Anonymous commented at 2011-05-25 19:05:18 » #747819

Ohhh, that F6f pilot's so screwed. Kamikaze tiem! >:3

1 Points Flag

Anonymous commented at 2011-12-24 00:52:34 » #958793

Ya know, not every Japanese pilot was down with the 'special attack' thing... -.-

3 Points Flag

xen84 commented at 2012-02-05 19:58:28 » #995536

Not very screwed in that position. At worst (for the American) the Zeros aren't in a good firing position. At best, they're about to overshoot, which gives him a good firing position.

3 Points Flag

xen84 commented at 2012-02-05 20:00:24 » #995539

Also, pilots being equal, the F6F could outperform the Zero in virtually every aspect. It was the F4F that the Zero completely outclassed.

3 Points Flag

Anonymous commented at 2012-08-18 01:39:57 » #1141575

Main verture the F6F had over the A6M was construction. The A6M got lots of range and manuverability from being very light, and the F6F was more sturdy, meaning the A6M's light guns had more trouble bringing it down, as opposed to the F6F's guns ripping the light Reisen to shreds.
Not to say the A6M was a bad design, since its performance was a shock at the time, but later on it paid a heavy price for all that weight savings.

3 Points Flag

Anonymous commented at 2014-01-13 21:18:06 » #1470580

It also paid a price for Japan's complete inability to build an engine that could get more than 1200 horsepower without severe mechanical unreliability. Those fighters that were supposed to succeed the Zero, like the Ki-84 and the J2M, had all kinds of technical problems with their engines and weren't as easy to build as the Zero. The Zero couldn't be upgraded or armored to keep up with Allied fighters because there wasn't an engine available to compensate for the increased weight, which would rob it of its maneuverability. By the time they finally had a more powerful engine to put in the Zero, it was literally a couple of days before Japan surrendered. Mitsubishi wasn't entirely at fault for this, a lot of it had to do with the preferences of the Japanese pilots. They were very conservative and wanted turning radius and range over everything else; if they had their way they wouldn't even have enclosed cockpits because it reduced their field of vision.

0 Points Flag