Ok, I think its time we stopped with this pervasive myth (that I am seeing regularily now on the AH BBS ) that a/c in the Pacific did not fly at high alt because they lacked oxygen, and the added myth that I-16s "lacked oxygen.".
The I-16 had an oxygen sytem after the I-16 Type 4 from the mid 1930s. You could not fly above 15,000 feet without one. It would have been beyond useless as a fighter in the 1940s with no O2 system. The Chinese Air Force flew I-16 Type 10s. The I-16s in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) were type 5s and 6s.
I can quote any # of books on the air fighting in the Pacific that puts fighters at 20,000 feet and above ***Japanese included***. Fighter planes flew at high alts to do exactly what they do in FSO: to gain an alt advantage on the bombers (and fighters) so they are in a position of advantage. Its a tactic that was used in 1917 (it was not invented in 1944, albeit the WW1 a/c flew much lower). Does this mean that every air battle took place at 30,000 feet? no, like any campaign, they differed depending on the circumstance, but high alt engagements were not rare, or impossible.
Sometimes SEA setups, for balance or design purposes only, have alt limits, thats not to say they are in place because the a/c involved literally could not go that high, which is perhaps giving "legs" to this notion.
Please stop, or I am going to call "Mythbusters".
