Corsair vs Lightning

lesofprimus · 10-16-2005, 09:36 AM

I feel that with all available data, the F4U was a tougher aircraft to knock outta the sky....

d_bader · 10-16-2005, 10:27 AM

When you sat which is better are we looking at fighter aspects or ground attack aspects?

FLYBOYJ · 10-16-2005, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lesofprimus

Hey Joe, WTF is ur avatar??? I cant make it out.

It's a P-3 with a face on it - I'm going to change it here soon

syscom3 · 10-16-2005, 11:28 AM

One advantage of the Corsair is it would be easier to mass produce and to train pilots.

Having a single air colled engine is also easier on the mechanics than two liquid cooled egnines.

FLYBOYJ · 10-16-2005, 11:30 AM

I think if you have a Bong or McGuire type pilot who would dump flaps and jockey the engine powersettings , you might turn inside of a Corsair, but that's based on pilot skills and those guys are far and few.

I've spoken about my former neighbor, Mike Alba, a WW2 P-38 and P-51 pilot. After WW2 he worked with the "Military Assistance Program" (MAP) where he would help countries set up combat training schools. Considering Mike was bi-lingual, he spent much of his time in Central and South America. He helpd Honduras set up their first combat training school right after the war. Later he went back when they got their Corsairs. They flew both aircraft and Mike spect considerable time there assiting them in combat training. I remember him saying that the Corsair was far superior than the -38 in his opinion. He also told me of one of his star students named "Soto." This guy shot down 3 plane during the 1969 "Soccer War" with Guatemala.

wmaxt · 10-16-2005, 02:43 PM

I think syscom hit it pretty well. The two planes had approx the same wing area which would give the advantage to the Corsair though the top third P-38 pilots could do seemingly majical things to.

Here is a F4U-4 comparison to a P-51 but watch for thr "except for the P-38" statements. http://home.att.net/~historyzone/F4U-4.html if you pencil in the P-38 data I think you will see its pretty much a toss up though a K model would still up the anty. The L model was in operation by July '44, if desired the K could have hit the front lines by June '44 a year before.

Notes P-38-5-LO in WEP:
climb is Identicle 5min to 20K
Speed 442/443
Low speed with very good stall no flip tendencies
Roll rate comparable (to 51 and 47D) very high at high speed but don't know the Corsairs roll rate to compare

wmaxt

P38 Pilot · 10-21-2005, 07:29 PM

Hmm. Nice comparison. But im still sticking with a good old P-38-L.

syscom3 · 10-21-2005, 08:21 PM

In the WW2 years, how did the nightfighter Corsairs fitted with those radar domes on the wings do?

Did performance suffer? Did they actually intercept and shootdown intruders?

wmaxt · 10-22-2005, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syscom3

In the WW2 years, how did the nightfighter Corsairs fitted with those radar domes on the wings do?

Did performance suffer? Did they actually intercept and shootdown intruders?

Yes they did intercept and shoot down intruders and the degradation of performance was negligable. I don't know how successful overall they were because the F6F was the primary Naval noghtfighter.

The Navy didn't really accept the Corsair until March '45 or so - The Brits showed them how to do it. The Marines got hand-me-downs including radar sets.

wmaxt

ollieholmes · 10-23-2005, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheddar cheese

The Model 822 was the carrier version of the P-38 but didnt materialize because the USN thought it too big...

ineresting concept that. where did they put the arrestor hook? have you any pictures or anything of this scheme.

FLYBOYJ · 10-24-2005, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ollieholmes

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheddar cheese

The Model 822 was the carrier version of the P-38 but didnt materialize because the USN thought it too big...

ineresting concept that. where did they put the arrestor hook? have you any pictures or anything of this scheme.

You mean arresting hooks! Think about it?!?

ollieholmes · 10-24-2005, 02:07 AM

i cant see anywhere to put them. its got trycicle undercarrige. if anyone has any pictures of this arangement i would be very interested to see them.

cheddar cheese · 10-24-2005, 07:33 AM

They never made a prototype but there some information here. http://www.vectorsite.net/avp38.html#m5 Im sure there are some basic diagrams somewhere out there, if anyone will know its wmaxt.

ollieholmes · 10-24-2005, 10:58 AM

i cant see any mention there of fitting an aresstor hook to it. but the idea of making one the size of the black widow is interesting.

cheddar cheese · 10-24-2005, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Lockheed proposed a carrier-based "Model 822" version of the Lightning for the US Navy. The Model 822 would have featured folding wings, an arresting hook, and stronger undercarriage for carrier operations. The Navy wasn't interested, since the brass regarded the Lightning as too big for carrier operations and didn't like liquid-cooled engines anyway, and the Model 822 never went beyond the paper stage. However, the Navy did operate four land-based F-5Bs in North Africa, with these aircraft inherited from the USAAF and redesignated "FO-1".

Right there.