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Pretty interesting stuff. One group, 102 Gyorsbombazo osztaly between Aug 44 and march 45 flew 800 missions and shot down 20 to 25 Soviet aircraft. Pretty good for a ground attack unit.
There were a lot of bad ones: How about the Me 163 Komet-- more deadly to its own pilots than to its enemies? How about the He 177 Greif-- they should have called it "Greif" because it caused so much-- and they actually made over 1000 of them! Then there is the fact that the Oscar was built way beyond its usefulness, and the Betty, which was so flammable, the Fw 200 which was exceeding fragile, and the "Lightning" given to Britain without turbochargers! The Manchester, Whitley, Hampden, and Blenheim were all miserable, and what about the Morane Saulnier MS 406? The Soviet MiG-1 and 3 were difficult mounts, with poor armament, though one nearly succeeded in shooting down Erich Hartman before his career could even take off.
I believe the pilot who engaged McGuire was flying a "Frank."@ Oreo.
The Ki-43 was in the early years of the war the toughest opponent for the american fighters. Slower as a P-40 and underarmed, but in the hands of a good pilot a deadly weapon. And even obsolete in the closing years, there are some JAAF-Pilots who shot down B-17s, B-24s, Mustangs and Thunderbolts with her two Machine-guns! I think it was McGuire who lost his life in a low-level fight against Ki-43?
The Curtiss Helldiver had many bugs when it was first deployed but once they were worked out it was a very good aircraft. I met someone who flew it and he had high praise for it.The Curtis Helldiver has got to rank up there with the worst.
True, but if it weren't for the Peashooter, I think it would've been very possible that we'd have entered World War II with something hardly removed from the aircraft of the previous war.It WAS obsolete and outdated when WWII started. BUT, it could hold it's own against simmillar Japanese Claude fighters used by the Japanese over China and the Philipines, before the Zeros entered full service. Not sure about it ever shooting down a Zero though?
It WAS obsolete and outdated when WWII started. BUT, it could hold it's own against simmillar Japanese Claude fighters used by the Japanese over China and the Philipines, before the Zeros entered full service. Not sure about it ever shooting down a Zero though?