![]() ![]() An argument could be made that as an escort to capital ships these are less necessary, though I can think of at least one situation in which they would be useful. There was a degree of reason behind the madness of the catapults.ġ: The catapults allowed GZ to launch aircraft without turning into the windĢ: The catapults allowed GZ to launch aircraft in little to no windģ: The catapults allowed GZ to launch aircraft while not moving at allĤ: The catapults allowed GZ to simultaneously launch and recover aircraftĪs a commerce raider, these traits would come in very handy indeed. I wonder how fast a USN carrier could launch a strike using the cats to shoot TBers off first, then use a running rendezvous with the VF and VB flying off normally after the VT all launched. I dont think it took too long for the USN to catch up, and by the end of the war I think they were actually using the cats. I know early war the USN used the same technique, but was a lot slower. No reason with practice the Germans would not have been able to make similar numbers. IIRC the IJN could launch a plane every 30 seconds that way in 1941. ![]() They'd have been better served to just remove the catapult system then and launch them with wind over the deck. All of this was hamstrung by the inability of Japanese fuel industry to produce higher-grade fuel, which delayed all of the engines significantly. The real plane the IJAAS needed was the Ki-94 and similar planes using the larger engines, or attempts to re-engine the Ki-84 with the later Ha-45 derivatives. Had it arrived around the time the Ki-61 it might have been useful for filling out numbers, but in '45 it was totally outmatched. ![]() It's enough to say the F8F is a better plane, but it's not a miracle and the gap would have been bridgable if Japanese aircraft development hadn't started to fall apart in '44.Īlso the Ki-100 is an extremely mediocre plane and deserves little consideration here. This is not enough to be a decisive advantage. The F8F-1 is slightly faster than the Ki-84 until high altitude, and has marginally better turn performance, and better climb rate. Not to a degree that it would really significantly outmatch it. Maybe the Ki-100 would be getting close, but that's only if they ever got the engine to actually work as advertised. ![]() Early Corsairs and Hellcats most certainly, but the F8F has literally every edge of the Ki-84. ![]()
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