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From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Fighters & gas (was Air-to-air refueling)
Message-ID: <1990Dec6.022442.19741@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 6 Dec 90 02:24:42 GMT
References: <1990Nov16.054115.23709@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov27.044525.3091@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec5.030253.6044@cbnews.att.com>
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From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib)
*>> Well, actually, earlier in the war, the P-47s
*>> and P-38s didn't have the range to escort bom-
*>> bers all the way into Germany. The later model 

*>Perhaps the dividing line between early/late would be the
*>appearance of droptanks on fighters.  (Though from the
*>point of view of European participants in WW2, it was all
*>pretty late...)

Well, I was under the impression that even the 
"early" Jugs had drop tanks. Drop tanks weren't
all that new, the Japanese used them from the 
beginning on Zeroes. Wonder why the British didn't
put them on Spitfires - the biggest flaw of which
was their short range.


*>> On a side (very unrelated, actually) note..

*>> The British decided, at one time, to teach the 
*>> Zero pilots a lesson by sending over, from Eu-
*>> rope, a crack Spitfire squadron to Northern 
*>> Australia. The Spitfire pilots decided to use
*>> turning tactics against the Zeroes and ended 
*>> up losing 17 pilots out of 27 in two raids. 

*>This may have been during the defense of Singapore.

This was definitely post Singapore. The best fighters
the Singapore garrison got were Hurricanes, and they,
too, were used unwisely, mixing in close and getting 
shot down.

*>After being battered pretty badly, the RAF pulled
*>everyone out who could move and relocated (mostly)
*>to Australia.

*>If you think the Spits got it bad, consider the poor
*>Aussies who were flying Brewster Buffalos at the same
*>time in Malaya.  They lost 154 out of 154 within three
*>months.

A pretty good account of this is given in the same 
book by Martin Caidin in which the above episode is
mentioned. Believe it or not, some Zeroes did fall 
victim to a few of the better Buffalo pilots.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib                        | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS               !


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