Originally posted by F4UDOA:
Dwarf,
Two quick things.
1. How does the P-38 compare well with F7F? The F7F is nearly 60MPH faster at sea level where there is no danger of compressabilty. I'm not sure if I understand what you are comapring?
2. I know the P-38 has a reputation for long range but when the Navy's range calculator is applied it is not nearly as impressive. 450 miles in combat range with no DT's. I know during the course of the war many changes were developed to run lean to get longer range. However this calculator gives a baseline for range for all A/C with out leaning out the mixture. I would just expect more based on reputation.
Also in regard to the Yamamoto mission. I wouldn't put to much stock in "It was the only A/C for the Job". More decisions where based on interservice rivalies and politics than on what was the best for the Job.
A couple of points, if I may?
Grumman's F7F was a "hot ship". Very fast, tremendous climb rate and a punch only matched by the P-61. However, it was also a much more demanding aircraft to fly than the P-38. Corky Meyer has described the Tigercat's power-on stall characteristics as, "adventuresome". Likewise, minimum single engine control speed was notably higher. Another point made by Corky was the loss of rudder control a low speeds, whereas the P-38 had, essentially, blown rudders. For the F7F, this became even more critical should one engine need to be shut down. Not so for the P-38. This is exemplified by the large increase in rudder area on the F7F-3. Outward visibility was better for the Lightning as well. One must remember that the F7F had been in development for a very long time, dating back to the XF5F. One of the generally overlooked aircraft of the immediate pre-war period was the Grumman XP-50. If Grumman's performance numbers are to believed, this beauty was capable of 424 mph, and offered a climb rate in excess of 4,000 fpm. Bob Hall was forced to bail out of the prototype after a Turbocharger exploded, doing such damage as to make the aircraft unsafe to land. After the loss of the only existing example, the USAAC pursued another Grumman twin, the XP-65. This, however, was never built. Eventually, the Navy was to benefit from all the data gathered from the XF5F-1, XP-50 and XP-65, incorporating it into the G-51, or XF7F-1. Indeed, the XP-65 was nothing more than a USAAF spec version of the XF7F-1. Like the XF6F-1, both the XP-65 and XF7F-1 were initially intended to use the Wright R-2600 engine. Shortly after the USAAF cancelled their version, Grumman switched to the R-2800.
One test pilot described the Tigercat's performance as being "like a pair of Bearcats bolted together at the wing root." Not faint praise.
As to the P-38 being the only fighter in the South Pacific that could have pulled off the Yamamoto intercept, what else was there? Nothing. Think of the challenge while remembering that this was an 800+ mile overwater flight, with the outbound leg being flown at wave-top height. Then, assuming that they arrived exactly on time (three or four minutes on either side would have resulted in missing Yamamoto's flight), they had to fight off escorts and any Japanese aircraft taking off, shoot down both G4Ms (Bettys) and then fly all the way back. These were not P-38J of L fighters with the extra 110 gallons of fuel in the leading edge tanks. These were old G models which used unbaffled external tanks. Assuming these P-38s took off with a full fuel load, excluding 60 gallons for warm-up and takeoff, the best range they could expect was 580 miles. Now, figure on using Military power for 30 minutes. This consumes as much as 167 gallons. In other words, they would have to fly 400+ miles each way on just 403 gallons. A check of the P-38 manual (for the P-38H) reveals that these pilots could expect to get 1.02 miles per gallon of fuel burned. This means that the best they could hope for was enough gas to fly 412 miles each way with 30 minutes of combat. That was really cutting it close.
Now, on paper, the F4F-3 appears to have a maximum range allowing them to fly out far enough. However, in practice, the Wildcat had an operational radius of no more than 300 miles, 500 with external tanks. Not good enough. Furthermore, the Wildcat lacked the speed to evade the escorts or to overtake the Bettys quickly, should they find themselves more than a few miles behind.
No, there was no other type in theater that could have performed the Yamamoto mission.
My regards,
Widewing
