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Thread: American Zero Fighter

  1. #1
    Supporting Member Vlerkies's Avatar
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    American Zero Fighter

    36 Zero v 60 RAF fighters, 1 Zero lost with 27 RAF lost Wow, not stats you hear every day.



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    Manual Creation Group DerDa's Avatar
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    Re: American Zero Fighter

    Quote Originally Posted by Vlerkies View Post
    36 Zero v 60 RAF fighters, 1 Zero lost with 27 RAF lost Wow, not stats you hear every day.



    Well, that's the thing with statistics if you take them out of context ...
    This is about the 'Easter Sunday Raid' on Ceylon.
    It is true, that in the first wave 36 Zeros were attacking ... plus more than 140 bombers and dive-bombers.
    The first wave caught the British on the ground, thus most of the Hurricanes destroyed were not shot down by Zeros, but bombed on the airfields.

    I don't know about the losses of Zeros, but certainly more than one Japanese plane was shot down by flak and later by fighters.

    That said, the A6M was definitely superior to the Hurricanes and Fairey Fulmars of the British.
    Approx. 50 - 90 km/h faster than those types, much better rate of climb, much better armed with two 20 mm cannon plus two MGs and much more nimble and manoeuvrable.


    Sometimes, I still dream of TFS going Pacific.
    I know it won't happen but ...

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  5. #3
    TF Leadership RAF74_Buzzsaw's Avatar
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    Re: American Zero Fighter

    If flown correctly, i.e. at high altitude, the Hurricane II was superior to the Zero. It had a higher ceiling and better performance at 25,000 ft or over.

    But when engaged at low/medium alts, the Zero was far superior, especially to the Fulmar.

    Quote Originally Posted by DerDa View Post
    Well, that's the thing with statistics if you take them out of context ...
    This is about the 'Easter Sunday Raid' on Ceylon.
    It is true, that in the first wave 36 Zeros were attacking ... plus more than 140 bombers and dive-bombers.
    The first wave caught the British on the ground, thus most of the Hurricanes destroyed were not shot down by Zeros, but bombed on the airfields.

    I don't know about the losses of Zeros, but certainly more than one Japanese plane was shot down by flak and later by fighters.

    That said, the A6M was definitely superior to the Hurricanes and Fairey Fulmars of the British.
    Approx. 50 - 90 km/h faster than those types, much better rate of climb, much better armed with two 20 mm cannon plus two MGs and much more nimble and manoeuvrable.


    Sometimes, I still dream of TFS going Pacific.
    I know it won't happen but ...

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  7. #4
    Manual Creation Group DerDa's Avatar
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    Re: American Zero Fighter

    Quote Originally Posted by RAF74_Buzzsaw View Post
    If flown correctly, i.e. at high altitude, the Hurricane II was superior to the Zero. It had a higher ceiling and better performance at 25,000 ft or over.

    But when engaged at low/medium alts, the Zero was far superior, especially to the Fulmar.
    I stand corrected.
    Didn't know about the high altitude performance of the Zero.

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    Re: American Zero Fighter

    Do you think that part of the Allied failure could have been due to tactics? British pilots who had fought German aircraft may have thought the better turning ability of the Hurricane against the Bf 109 would also work against the zero.
    AVG pilots had already learned that they could more than hold their own against the Oscar, which was more maneuverable than anything by using, and sticking to, the correct tactics.
    Being able to flight test a zero did help allied pilots a lot, they were able to exploit it's weaknesses after that.

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