Author Topic: Interesting stats on F6F and F4U (Read 383 times)

Samm · « **Reply #15 on:** June 16, 2002, 02:24:54 AM »

The zero enabled Japan to start the war, the b29 enabled us to end it . Two most important planes of the war .

Razzor · « **Reply #16 on:** June 16, 2002, 04:31:47 AM »

"The F6F produced the most aces of any other American fighter-- but F6F squads also had some of the highest attrition rates."

It would be interesting to know what percentage of that attrition was due to combat, and what was due to operational accident. I'm sure that the majority of all USN carrier a/c losses were due to accidents and not combat, I just don't know the percentage.

Shuckins · « **Reply #17 on:** June 16, 2002, 04:42:49 PM »

F6F's kill to loss ratio was slightly better than 19 to 1. That figure was not within the reach of any other Allied fighter of the period or of any since. Combat losses amounted to around 300 aircraft for the entire period that the Hellcat was in operation. All carrier types suffered higher loss rates from takeoff and landing accidents than did land-based combat aircraft, which is perfectly understandable considering the hazards of combat operations from a "field" less than a thousand feet in length that bobs and weaves like a drunken prize-fighter.

Regards, Shuckins

CMC Airboss · « **Reply #18 on:** June 17, 2002, 03:46:12 PM »

F4UDOA,

Are you discounting the effectiveness of the discussed aircraft in their air-ground roles (bombing, rocket attacks, strafing, etc.)? Air combat victory claims only tell a portion of the airplane's real importance.

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Originally posted by Shuckins
F6F's kill to loss ratio was slightly better than 19 to 1.

Kill to loss ratios can be deceiving. Many claims on both sides exceeded the actual losses incurred; by a good deal in some cases. In some battles and campaigns, the claims exceeded total number of enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground. (example, more than 700 US air combat victories were claimed in the Solomons and the Japanese had less than 500 aircraft, total, in the whole theater). They are probably a better indication of the relative quality of the opposition, which in the case of the Hellcat was a lot less in the Marianas Turkey Shoot than when F4F's and F4U's fought early-on over the Solomons.

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That figure was not within the reach of any other Allied fighter of the period or of any since. Regards, Shuckins

Are you just referring to WW2 aircraft? What about the F-16 and the F-15 with their 64:0 and 101:0, respectively, kill-to-loss ratios?

MiG

Shuckins · « **Reply #19 on:** June 17, 2002, 06:46:08 PM »

CMC Airboss,

The kill to loss figures I quoted above have been mentioned as a matter of course in almost every published combat history that I have read over the last 30 years. They are the official statistics credited to the Hellcat by the U.S. Navy. By comparison the F4U had a kill to loss record of 14 to 1.

David A. Anderton in his book Hellcat states that the Navy credited the F6F with a total of 5,155 Japanese aircraft. Against those 5,155 victories was balanced the loss of only 270 Hellcats in combat during the war. its record as an escort for the strike forces was exceptional; the Navy lost only 42 dive-bombers and torpedo bombers to enemy air action during the slightly less than two years that the Hellcat was in combat with the U.S. Navy. Most of these statistics can also be found in Barrett Tillman's Hellcat; the F6F in World War II.

Regards, Shuckins