Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter
EDIT: Germany would have benefitted in my opinion if they had Focke Wulf fighters in 1940 and Me-323's. The Me's would land troops, tanks, and supplies in Britain's field regions and be covered by the Wulf's which had superior cannons and mg fire (6 cannons and 2 mg's). Not only that, but the Wulf's were fuel friendly meaning they could go quite a distance in bad weather and be very effective at the same time against the allies. The air battles in Russia showed its superiority. The motor of the Zero was bugged and its fuel lines were lightly armored. A single burst from a Corsair could rip the wings off a Zero in seconds and ignite a fire. The Japanese at tactics in the air sucked big time.
|
For being a long time flight simmer and reading a lot, I can assure you that at the start of the Pacific war, the Zero was far superior to the F4s, P40s and P39s the US had on the other side, and that their pilots had a lot more experience. No plane had armored fuel lines, it was armor plates protecting the fuel tanks, and above all the lack of self-sealing tanks was the problem. Of course it was nimble and unarmored but it could draw circles around US planes and climb faster (as a US pilot said, it was like we were walking up the stairs and they took the lift...) The Corsair came in much later and was in the beginning more dangerous for its pilots than for the Japanese, hence his nickname "Ensign Eliminator"... Its role has been I think very exaggerated thru movies and TV series, the F6F was the plane that scored by far the majority of victories.
Imho, no FW190 had 6 cannons, but only 4, even the late war Doras. As far as the Russian front is concerned, I don't think it was superior to the late VVS fighters like the Yak3 or the LA7. I would any day much prefer flying a Bf 109 Gustav - G6 to G14... I don't like the lack of front visibility in the FW190...But it's just me...
