Thanks for that insightful post, Danny.
Because (what we called) the South-West Pacific Area of operations was mainly the province of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero' was our main worry.
The Ki-43 'Oscar' that you chaps had to deal with, I believe was every bit the equal of the legendary 'Zero' in capability.
Just as an aside, a late mentor of mine in the 60s, an old aviator by the name of Sid Marshall, had a complete and original 'Oscar' in his hangar.
'Knowledgeable' passers-by told their friends it was a Zero.
To complement that, he had a similarly complete and original Messerschmitt Bf109G hung from the rafters.
Additionally, just BTW, he also had, among other things, a couple of Spitfire Mk.VIIIs in his backyard.
I know, because I'd sat in them making 'vroom-vroom' noises.
I also had an inkling that, at the time, he had his eye on that Vultee Vengeance, EZ999, that we'd discussed previously.
People tended to regard him as a bit of an eccentric 'junk collector'.
NigG,
I quite agree on the score of the Japanese LoC/logistics capability.
It became reasonably apparent to us down here in the SWPA from 1943, if not earlier.
I can only think that the Jap 'senior management' were thinking they could keep us guessing for long enough to give them time to work out what to do.
Besides, they had the Emperor's blessing.
.
Last edited by Stanwell; 11th Jul 2016 at 12:33.