Where US fighters failed over Europe

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

…and the RAF used the Mustang almost exclusively for fighter cover for Bomber Command for daylight operations later in the war. The Spitfire was quite frankly range-limited.

Jim
 

It is worth adding that Captain Brown later noted that his excitement in flying the McDonnell Phantom II reminded him vividly of his flying the Me 262 twenty years earlier. He wrote that the later generation Phantom provided the same level of exhilaration. Mind you, he also described the DeHavilland Hornet as his favourite. So, top ratings for a Brit, a German and the USA!
Eng
 
If I could ask Brown two questions they would be as follows:

How did the Halifax III's and VII's stack up against the 18-boost Lancasters (Merlin 224's) and what would he think the relative performance of the aircraft would be at all-up weight and in conditions of very heavy icing?
 
Rather obviously, I haven't read all British test reports, but I have also never heard a British pilot say he liked an AMerican aircraft except for Eric Brown saying he liked the Wildcat ... nee, Martlet.

It isn't a jab at the Brits at all, just what I've heard, including 20 years of museum visitors. Also, several former foreign fighter pilots seem to have liked the F-86. Not specifically as opposed to anything British, but in general. I'd view that as rather "normal" for most military pilots of any nation that produces it's own military aircraft.

As an aside, all who have flown the Folland Gnat like it a lot, but most wouldn't choose it for a mission because just when you start having fun, you run out of fuel. Without tanks on the wings, it is in a state of fuel emergency when you start the engine with full internal fuel. If you HAVE wing tanks, then you can at least take off and climb a bit before being in a state of fuel emergency. But, if you're flying a Gnat over an airport doing an airshow, it's marvelous fun, AND the fuel is right there on the ground to go do it again!
 
Dad liked the North American Harvard. But then he was Canadian. To balance the equation, he didn't like the B-24. Flew like a cow.

Jim
 
In 1943 the Australians went looking for the next fighter and bomber to put into local production. What the British told them.
 

Attachments

  • MP12-3 C-3-D CAC Mustang project 051.JPG
    290.9 KB · Views: 20
  • MP12-3 C-3-D CAC Mustang project 052.JPG
    349.8 KB · Views: 18
  • MP12-3 C-3-D CAC Mustang project 060.JPG
    357.1 KB · Views: 13
  • MP12-3 C-3-D CAC Mustang project 061.JPG
    383.7 KB · Views: 20

Users who are viewing this thread