Val is not a bad dogfighter either. Flown well it can hold its own.
I seem to recall this being done before, but I could be wrong. Just out of curiosity, this is not a whine about the setup in any way, what is the problem with the TBM? I know it is a later war model than what was really there, but still, it's no match at all for a zero.
The zero will not catch TBM's from the tail. One FSO we chased them about 2 sectors until some Wildcats dropped in to say hello.
Yes, could have been VF-17 you were chasing. We were able to dive in on our trgts at about 450 mph before things got dicey. A great, rugged plane, albeit slow as a snail by the time a torp was deployed, and slow to accelerate: then it became easy pickins for a Zeke.