On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 12:01:36 -0400, Cub Driver
wrote:

For all the talk about Meteors shooting down V-1s, I was amused to see
that there was no Meteor V-1 "ace". (One pilot did manage to account
for four.)

There was no Spitfire F.21 ace either. What conclusions would you
like to draw about it's relative effectiveness as a type from that?

Most of the V-1 aces flew Griffon-engined Spitfire XIIs, Spitfire
XIVs, and Tempest Vs. The other successful aircraft were Mosquitoes
(at night) and specially-boosted Mustang IIIs.

Spitfire Vs actually claimed more than the Meteors, IIRC. So what
does that prove, if anything? I hope you don't believe that this
illustrates any kind of relative performance superiority of the
Spitfire V over the Meteor in the summer of 1944.

There appear to have been about 135 such 5-vic pilots in British
service--though, as was typical of the RAF, the pilots' nationalities
ran the gamut from Poles to Americans. What a wonderful air force it
must have been, where close to half the pilots were foreigners.

Why should anyone have a problem with that? Or are you just seeking
to stir up some defensive national prejudices?

Gavin Bailey

--

"...this level of misinformation suggests some Americans may be
avoiding having an experience of cognitive dissonance."
- 'Poll shows errors in beliefs on Iraq, 9/11'
The Charlotte Observer, 20th June 2003