German fighters ate the P-38 for breakfast. The early combat version (models F-H) were especially weak at anything over 25K. It also had dreadful internal fuel range. It wasn't until the new radiators were installed in the "J" model that the high latitude, high speed Lightning was born.P-38 carried a heavier load than the P-39, P-40, or P-47. It also was capable of range equal to the P-51.
P-38 was faster, faster-climbing, & more heavily armed than the P-39 "interceptor". IIRC, both the P-47 & P-51 were faster & faster-climbing, too.
P-38, P-47 & P-51 were used for LR escort.
P-38, P-47, & P-51 (or A-36...) were used for close air support or interdiction.
Tell me again there's no overlap...
I would hope for this ASAP. That suggests converting P-39 & P-40 production to P-38s. (IDK if that butterflies away the NA-73; I'd guess not, since IIRC NAA wasn't building fighters then. That might make building it in the U.S. problematic, however...)
My thinking is, the approach is akin to the one for the M1911 or M-1 Garand: licence production by all other airframe makers.
That is an issue I hadn't considered.However, in the event, DoW has quite a bit of clout... In effect, it'd be, "Build under licence or go out of business."
(The "outlier" might, just, get Brit contracts...)
True. I imagine much the same happening: standardizing on the V1710 or R2800.
Which raises another question: is there, as a result, pressure to convert (say) the P-38 to two R2800s?![]()
The P-39 was probably the best mid altitude, high latitude, fighter the U.S. produced. At 10-15K it would take every other aircraft in the world and roll them up and stick them in a pocket. Unfortunately the high latitude fights were at 25K+ and the aircraft was helpless at that altitude. It was also unable to make reasonable power in high heat environments, so the South Pacific was a lousy theater for it. The one place it made sense what the one place the U.S. never fought, the Eastern Front. The fighting there tended to be below 15K, often below 10K as the two sides competed for control of the battlefield, in that situation the Airacobra was in its glory.
The P-40 was another excellent mid altitude performer (which made it a reasonable aircraft in the Pacific and in North Africa) but it was meat on the table over 15K for any Luftwaffe single engine fighter. It could outturn just about anything at "high speed" (at the time 300 knots) but at lower speed it couldn't keep up with the lightweight IJA/IJA fighters.
The P-47 used the R-2800. It was not ready for wide-spread installation until mid 1940.
The P-51 is one of the great accidents of all time. It was a so-so ground attack aircraft (in A-36 guise) and decent mid altitude fighter (noticing a trend here?) until someone in the UK (actually at Rolls-Royce) decided to see what might happen with a better engine. That turned it into one of true great aircraft of all time. Problem here is that the aircraft isn't ready until 1943.
As I noted in the parent thread, you fight with what is in hand, not what will be in hand after a couple years of war and plenty of hard knocks along the way.
Different missions require different aircraft (the P-51 was LOUSY ground attack aircraft, despite its designed role thanks to the radiator hanging right dead center of the fuselage).