P 38 wish

[Karnak]

My comment is geared to the reality that the F7F could have been in service in the ETO replacing the P-38/P-47 before the P-51D ever arrived...

Ok, then lets limit it to the Fury.  The Fury could have been at the same time as the Tempest and had markedly higher performance and reliability.  The Fury was the basis of the Sea Fury, which as I recall was the last front line piston fighter in British service.

[humble]

The 1st fury prototype flew in 9/44. Leaving that aside nothing I've read anywhere indicates it would have the remotest chance vs an F7F or its versatility. It's got shorter legs, lower max altitude and based on what I can find much worse overall handling. I'd love to see a comparison of hornet and fury given that the hornet is a much more equivalent design.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

It's really hard to use nothing but test pilot's subjective opinions to declare a plane to be completely superior to every other plane.

No doubt the F7F had the potential to be a great plane. But unrealized potential is just that, and there's no way to see if it could have been realized, or how much there was.