The Zero v P40 debate is interesting...talk to chaps who actually flew against the Zero in P40s and they have a dramatically different opinion than the historians.
I have a dear old mate on the Gold Coast who flew P40s in 77 Sdn in Darwin and PNG through all the big battles...Milne Bay etc...well into his 80s now he is still as fit and lucid as a man 30 hrs his junior.
This from an email of a year or three back.;
Hi Chuck,
The Zero was a piece of ****! It had only one tactic...it could turn tighter at slow speeds..less than about 220mph. It could only pull 6 G we could pull 9, and when one got on our tail we bloody well did. Our roll rate was 4 or 5 times faster. At speeds above about 220 we could pull more G and turn tighter...if he wasn't dead by the time speed was bleeding back towards that, or he was behind us, we rolled and dived away at 350+mph...his wings came off long before that....but we rolled so much faster we were miles away before he matched our manouver. Our guns were better, we had armour they didn't, we had self sealing fuel tanks they didn't. The Zero's controls were so stiff above 250 mph it took both hands to get any effect...they were terrible....it was a piece of ****!
If you played the Zero's game it could eat you up...but it had only one game and we knew it by Milne Bay. Put some rounds through em and they burn...I was a lousey shot though.
My old mate never made ace officially...but he got a few 'proper kills'...and when he told me about chasing one into the ground and another that came apart trying to follow him into a near verticle corkscrew at speeds that hit 400mph..well he did, the Jap didn't...I mentioned that the Yanks call those manouver kills and he really probably should be an Ace. His answer was a rye smile and "Well the yanks would wouldn't they". He REALLY didn't care and he genuinely believes his contribution was nothing above ordinary.
Just a wonderfull old guy.
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 26th Apr 2006 at 09:25.