Thirty Extra Feet: The History of the Pacific War, 1938-1944

There's a little bit of a butterfly effect. The British are in a full-blown panic, albeit a constructive one for their rearmament process, because Japan threatens important holdings (Australia, HK, Singapore). The French are as IOTL, because I can't see any reason for the POD to fundamentally affect their foreign policy. Butterflies have done in the Munich Conference; things in Europe are indeed different.

In the Pacific, I believe there are several mentions of an undeclared naval war between the Commonwealth, in this case Britain and Australia, and Japan. Think OTL's North Atlantic, without quite as much of an attempt to get directly involved.

I hadnt thought of the paralle between this and the NA in 1941, but it does make excellent sense. Also might lead to a few interesting little actions :)
Sooner or later what happend in the NA will happen here - a RN warship will be sunk. At that point it will get really interesting, as the response of the Japanese government is likely to be different to that of Germany (the Japanese werent exactly big on apologising for their mistakes). And of course, what size of ship gets sunk makes a difference.

While it doesnt really affect France that much, I think they would have reinforced FIC somewhat, and probably sent a naval squadron to 'keep an eye' on things. Just enough to make the point to the Japanese.
 
army vs navy aircraft.

The Army vs Navy version of aircraft is never simple. The Navy aircraft, due to the fact that they take off and land from a carrier, have to be built different than land based aircraft. The shock from landing on a carrier is greater than that of just landing on land. It is easier to take a carrier based plane and convert it to land based than the other way around.

The other factor is the Navy decided in the early in the 1930's to go with all aircooled radial engines for their aircraft on carriers. This is because of the way the aircooled engines of the time functioned vs the liquid cooled engines. The liquid cooled engines had problems with rapid throttle response that would at times kill the engines. The air cooled radial engines did not, and with the amount and range of throttle setting that were needed at the time for carrier based aircraft in take off and landing this was a big reason to use them. The other factor was over water if the cooling system is hit you would not be able to return to the carrier. The radial engines were known to be able to take punishment and still keep on working.
 
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