301 replies to this topic

[J311yfish]

J311yfish, on 08 March 2018 - 10:18 AM, said:

 

241,858 views since creation 02/24/2014 as of 03/08/2018 = 1,474 days = 164 views/day = 6.84 views/hour average over the lifetime of the thread -- still going strong!

 

285,031 views since creation 02/24/2014 as of 05/07/2019 = 1,899 days = 150 views/day = 6.25 views/hour average over the lifetime of the thread = still going strong!

[J311yfish]

J311yfish, on 22 May 2019 - 06:48 PM, said:

 

The adversary of the F6F is not the A6M, even though A6M was produced in great quantity.  Here is an approximation of sequential aircraft that are so far not in game:

 

Tier	U.S.A.	Japan
VI	Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat (10/1942)	Mitsubishi J2M Raiden ("Jack") (05/1942)
VII	Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat (04/1944)	Kawanishi N1K1-J Shiden ("George") (12/1942+)
VIII	Grumman F8F Bearcat (08/1944)	Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden Kai ("George") (12/1943+)
IX	Grumman F9F Panther (11/1947)	Nakajima Kikka (08/1945+)
X	Grumman F9F-6 Cougar (09/1951)	Kugisho R2Y2 Keiun (1945+)

 

The A6M1 on the other hand was first flown 04/1939, just over 3 years prior to XF6F-1 (06/1942).

 

Also by the way -- the popular (wrong) historical account is that an A6M was recovered intact 07/1942 (the "Akutan Zero") and restored for flight testing, and from this the 'secrets of the Zero' were discovered, and the F6F was therefore designed accordingly.  That was propaganda meant to bolster the morale of American pilots.  The F6F coincidentally made its first flight the previous month 06/1942.

 

The less known (secret for many years) historical account is that an A6M was recovered 6 months before Pearl Harbor, restored to flight status by a German mechanic working with the Flying Tigers (Gerhard Neumann, who would later go on to be head of General Electric).  The 'secrets of the Zero' were known by Chennault and his men before America officially entered the war, and even then the knowledge was a closely guarded secret.  The F6F prototype was ordered around the same time 06/1941, but to what degree it benefited from the knowledge, if at all, is debatable.

 

Also, American involvement in China against Japan did not begin after Pearl Harbor, but can actually be traced all the way back to 1932 with American pilot Robert Short in a Boeing P-12, and further over the years with CAMCO.  Further reading.

 

Related:

http://forum.worldofwarplanes.com/index.php?/topic/49715-why-isnt-the-grumman-f6f-hellcat-avalible/page__pid__691126#entry691126

http://forum.worldofwarplanes.com/index.php?/topic/54528-j2m-raiden/page__pid__759067#entry759067

http://forum.worldofwarplanes.com/index.php?/topic/49229-news-ru-wowp-developers-qa-20170523/page__pid__684614#entry684614

 

 

^ from (another) thread on Grumman F6F Hellcat.