First fa-22 fighters delivered to langley

[smileyman]

The SBD 2 divebomber bagged Mits. Zeros in WW2 despite the formers agility and almost 100 mph advantage...I think alot of that has to do with motivation. However we have come along way baby!

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Adeptus_Minor

Lock two guys in a phone booth, one with a snub .38 and the other with a M249, and see which one gets the kill shot.

duh, mr saturday night special is winning there. Saw is too long to get an effective angle in that space. Gimmie a harder one

[smileyman]

Originally Posted by Dave

duh, mr saturday night special is winning there. Saw is too long to get an effective angle in that space. Gimmie a harder one

Don't try and turn with a zero, don't try and outclimb a P47, never get into a phone booth with a cage fighter (or Taters Whore of an Ex-wife).

There are strengths and weaknesses to every type and make, so a good fighter just has to use his advantages while preying on the opponents weeknesses. Combat intelligence is vital and usually very costly to come by...

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by smileyman

Don't try and turn with a zero, don't try and outclimb a P47, never get into a phone booth with a cage fighter (or Taters Whore of an Ex-wife).

There are strengths and weaknesses to every type and make, so a good fighter just has to use his advantages while preying on the opponents weeknesses. Combat intelligence is vital and usually very costly to come by...

Yup...

Take the Zero for example. Outstanding Range, Great maneuverability at low speed, great climb rate. Mediocre maneuverability at high speed, lack of self sealing tanks, weak airframe and Japan pilot rotation policy (or lack thereof). Zero sucked after 42 compared to contemporaries

P-47...High altitude king...low altitude bullet absorber.

F-16 will kick an F-15 ass in one envelope, F-15 will kick an F-16 ass in another.

F\A-18 can surprise em both in the righ conditions and go by by the next.

If you see a cage fighter in a phone booth, run the phone booth over with a garbage truck.

[smileyman]

Garbage truck FTW!

[Dave]

Since we're talkin imperial japan here for a bit the shinden would have be a bad motha fuka if they had a chance to develop it some. Hoping the friggin smithsonian puts their on display soon

[smileyman]

Originally Posted by Dave

Since we're talkin imperial japan here for a bit the shinden would have be a bad motha fuka if they had a chance to develop it some. Hoping the friggin smithsonian puts their on display soon

I think it woulda been a bad mother with just experienced pilots. Too bad we had Japan by the jugular by then and were already bombing the industrial complex.

Saburo Sakai mentioned that plane in his biography "Zero" by Martin Caidin. Good read if you like WW2 aviation. I have also read his "Fork Tailed Devil" about the P38 from development to service. Good stuff.

[Dave]

nice. There used to be a clip of one of its only test flights on youtube

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by smileyman

I think it woulda been a bad mother with just experienced pilots. Too bad we had Japan by the jugular by then and were already bombing the industrial complex.

They would have required experience pilots (oops Japan let all their experienced officers die in the field without transferring the knowledge gained to new pilots..scratch that idea)
Quality manufacturing (oops scratch that)
Quality support system (and how many serviceable aircraft languished on Japanese airbases because support crews couldn't manage decent field repair?)

Japan lacked 2 key elements from midwar on...good pilots and good crews to support the AC.

Even if we were at stalemate at the time of the Shinden, Japan doomed itself from the start in terms of command and control and the way their forces were structured.

[smileyman]

I for one am especially proud that they never worked out a proper pilot rotation. The air war over the pacific was bloody beyond brutal (like it wasn't anywhere else) but I would have hated to give up any advantage that would have cost either side more lives.

I suppose that is my appreciation of the pilots that flew these missions on both sides and in every war. Pilots first, brave duty bound fellows, they did their part and ask no quarter. Could we aspire to such a lofty virtue?