109,Spitfire or Mustang?

[Witt]

You are right. Must have been a shock to the Allies to be bettered in the sky though. The Japanese Navy’s tactics were so good, suppose like Germany, the pre war experience must have helped too.

[CWO Marc]

Another example of how the environment can be decisive for an airplane is the Stuka.  In Poland and France, where it was operating over short distances under the cover of German fighter superiority, the Stuka was a highly effective and fearsome weapon.  In the Battle of Britain, however, where ranges were longer and the RAF had control of the air, the Stuka became a sitting duck and it was soon withdrawn from the campaign.

[Witt]

Don’t get me started on the Stuka. Love it and its folded wing. Always imagined myself flying over Russia in a tank busting 37ml cannon version hunting T34s.
Blitzkrieg was fun while air superiority lasted.

[Fishmoto37]

@wittman:

@Gargantua:

Paper Macche and Bamboo isn’t a real plane.

@Fishmoto37:

Zero is not a real plane. Its not even one. Its a Ronson! Some even think its a ball of fire.

Tell that to the Allied pilots shot down early war. Think they would have swapped their fighters for one!

I doubt very much if you could find a Navy F4F or an Army P-38 pilot who would trade their planes for a 0 after they discovered how easy the 0 would light up. Dont forget that the F4F held the line for the Navy until the F4U and the F6F were operational. The Navy would have been in a world of hurt without the old Wildcat. I think a good case can be made for declaring the Wildcat one of the most valuable U.S. fighters of the war.

[ABWorsham4]

@Fishmoto37:

@wittman:

@Gargantua:

Paper Macche and Bamboo isn’t a real plane.

@Fishmoto37:

Zero is not a real plane. Its not even one. Its a Ronson! Some even think its a ball of fire.

Tell that to the Allied pilots shot down early war. Think they would have swapped their fighters for one!

I doubt very much if you could find a Navy F4F or an Army P-38 pilot who would trade their planes for a 0 after they discovered how easy the 0 would light up. Dont forget that the F4F held the line for the Navy until the F4U and the F6F were operational. The Navy would have been in a world of hurt without the old Wildcat. I think a good case can be made for declaring the Wildcat one of the most valuable U.S. fighters of the war.

The Zero was the perfect plane for a country that had few natural resources, had little concern over human life, had huge distances to fly and place importance on maneuverability.

[Gargantua]

Well there’s no denying “Zero” was the right name for it.

[ABWorsham4]

Western powers didn’t believe the Japanese could not produce frontline aircraft and that Asians could not see well enough to become fighter pilots. The Zero in the first year proved the Allies wrong.

I like it because it is a simple, yet good looking plane.

[Gargantua]

@ABWorsham:

Western powers didn’t believe the Japanese could not produce frontline aircraft and that Asians could not see well enough to become fighter pilots. The Zero in the first year proved the Allies wrong.

I like it because it is a simple, yet good looking plane.

Do you mean didn’t believed?  or could not?

The double negative is messing me all up!

[CWO Marc]

@Gargantua:

@ABWorsham:

Western powers didn’t believe the Japanese could not produce frontline aircraft and that Asians could not see well enough to become fighter pilots. The Zero in the first year proved the Allies wrong.

Do you mean didn’t believed?  or could not?

The double negative is messing me all up!

The sentence seems to want to say that the West believed two “could nots”, so it should start with “Western powers believed…”

This reminds me of an old joke about a debate between two linguists:

Linguist A: “In English, a double negative can be used to express a positive, but a double positive can’t be used to express a negative.”

Linguist B: “Yeah, right.”

[Witt]

I love the English language and hate it when I slip up and am corrected.

[suprise attack]

Liquid cooled=P-51 D, Aircooled=F6F, Detriot Iron all the way!!!

[suprise attack]

Sorry, It should say F4U=Aircooled

How about the best flying tank……P-47D?

[Witt]

The P47 was a beast, but I love all things German, so my favourite has to be the JU87G.
T34 busting all the way.

[LHoffman]

@suprise:

Liquid cooled=P-51 D, Aircooled=F6F, Detriot Iron all the way!!!

Amen and Amen.

[CWO Marc]

@LHoffman:

@suprise:

Liquid cooled=P-51 D, Aircooled=F6F, Detriot Iron all the way!!!

Amen and Amen.

Is this a reference to the fact that the Grumman Aircraft Engineering company (which built the F6F Hellcat) was affectionately nicknamed “the Grumman Iron Works” by US pilots because their planes were as solidly constructed as bridges?

[LHoffman]

@CWO:

Is this a reference to the fact that the Grumman Aircraft Engineering company (which built the F6F Hellcat) was affectionately nicknamed “the Grumman Iron Works” by US pilots because their planes were as solidly constructed as bridges?

I don’t know… but I do know they could take a hell of a beating and still fly, and fight.

[CWO Marc]

@LHoffman:

I don’t know… but I do know they could take a hell of a beating and still fly, and fight.

Yes, I’ve heard that some US pilots who were able to return safely to their carriers in a severely battle-damaged F6F swore they would never fly any other kind of airplane.

[Azrael]

Veltro !!! unfortunately it came 2 years too late.