Eastern & Western Theatre Allied Aircraft

[black mamba]

Why is it that one successful design was not used in both theatres? for eg, the f-4u and f5 were only used in the eastern one while the p-47, p-38 and p-51 were only used in the western theatre. any particular reasons?

[cone256]

Why is it that one successful design was not used in both theatres? for eg, the f-4u and f5 were only used in the eastern one while the p-47, p-38 and p-51 were only used in the western theatre. any particular reasons?

P-38's and P-51's were most certainly used in the Pacific. The P-51's flew out of Iwo Jima once it was taken. And I know that a bunch of P-38 pilots were aces in the Pacific, including McGuire, which McGuire AFB in Wrightstown NJ is named after.

The F4U was a Navy/Marine Corps aircraft which is why it was almost exclusively in the Pacific. The F5, is that the Hellcat? If so the same thing applies.

[Ordie]

P-51 were used in China with the 14th Air Force.
Corsairs were used by the Royal Navy's FAA in the European Theater.
The P-39 Aircobras were used by the Soviets and was very successful in front line low level combat.

[black mamba]

so is there a reason that the f4s and f5s got more publicity over the p38s and p51s?

[taiaha]

The F4 served in both Eastern and Western Theaters:
First combat for the F4F was not with the U.S. Navy but with Britain's Royal Navy, and its first victim was German. The British had shown great interest in the Wildcat as a replacement for the Gloster Sea Gladiator, and the first were delivered in late 1940. On Christmas Day 1940, one of them intercepted and shot down a Junkers Ju-88 bomber over the big Scapa Flow naval base. The Martlet, as the British also called it, saw further action when 30 originally bound for Greece were diverted to the Royal Navy following the collapse of Greece and were used in a ground attack role in the North African Desert throughout 1941.


http://www.military-aircraft.org.uk/ww2-fighter-planes/grumman-f4f-wildcat.htm

Quiet a number of aces in the Pacific flew P-38s:

http://www.web-birds.com/5th/475/475th.htm

[vryhpyammoadded]

I’d say the reason for such a variety of aircraft models was mostly due to the large number of aircraft manufactures with good designs and the ****ounced delay that would most certainly have occurred should they be forced to retool for producing another company’s aircraft. I’m sure a couple of politically savvy manufactures loved the idea of forcing their model into production on someone else’s lines and lobbied for it too.

Most all models served on near every front. It’s just not very publicized. As for all the fame going to a few types, I’d say it was more a combinations of chaotic effect akin to just plain dumb luck with the occasional brilliance of men putting the right resource in the right place at the right time. To me, the type of aircraft doesn’t really matter much seeing all types had there success stories as well as failures which to me implies it was more the men flying that determined the level fame or infamy.

[orionhawk]

It was also P-38J's that shot down Admiral Yamamoto's plane, IIRC.

F-4's and F-5's were carrier aircraft=> more heavily involved in Pacific theatre.

[Kilgor]

It depended on the theatres of use. The European air war, pacific and Soviet eastern front could not have been more different in requirements.

Aircraft like the P51 & P47 excelled at high speed high altitude dogfights while aircraft like the P39 were ideal for the low altitude soviet conditions. The P38 was good for the pacific with twin engine reliability and suited for low altitude combat.

[Old AO]

p-) The P-38 was used in Europe but was found to be a poor choice in the winter months. The air craft was a big hit in the Pacific where the weather was not a factor. The Island of Guadalcanal (Henderson field) was the main Base for them. Also for P-400's P-39's P-40's & just about any Navel aircraft you can name. Guam ,Tinian, Saipan & several other islands were the sites of Big AAF & Navy Airfield's. Just about every type of American aircraft you can name was used in the Pacific. In Europe I can think only two that were not used. F4U & B-29. I can be corrected on this .

[nemowork]

difference in conditions.

For example if you have a single engine fighter

The pacific war was over long stretches of ocean so the long range reliability of radial engines was preferred by the navy. Radials have a reputation for having major bits shot off and still getting you home.

Over Europe and India theres lots of nice dry land you can parachute onto and friendly natives who will send you home so you can risk the more high performance but less reliable inline engines.

Range and the amount of fuel a plane can carry depends on the same factors.

Or then again, it can depend simply on whats available at the time of need.

As for the F4, the Royal Navy and the fleet air arm got them even before the US military did, i think they had some hand in the development so they got theirs in 43 and used them around Norway.

I have a vague memory that he RAF assessed the B29 and didnt think it very serviceable although they used a few after the war!

[Old AO]

difference in conditions.

For example if you have a single engine fighter

The pacific war was over long stretches of ocean so the long range reliability of radial engines was preferred by the navy. Radials have a reputation for having major bits shot off and still getting you home.

