No Mustang - Alternate escorts for the 8th?

[NothingNow]

Those figures would make the Hellcat much cheaper than the P-40, which lasted in production until 1944 because it was very cheap and easily built. Some quoted figures don't include GFE such as engines, guns and radios. The F4U was cited as being half-again more than a Hellcat.

My point with Hellcat in ETO is that the purpose of the Mustang is air superiority. The Hellcat could hold it's own but could not dominate. It couldn't catch an Me-410. You can't dominate what you can't catch. In naval strikes, the enemy comes to you.

Yeah, that'd seem right. That figure for a Hellcat did seem suspiciously cheap.

Well, the simplest fix to me would seem to be to put Merlins in the P-38. It might not handle as well as a 51, but it would have a huge range advantage over everything else, and be a great boom and zoom aircraft.

Yeah, but this calls more for range and maneuverability than pure speed. Although a merlin-powered lightning would be a beast in a dogfight, with few vices.
Fitting it with better props, more internal fuel capacity, and a decent heater would all make for serious improvements to combat performance. After that, improving the leading edge of the wing also seems like something to suggest.

 

[Just Leo]

Second-sourcing the P-38

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the possibility of opening up new production lines for P-38 production to ameliorate the constant shortages and allow more timely up-grades to be implemented. Requirements in the Med drew numbers from the ETO. The P-47 was introduced in the Pacific because production couldn't meet the demand. The demands were always urgent. Imagine a pressurized P-38 with heat in the cockpit.

 

[Astrodragon]

Mk 8 Spitfire with Griffon engine and drop tanks.

 

[AdA]

Mk 8 Spitfire with Griffon engine and drop tanks.

That's the OTL Spitfire F MkXIV.

 

[La Rouge Beret]

Actually the guy who would have had a stroke was Marshall.

The odds are that Corsairs would, at least initially have come with USMC pilots, and Marshall was set on "Marines will get into the ETO over my dead body!" due to what he felt was the Corps grabbing all the glory and headlines in WW I.

He wouldn't even allow a single Corsair squadron, trained with the "Tiny Tim" 11.75" rocket into the theater to make a long range strike on Reich rocket launch facilities. Better to have the missiles hitting the UK than Marines in the "Army's" war.

I never knew that interservice rivalry was that strong during WW II.

 

[phx1138]

the possibility of opening up new production lines for P-38 production to ameliorate the constant shortages

An excellent idea.

Imagine a pressurized P-38 with heat in the cockpit.

Add the dive flaps, you've got the best fighter of the war, IMO. Add the scorpion tail, also the coolest.

 

[Just Leo]

Add the dive flaps, you've got the best fighter of the war, IMO. Add the scorpion tail, also the coolest.

The dive flaps came equipped from the factory in spring 1944. What's a scorpion tail?

 

[phx1138]

The dive flaps came equipped from the factory in spring 1944. What's a scorpion tail?

I'm thinking they get the flap kits early, with the C-54 (?) not shot down. And the scorpion tail was a failed effort to overcome the compressibility problems, eventually cured by the flaps.

 

[Just Leo]

I'm thinking they get the flap kits early, with the C-54 (?) not shot down. And the scorpion tail was a failed effort to overcome the compressibility problems, eventually cured by the flaps.

I'd rather they didn't. As an alternative, a fully re-vamped Eagle.