What would be the ideal fighter unit to defend Pearl Harbour

I agree, just having the 100+ P36/40 airborne and ready for the fight would make a tremendous difference. Home field advantage and 60-80% of those shot down live to fight another day.

In response to the OP, at that time the one of the best fighter groups in the world was RAF 303 Polish Squadron, veteran pilots with real combat experience flying the new Spitfire Mk Vb superior speed, rate of turn and fire power. The B Wing clipped for better rate or turn had two 20 mm cannon and 4 x 303 machine guns. The Poles were known for an extremely agressive combat style, flying swarm not vic and getting very close before firing, idea for the situation.
 
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If you must have P40s

May I suggest nominating a unit with actual combat experience on the type?
126 IAP had been using P40 for a few months and was actually quite succeful in very trying circumstances. Alternatively 154 IAP was the second soviet unit to convert to the P40C and gained a solid reputation. Both units would probably do better than green USAAF units.

But all airforces that flew the P40 and other types prefered the other types for air combat. The VVS prefered Yak 9, the RAF Spitfires, the USAAF P51, P47, etc.

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/romanenko/p-40/index.htm
 
I just thought I'd mention again that all Allison engines used in all airplanes except the P-37 were equipped with an integral supercharger. Even when the aircraft used a turbo-charger, the engine still had the supercharger. Airships didn't but airplanes did. Really.

Nobody mentioned the 11 Marine Wildcats at Ewa, so here's a mention. They were damaged by bombs.
 
The XP-42, an experimental model of the P-36, started out developing an enclosed ducted engine that failed just like the others, and ended up with a properly designed cowling/spinner combination that resulted in a maximum speed of 340 mph, way too late.

But P36C or P40B?
 
I just thought I'd mention again that all Allison engines used in all airplanes except the P-37 were equipped with an integral supercharger. Even when the aircraft used a turbo-charger, the engine still had the supercharger. Airships didn't but airplanes did. Really.

Nobody mentioned the 11 Marine Wildcats at Ewa, so here's a mention. They were damaged by bombs.

Those wildcats were mentioned several times in the XMas wish thread.
 
But what? The P-36C carried an extra pair of guns with protruding ammunition cans to negate any performance gains, and there weren't enough produced to matter.

i just want to know wether you think the P36, with the 1200HP engine, had potencial to be better than the early model P40.
 
HMS Warspite said:
I believe the P-38 as a design had some teething problems, only made up complete in 1943, when the divebrake was added to the plane, which was otherwise a straight running fast gunship, with a terrible turning rate. Looks mostly like the Russian Mig-25, which is not a dogfighter either. Early versions of the P-38 simply cannot be considered capable of dogfighting, as even a B-17 has a better turn.

More than a few problems.:eek: Thing was, P-38 was designed as a fast & fast-climbing interceptor, so ideal to defend against a surprise attack.:cool: And the ideal tactic against A6Ms, as Chennault proved, was ideal for P-38s: boom & zoom. (Actually, it was the favored technique of Boelcke, too.:rolleyes:)

That said, I like VMF-214 for it: Boyington's AVG experience plus F4Us.:cool::cool:
 
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I agree, just having the 100+ P36/40 airborne and ready for the fight would make a tremendous difference. Home field advantage and 60-80% of those shot down live to fight another day day.

In response to the OP, at that time the one of the best fighter groups in the world was RAF 303 Polish Squadron, veteran pilots with real combat experience flying Spitfire Mk Vb vastly superiour speed and rate of turn and fire power. The B Wing clipped for better rate or turn had two 20 mm cannon and 4 x 303 machine guns. The Poles were known for an extremely agressive combat style, flying swarm not vic and getting very close before firing, idea for the situation.

Excelent but small unit. No1 Polish Wing might be a big enough unit. I agree with you that RAF Polish units were arguably the best allied fighters units at that time.
 
More than a few problems.:eek: Thing was, P-38 was designed as a fast & fast-climbing interceptor, so ideal to defend against a surprise attack.:cool: And the ideal tactic against A6Ms, as Chennault proved, was ideal for P-38s: boom & zoom. (Actually, it was the favored technique of Boelcke, too.:rolleyes:)

That said, I like VMF-214 for it: Boyington's AVG experience plus F4Us.:cool::cool:

Not in service a the time. If we allow corsairs we'll end up with the Galactica Vipers...
 
i just want to know wether you think the P36, with the 1200HP engine, had potencial to be better than the early model P40.

The P-36 had the potential, with the 1200hp engine, to be comparable or better than the P-40B, at just about the time when the P-40E established superiority over the new P-36. The Allison had a longer development curve. Pratt&Whitney responded with the R-2800, but that's a whole new development ballgame. It was quite a response. As for what could have been done with a 1050 Pratt engine in a nice cowling, look up the FFVS J-22. I'm not sure it wasn't more powerful, but that's what they had the license to build.
 

NothingNow

Banned
I wonder what a few fixed (w/self-sealing tanks and armor) P-43s could've done as an accompaniment to the P-36s/P-40s, as on paper they were already better performers than the contemporary zero, well armed for the role, and excellent at altitude.

Hell, if needed you could give it an uprated and supercharged version of the R-1830 to improve it's general performance and compensate for the added weight,
 
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