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bendel boy wrote:
Going from memory, Galland said the reverse - that the P-38 was seen as easy meat, and that it reinforced the lessons of the Bf 110. Even with drop tanks it didn't have the eventual range of the P-51, and, as found in the Pacific war area, it didn't have the agility to dogfight - it had to rely on 'dive & climb' tactics. Against the Bf 109 that may not have been as profitable. The P-38 was the first long range fighter the US produced, and had comparable or longer range than the P-51 throughout the entire war. As a quick exercise, look up the first Allied fighter escort mission to appear over Berlin... Also look up the airfield locations, and you'll note that a -38 had to fly quite a bit farther to fly a round trip to Berlin than a -51 did. As far as "dogfighting," no allied aircraft had the agility to "dogfight" (in this case, engage in a fight in which turning ability is a primary factor in performance) consistently with early war Japanese aircraft, nor did they need to. As early as December of 1941, AVG P-40s in China successfully employed climb and dive tactics, in an aircraft which markedly inferior to the P-38 in that regard. The first British Spitfires to attempt to engage in a WWI-style turning fight with the Japanese discovered that their aircraft didn't come out well in such a contest, and also adopted tactics which suited their aircraft better. Note that the aircraft with the better performance (climb and speed) can dictate the type of fight- the slower climbing "dogfighter" gets to be on the receiving end of high speed diving passes... Mike Williamson |
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