re: #341 Dr Lizardo

Actually, it did happen.

en.wikipedia.org

I remember reading about that when I was a kid - my dad, old US Navy man that he was, said that Welch and Taylor were “the luckiest sonsabitches” he’d ever heard of.

People discount the P-40. Yet Suburu Sakai said in his autobiography that a well handled P-40 was the most dangerous aircraft the Americans had in 42-43. It was a solid aircraft that was far more maneuverable than people realize due to it being not quite as good as the later P-51. The earlier P-36 that the P-40 was based on stomped on German Me-109’s in French hands and the P-40 was an improvement.

The engine was officially redlined at 52” of manifold pressure at 3000 rpm for 1 minute max but pilots in the south pacific would use as much as 75”@3400 for 10 ~ 15 minutes at a time boosting the engine to 1700 horsepower. Allison engineers were appalled but did later revise their manuals to allow a regular use of 65”@3000 - the beginning of Emergency War Power.

Much like the F4F Wildcat the P-40 was a far better aircraft than people realize - and they fail to mostly because the F6F & the P-51 were so good.