Originally posted by stantond
Widewing,
It may be worth your while (or not) to contact the persons at:
http://www.history.navy.mil/index.html
and explain to them how the F6F's speed is too low, they have slighted the F8F's greatness, and the F4U was not a fighter aircraft in Korea! Here is another link for historical aircraft:
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org4-8.htm
If you believe the information on the Naval history website is wrong or lacking, maybe you should try and have it changed? U.S. government tax dollars are at work there and if their information is wrong, it should be changed. I'll leave that up to your discretion.
Regards,
Malta
p.s. in AH the Bearcat would be worth the F4U-4's perk points with it's 4-20mm cannons and climb rate advantage. I have not found the F4U-4 to be a great climbing aircraft in AH (compared to Spitfires, 109's, the La7 and Tempest).
You're killing me Stantond... You have a marginal understanding of aviation history and yet you attempt to lecture...
I have already posted a link to a test report done by the Technical Air Intelligence Command, that pooh-poohs the Standard Aircraft Characteristics sheet, which were and still are, useless documents for historians. There are several tests of the F6F-5 that used independent airspeed measuring equipment that clearly show what the F6F was capable of. Then we have Grumman's own data, which mimics that of TAIC.
I'm at a loss to understand what you are talking about in regard to the F4U in Korea. F4Us, teamed with the ADs, were the Navy's primary attack aircraft in Korea. After the MiG-15 showed up, the F4Us and ADs were often escorted by F9Fs.
As to the F4U-4 in Aces High... About 9 months ago I tested every fighter in the game to determine speeds at various altitudes, acceleration and climb rates. At the time, the F4U-4 ranked 5th in climb rate from sea level to 10,000 feet. Only the 109G-10, 109G-6, 109G-2 and Spit14 climbed faster. The G-2 got there just 0.84 seconds faster, a statistical dead heat. The F4U-4 got to 10k 5 seconds faster than the 190D-9, 6.5 seconds faster than the Tempest, and 7.7 seconds faster than the La-7. I appreciate your opinion, but I prefer data and the data says different.
The current best climbers, in order of least time required to 10k, are:
Spitfire Mk.XVI 1:38.38
Bf 109K-4 1:43.19
Spitfire Mk.XIV 1:44.69
Spitfire Mk.VIII 1:44.72
Bf 109G-14 1:45.72
Bf 109G-6 1:53.79
Bf 109G-2 1:54.62
F4U-4 1:55.46
By the way, the F8F-1, the model in service when the war ended, was armed with four .50 caliber Brownings. Cannons were fitted to the F8F-1B (126 delivered between 2/46 and 2/48) and the F8F-2 (293 delivered between 11/47 and 4/49). France used F8Fs in combat thru 1954. F8Fs began being replaced by the F2H Banshee in late 1949, and with the F9F Panther in early 1950.
My regards,
Widewing