every way, except possibly turn circle, but I'm not sure about that. Not to mention things like boosted ailerons and dive recovery flaps that were included on late model P-38s.

However, that is not to say the Mosquito was not excellent at some things the Lightning simply could not do. Including, but not limited to: anti submarine operations with a 57 mm cannon, proper bombing, and much more.

In terms of performance, the P-38. In terms of utility, probably the Mosquito.

In the end, they are some of the most fantastic preforming, and beautiful aircraft of the war.