Originally posted by eskimo2
Seriously, we think favorably of the P-40 even though it was no match for many of the Japanese planes it fought against. General Chennault was brilliant and trained his Flying Tigers to take every advantage they could. The Warhawk is considered a great airplane mostly due to the AVG’s smart tactics. Aviation buffs are willing to recognize that its weaknesses were mostly due to it being a pre-war early design.
The P-40 was a very capable fighter, with significant advantages over the enemy planes they faced, which Chennault correctly exploited. AVG to my knowledge rarely if ever faced the Japanese A6M2 "Zero" in combat, and it's most significant rival was the much less capable Ki-43. The P-40 was easy to service, tough, and fantasticly good at energy fighting compared to its rivals. The P-40 was the proper plane for the AVG to use in the harsh environment of the Far Eastern jungles. I do not dispute that the P-39 has better performance, but total cost including maintenance I am sure made the P-40 the plane of choice for the struggling Chinese. It was hardly a piece of crap plane, and in many ways superior to the Japanese planes it faced.
It can be argued that the flight models of this game are not completely accruate, but if they are even close to accurate, I would conclude that the P-40 would be my plane of choice against all versions of the A6M based on my experience. It has the ability to choose its fights, and leave a fight if it needs to. This is a very important advantage that the A6M does not enjoy. It dives better, and it holds on to its energy longer, allowing it to escape, and operate better in anything other than 1 vs. 1 engagements.
