Best tank killer aircraft of WW2 Part I

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yet you seem to think the P-38 could do no wrong, you never speak of it's flaws...........

please don't turn this into a P-38 Vs. mossie thread, no-one want another one of them..............

 

[lesofprimus]

God please no......

 

[cheddar cheese]

I know the P-38 had flaws, but there wasnt an awful lot of them. And why would I talk about them whilst championing it? It wouldnt make sense. Its not like you make a song and dance about the Mossies flaws either...

And if anything lanc youre the one turning it into a P-38 v Mossie thread...You started it off.

Im just gonna ignore this thread for a while cos youre being immature.

 

[Lightning Guy]

I'm up for an education in the flaws of the Lancaster Lanc . . .

The Russians had some succes in the P-39 due to the roles they were using it in. At low altitudes, the P-39 wasn't that bad of an aircraft and it's firepower was very useful for ground attack missions. The lack of a turbo was a serious problem if it had to fight at altitude. Does anyone know if the Russians had any trouble maintaining the V-1710 engine in the P-39?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

you mean you don't know the lanc's flaws??

 

[Lightning Guy]

Just noting that I've never heard you say a cross word about the Lancaster.

 

[wmaxt]

yet you seem to think the P-38 could do no wrong, you never speak of it's flaws...........

please don't turn this into a P-38 Vs. mossie thread, no-one want another one of them..............

The P-38 had some flaws in the ETO some were severe however it's biggest flaw was in quantity more were needed every where. In the Pacific there was only one fighter group that was all P-38s start to finish the 475th ant P-38s are reported to have 5,737 kills in the PTO with another 2,500+ in the MTO (more than half the score of the P-51s with just more than half the sorties and close escort. remember there were 10,000 P-38s and just less than 16,000 mustangs) The P-38 always gave better than it took even when the odds, experiance and developement were against it. As for winning the war by itself a silly idea, but there are two documented missions where a single P-38 covereda bomber group against terrible odds, succeded not only to shoot down enemy attackers but preventing loss of any bombers to the enemy. What would have been the situation if there had been twice as many and then there is the P-38K that would have added 10%or more to it's performance envelope?

 

[Lightning Guy]

The P-38K would have been a fine aircraft, but I'm not sure it would have been any better than the definitive P-38L. The K would have been superior at high alititude but the L was probably the better all-around. The main thing the K would have offered is a powerful, high-altitude fighter available at an earlier date.

 

[wmaxt]

True. The climb was better and the increase in speed would have kept been in the P-51H speed class (though the P-38L still beat it in every other way).
The J and then the L were still in a class by themselves so it wasn't thought that a production stoppage was worth it.

I wonder what a L would have done with the up rated engines/props?

 

[plan_D]

Well, at very least, it would have flown...I hope.

 

[Lightning Guy]

The engines on the L delivered greater horsepower than the engines on the K. The Paddle props would have increased climb by 1,000fpm or so (not bad considering the P-38L would climb over 4,000fpm anyway) and they would also increase speed at altitude. They would have degraded the low-level performance however.

 

[plan_D]

So, it WOULD be able to fly. You know the easy way to get over the lack of low-level performance in -38Ks is not to use them for low-level attacks and use the left over -38Ls instead...genius.

 

[Lightning Guy]

I would agree with that. I was just noting that the L was very effective and any altitude making it, perhaps, more versatile. The K would have been a pure high-altitude fighter (like the Ta-152 or the HF mks of the Spit).

 

[plan_D]

True that does make the L more versatile. If the war had carried on the K would have been needed to take on the Ta-152 though. I'm not saying the L couldn't but the K would have been better in the job.

 

[Lightning Guy]

Agreed. The K was a pure, uncompromised high-altitude beast.

 

[Lightning Guy]

I did some checking and found a mistake on my earlier post. The F-15 engines on the K model Lighting were rated @ 1,875bhp in WEP. This would have been an increase of 150hp per engine over the F-30 engines in the L.

 

[Erich]

the K would have been totally phazed out and replaced either by the Ta 152 or the Me 262A. that was the plan for the /fall of 45-1946

 

[Lightning Guy]

We are discussing the proposed P-38K and not the Bf-109K, for clarification.

 

[plan_D]

Seeing as he mentioned the Me-262, how was the P-38 fairing against them? I imagine with that mean dive speed it had a pretty good chance of zooming down on those pilots that made a slight mistake...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i'd fancy the -262 to be honest................