I was aware of the short range issues and I thought that might give an advantage to someone defending their own nation.
Would that mean that high performance piston engined aircraft would still be used as escorts or would it be necessary to have mid-air refueled jets to do the job? How much better were the early jets versus the late war piston aircraft?
I was thinking that the Navy might still be using piston aircraft of aircraft carriers if the Japanese were somewhat behind in development. But they could also be using jets at the 'base' for them is able to get much closer to the target, putting the target inside the operating range of the jets.
Would we see a turboprop during the war?
Would that mean that high performance piston engined aircraft would still be used as escorts or would it be necessary to have mid-air refueled jets to do the job? How much better were the early jets versus the late war piston aircraft?
I was thinking that the Navy might still be using piston aircraft of aircraft carriers if the Japanese were somewhat behind in development. But they could also be using jets at the 'base' for them is able to get much closer to the target, putting the target inside the operating range of the jets.
Would we see a turboprop during the war?