Originally posted by REVGST
So widewing, do you feel that the flight model of the P-40 in the game is accurate? Just wanted some feedback form others to see how they felt about the 40. What do you believe the bast tactic is for fighting with a 40? I usually come in high, attack, and zoom back up as far as possible. Once I am almost back on the deck, I hit the WEP and run. Does anyone have better tactis? Thanks for all your help.
I find the P-40E to be reasonably well modeled. However, the AVG Tomahawk, incorrectly identified by HTC as a P-40B is seriously undermodeled in terms of power. AVG Tomahawks were fitted with hand built, blueprinted engines making about 200 more horsepower than the the P-40B. AVG Tomahawks were faster than the P-40Es they received in the Spring of 1942. This was confirmed by several AVG pilots who stated that the Tomahawk would simply walk away from the P-40E when both firewalled the throttles. Less weight, equal power...
However, the AVG guys preferred the serious improvement in firepower as well as the abiliy of the P-40E to carry a drop tank or up to a 500 lb bomb. The Tomahawks were not equipped to do either.
Erik's favorite fighter was a rather rare little monster built by Curtiss-Wright at their St. Louis plant. This was the CW-21 Demon. Developed from the CW-19 trainer, the Demon weighed in at 3,050 lbs empty, and was powered by a 1,000 hp R-1820 radial engine. Climb at full military load exceeded 4,800 ft/min. When about 50% of the fuel was burned down, climb rate edged up near 5,000 ft/min. It wasn't especially fast at just 305 mph. However, it accelerated faster than any fighter of its genre. In early 1939 it was a genuine terror. By 1940, it was redesigned with a cleaner, inward folding landing gear and the armament was increased from two machine guns to four. Erik, who flew a captured Ki-43, found the CW-21 to be "considerably more aerobatic, utterly untouchable in vertical combat." He was convinced that this little fighter could beat the Hayabusa and Zero at their own game. Few Air Forces purchased the CW-21, the Dutch being the biggest customer. Most CW-21s were destroyed on the ground, and several were captured. Extensively tested by the Japanese, they found it to be everything Japanese pilots valued in a fighter, and concluded that it was an outstanding aircraft. However, it was purely an interceptor. The Dutch completely misused the fighters. Most of the time, they were just getting airborne when Japanese fighters hit them. The few that survived gave a very good account of themselves. One Japanese pilot recalled how horrified he was to watch the little Demons pull into vertical climbs and just keep on going up like rockets. However, 30 or so CW-21s could do little hold off the hundreds of Japanese aircraft set against them.
The AVG took delivery of 3 CW-21s from those allocated for the Dutch. Unarmed and lacking radios all were lost in crash landings prior to making it to China. Contaminated fuel was the cause, with each aircraft suffering power loss while transiting very rough country. All were forced down in bad weather and were damaged beyond economical repair, with one pilot being killed.
My regards,
Widewing