Over Europe and India theres lots of nice dry land you can parachute onto and friendly natives who will send you home so you can risk the more high performance but less reliable inline engines.

Range and the amount of fuel a plane can carry depends on the same factors.

Or then again, it can depend simply on whats available at the time of need.

As for the F4, the Royal Navy and the fleet air arm got them even before the US military did, i think they had some hand in the development so they got theirs in 43 and used them around Norway.

I have a vague memory that he RAF assessed the B29 and didnt think it very serviceable although they used a few after the war!
It is my understanding that the U.S. Navy was the first country to use the Corsair. The navy cracked up several of them trying to land them on carriers. The aircraft was used mainly by Marines as a land based fighter. The Brits were the first ones to figure out that a wide left turn on approach from the port side was the best way to land. I was wrong about the F4U not being used in Europe. The U.S. Navy used very few of them there but used them extensively in the pacific. The F/P-51 was the main long range fighter escort in the pacific. The aircraft was used on missions from china, Tininan, Iwo Jima & Saipan

[nemowork]

been doing a bit of reading and it looks like we're both right! The US Marines fielded them first but only for land based use, the UK Fleet Air Arm was the first to operate them from carriers!

http://www.vectorsite.net/avf4u.html#m5


Production was going ahead anyway, with Vought building 178 Corsairs by the end of 1942. The company was working with the Marine Corps, which saw the potential of the type and by nature was less intimidated than the Navy by the aircraft's unpleasant features, to work out the bugs in parallel with production. Although the Navy would come to accept the F4U, the Corsair would always be more of a Marine than a Navy fighter. The type was declared "ready for combat" at the end of 1942, though it was originally only qualified to operate from land bases until carrier qualification issues were worked out.
A dozen F4U-1s arrived at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands on 12 February 1943. The US Navy didn't get into combat with the type until September 1943, and in fact the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) would qualify the type for carrier operations first.

* The British Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) warmed to the Corsair much faster than the US Navy. In November 1943, the FAA received under Lend-Lease the first of 95 Vought F4U-1s, which were given the designation of "Corsair I". The first squadrons were assembled and trained in the US, either at Brunswick, Maine, or Quonset, Rhode Island, and then shipped across the Atlantic. The Royal Navy put the Corsair into carrier operations immediately, well ahead of the US Navy, but wasn't like the British worked miracles with the F4U: they found its landing characteristics just as beastly, suffering a number of fatal crashes, but bit the bullet and did it anyway.
This initial British batch was followed by 510 Vought F4U-1As under the designation of "Corsair II"; 430 Brewster F3A-1Ds under the designation of "Corsair III"; and finally 977 Goodyear FG-1Ds under the designation of "Corsair IV". It is unclear if the stateside squadron training scheme was retained for all British Corsair squadrons.

FAA Corsairs performed their first combat action on 3 April 1944, with Number 1834 Squadron flying from the HMS VICTORIOUS to help provide cover for a strike on the German super-battleship TIRPITZ in a Norwegian fjord. This was apparently the first combat operation of the Corsair off of an aircraft carrier. Further attacks on the TIRPITZ were performed in July and August 1944, with Corsairs from the HMS FORMIDABLE participating. The Corsairs did not encounter aerial opposition on these raids, and in fact the F4U would never have it out with German Luftwaffe aircraft. A confrontation between a Corsair and the tough German Focke-Wulf FW-190 would have made for an interesting fight.
After the Norwegian operations, British Corsairs switched operations to the Indian Ocean to fight the Japanese, with the first operational sorties on 19 April 1945. Royal Navy carriers would be participants in the final battle for the Japanese home islands. On 9 August 1945, days before the end of the war, Corsairs from HMS FORMIDABLE were attacking Shiogama harbor on the northeast coast of Japan. A Canadian pilot, Lieutenant Robert H. Gray, was hit by flak but pressed home his attack on a Japanese destroyer, sinking it with a 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) bomb but crashing into the sea. He was posthumously awarded the last Victoria Cross of World War II.

[Billy No Mates]

been doing a bit of reading and it looks like we're both right! The US Marines fielded them first but only for land based use, the UK Fleet Air Arm was the first to operate them from carriers!

http://www.vectorsite.net/avf4u.html#m5

The FAA Corsairs had clipped wings as well in order to fit aboard the smaller British carriers,i doubt it did much for handling characteristics i guess it was a case of 'needs must' and the Corsair probably didnt suffer in comparison with its predeccesors in quite the same way it did with USN pilots .

[Old AO]

p-) I wasn't aware of the Clipped wings. I knew that our Nasal Radiators couldn't land the bent wing bird on a carrier because of the wing configuration. The RNAF was able to come up with a flight plan that worked. I was however aware that the Zero,s of the IJN had the wing tips clipped for carrier bourne operations.