On Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:49:11 -0700, Gordon
wrote:

massive snipping

P-38 Had the range and performance to protect US bombers. It
prevented the German Airforce from fielding heavy aircraft firing
rockets, or impunely attacking bombers under the protection of heavy
armour.

Hmmmmm... It seems in my memory that the rocket-firing German
fighters were mostly treated roughly by P-47s and the gunners aboard
the heavy bombers.

My next door neighbor when I lived in Corpus Christi was the CO of the
first P-38 squadron to deploy to North Africa. He'd spent the
immediate pre-war years as a test piliot Selfridge AAF near Detroit.
He had lots of stories about the number of aircraft that spent time on
the bottom of Lake St. Claire.

He also said the P-38 was a very good aircraft but that tangling with
109s was a tough job. The 38 was faster but the 109 turned better.
The 38s he took over had an artificial limitation on the turbocharger
compliments of Allison. After he lost five or six planes he said, "to
Hell with Allison" and removed the limit. That stopped aircraft
losses, but meant overhaul of the engine at about 100 hours. This
made the supply guys REAL unhappy as they were not capable (in the
beginning) of supplying sufficient engines. He described a meeting
where he got into a shouting match with a couple of Allison guys and a
couple of "feather merchant" generals. He was not relieved, but after
the North African campaign he was sent back home and spent the rest of
the time in the test and evaluation program. Went over as a major in
'42 and retired as a full bird in the late 50s.

His final opinion was that the 38 matured into a really fine aircraft
for the Pacific because of two engines and very long range. It was a
superb photo bird and decent ground attack aircraft (although, like
any any liquid cooled engined aircraft, the cooling system was an
Achilles Heel). He thought the P-47 was the AAF premier CAS aircraft.

He's been dead some years now. He was a cool guy to drink beer with.

B-25 Versatile and easy to fly in all theatres of war.
Wildcat, Hellcat, dauntless, avenger

Not sure if we actually "needed" the Avenger. The IJN was primarily
bombed out of existance, not torpedoed out of existance (not counting
the tremendous job done by the Silent Service, of course).

The Avenger was an excellent scout, glide bomber, and gave yeoman (if
largely unhearled service) operating off CVEs. If you've ever seen
one on the deck of a CVE you'll get some idea of what big airplane on
little deck really means!!!!! :-)

It was also the first COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) aircraft. Mail
is a REAL morale booster so that, alone, might make it "needed." ;-)


Vought corsair: took to long to perfect for carrier opperations;

A Navy Captain told me, "That _____-___ ____ of ____ wasn't worth the
trouble - we were forced to take it by politicians." He was a loyal
Grumman customer and saw no need whatever for the F4U.

There are countervieling opinions. :-)

The Marines made good use of the F4U and it would serve through Korea
(long after the F6F was history). Like the P-38 it seemed to mature
well.

Hellcat did a good enough job.

You have a talent for understatement.

Indeed.

And let's not forget the F4F that carried the battle for about the
first two years of the War, then joined the TBM on the CVEs as first
rate U-boat killers.