Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!lethe!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Battle of Britain tactics vs the Japanese Message-ID: <1990Dec21.025511.10054@cbnews.att.com> Date: 21 Dec 90 02:55:11 GMT References: <1990Nov20.021615.27073@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov21.221654.20431@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov27.044525.3091@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec5.030403.6197@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec8.222406.28016@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec17.051624.29937@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: /usr/local/lib/news/organization Lines: 32 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Adrian Hurt In article <1990Dec17.051624.29937@cbnews.att.com> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) writes: > >Well, I went back and re-read the part where >the British send the Spitfire squadron to >Australia. It took place in March 1942, so >the Spitfires were probably Mk. Vs (or even >the earlier Mk. IIs). The Mk. IX and VIII >didn't enter service until mid-1943, I be- >lieve. The Mk. Vs probably didn't have too >much of a speed advantage over Zeros. The Spitfire Mk IX entered service in mid-1942; the Mk VIII entered service in 1943. The reason for this was the Focke-Wulf 190. The Fw 190 was first encountered in late 1941, and totally outclassed the Spitfire Mk V. Rolls- Royce designed a new version of the Merlin engine to give the Spitfire more power, and the Mk VIII was designed to use it. The RAF were desperate, though, and couldn't wait for the new version to come out. So the new engine was put into a slightly adapted Mk V airframe; the result was the Mk IX. As for speeds: the maximum speed of the A6M2 Zero of 1940 was 316 mph; the 1943 A6M3 could do 336 mph. By comparison, the Spitfire Mk II had a top speed of 354 mph, the Mk V had a top speed of 374 mph, and the Mk IX could do 415 mph. "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk