Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
That was true in the air of the P-38 as well. The highest-scoring US aces ever flew them against the Japanese. In Europe and North Africa they were average at best.
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And basically for the same reasons. For instance, the Zero, although lighter and more agile than most Allied aircraft, was lightly armed
(I remember reading one story about a flight of Zekes that emptied all their magazines into a B-17 in a prolonged fight, only for the bomber to surive the trip back to base [albeit in horrible condition]), even more lightly armored, and lacked self-sealing fuel tanks, which meant that many times just a quick burst was enough to light one on fire. Even though they were fairly modern craft at the beginning of the war, from the mid-war on they were outclassed by their Allied counterparts.
Although the army did have some pretty good aircraft... they had several types throughout the war that were just as good as the aircraft they went up against, and late-war models closed the gap even more, although by then they had about as much effect as Germany's experimental U-boat models. So actually maybe it wasn't all that similar overall, except when it came to the IJN.
