Luftwaffe Zeros?

I do not believe that the A6m design would be mature enough in Sept 1940 - it was only just ready for front line service in Dec 1941

Production numbers in Sept 1940 were in single figures (9 being built that month with a total of 98 being built by end of 1940)

Also while very manoeuvrable - this was at the expense of Self sealing fuel tanks, Cockpit armour - among other things found on German Aircraft of the time - making if horribly vulnerable to the 8 x Vickers-Browning MG armament found on the British fighters of the day.

And the elephant in the room - fighter commands Air Defence Network - I'm not sure that a change in principle Luftwaffe fighter would make that big a difference
 
A Luftwaffe Mitsubishi A6M would ONLY make sense for German Aircraft carrier until 1941

but moment the Allies trow the F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning into action.
The A6M became cannon fodder...

And the Luftwaffe A6M for the Blitz ?
Oh, yes, please, please, please yearned the RAF
 
The Zeros made in 1940 were not that great performers. Powered by the indifferent early Zuisei engine (780 CV at 4000 m), it was good for barely more than 300 mph - a 50 mph deficit vs. Bf 109E, even greater deficit vs. Spitfire, and the Hurricane can beat that comfortably.
 
A Luftwaffe Mitsubishi A6M would ONLY make sense for German Aircraft carrier until 1941
but moment the Allies trow the F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning into action.
The A6M became cannon fodder...
The USAAF was till using Spitfires in Europe in 1943 with US fighters coming in to replace them.
I believe the RAF did have vast numbers of qualified pilots in desk jobs, as OTU instructors, sitting in 13 Group shooting down the occasional recce etc though.
The RAF retained, out of the BoB air fight, enough pilots to man an anti invasion force should the USM occur. About 600 obsolete and other duties aeroplanes. They were not going to get a strike force eliminated ahead of an invasion by feeding them into the purely air battle. This is without the Fighter Command units outside the BoB area.
 
Another thing re. early Zero, the A6M-1: no drop tanks, the fuel was 518L in internal tanks. Should be getting the better range figures than Bf 109, but it was not that a long range aircraft.
 
The thing that cost the Japanese at Midway was the timely sacrifice of a large number of TBDs.
The Bf-109E-4 carried twice the mg ammo, at 1000 rpg, but the same 20mm 60 rpg. The Spit carried 300 rpg times 8, and the following SpitV carried 60 20mm rpg, and 4X 300 rpg for the mgs. I don't think that makes it such a big weakness, all things considered. Not as big as all the other weaknesses.
They blew through all their ammunition attacking the torpedo bombers,Japanese records show that when the dive bombers attacked the Japanese CAP were landing in order to rearm(Check out Shattered Sword,the best account of the battle of Midway).A bigger ammo load and they'd have been back on station at altitude waiting for the dive bombers.
 
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CalBear

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They blew through all their ammunition attacking the torpedo bombers,Japanese records show that when the dive bombers attacked the Japanese CAP were landing in order to rearm(Check out Broken Sword,the best account of the battle of Midway).A bigger ammo load and they'd have been back on station at altitude waiting for the dive bombers.
Actually its Shattered Sword. As you note, a brilliant well documented work
 
They blew through all their ammunition attacking the torpedo bombers,Japanese records show that when the dive bombers attacked the Japanese CAP were landing in order to rearm(Check out Shattered Sword,the best account of the battle of Midway).A bigger ammo load and they'd have been back on station at altitude waiting for the dive bombers.
I've looked at Shattered Sword and a few other tales of the battle, and my understanding is that having shot down all of one torpedo squadron and most of a second, the Zero CAP was largely in the act of downing 10 of 12 members of another squadron when the SBDs arrived, while some were dancing with members of composite VF3/VF42 and learning the foreboding lesson of the Thatch Weave. With a bigger fuel load, members of VF8 wouldn't have had to ditch and might have absorbed some of the TBD's punishment. Without the need to maintain altitude, members of VF6 might have dropped below the 800 ft cloud ceiling to help the TBDs avoid elimination. Jimmy Thatch did introduce his tactic, and found it worked well, but was, in fact, defensive, and also of little use to the dead Devastators.
There were a couple of instances in the Med where RN carriers were battered due to the Fulmar CAP being out of place, chasing bandits, and nobody would accuse the Fulmar of being short of ammo.
 
The zero would probably earn some nice nickname among the luftwaffe pilots like "Papierflieger" or "Der fliegenden sarg" :p

What did the Germans call the Hawk 75, the best scoring French fighter?

It was very much like the Zero, very maneuverable, slower than the 109, no self sealing tanks, no armorglass, but did have a 1/4" armor seatback
 
It should probably be remembered that the A6M was designed the way it was because of the limitations of the available engine, and the power limits of that engine. The Germans had better engines, and the ability to produce them in numbers that the Japanese could only dream of.

That said, the Germans really should have developed a better fighter sooner than the Fw190A, which if it had been around is your Battle of Britain war winner. Thankfully for the Allies it wasn't available until 1942

For that matter, even better drop tanks would have done wonders
 
I now this have been done over and over, but isn't the FW187 or even HE112B or HE100 more likely scenarios for the longer range, and all better fighters against their opponents?

Yes, all this has been done before, but the Zero has historically established superiority against Hurricanes and Spitfires in real life, although with pilots very proficient in type, against pilots maybe less proficient. The other German aircraft never had proven abilities beyond those we wish to lend to them by way of fantasy.

I have made another thread to discuss these old topics, hopefully in a slightly new way. WI the Germans wanted a plane like the Zero.
Starting with the He-112B.
Here it is: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/he-112c-with-a-mission.405479/

Just wanted to explore it more without derailing this one.
 
It should probably be remembered that the A6M was designed the way it was because of the limitations of the available engine, and the power limits of that engine. The Germans had better engines, and the ability to produce them in numbers that the Japanese could only dream of.

That said, the Germans really should have developed a better fighter sooner than the Fw190A, which if it had been around is your Battle of Britain war winner. Thankfully for the Allies it wasn't available until 1942
For that matter, even better drop tanks would have done wonders

Just having a drop tank on the Bf 109E woud've represented the problems for the RAF. That is before LW has it's equivalent of the Ki 61, that indeed shows how one can make a long range fighter that actually performs.
 
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