Pendant la préparation de cet article cherchant à me documenter j'avais relevé le témoignage suivant que je n'ai finalement pas utilisé parce qu'indirect et que je le jugeait ...dans une certaine mesure trop favorable au P-47 N. Alors pour me faire pardonner par warbird dont j'apprecie la pertinence je vous le livre. Sa conclusion pourrait en être que tout est dans tout et vice versa ou encore que tous les goûts sont dans la nature .
"Dad flew the P-47N during WW2. The war ended before he took it into combat, but he flew many, many mock dogfights with USN and USMC pilots during his unit's train-up.
His unit would fly training missions from Dover Delaware down the East coast of the US. The missions would last for many hours. Dad said the N had "gas everywhere". On takeoff the guys would burn almost all the fuel in a belly "slipper" tank, and jettison it in a designated spot in the Atlantic. They would still have the wing and fuselage tanks, as well as the huge drop tanks. They'd go on these looong flights down the coast, turn around and come back.
On the return leg they would pass near USMC and USN bases, and they would engage in mock dogfights with the F4-U and F6-F guys.
Dad had a lot of respect for the Corsair, if it was a -4. He said you could tell immdeiately because it did everything so much better than the earlier versions. Against the -4's Dad says above 15,000 feet the Jug ruled, below that Corsair had the edge. The higher you went the better the Jug did. Dad also makes no bones about it, the -4's could outturn them. He got into many Luffberry's with the Corsairs and never could "outpull" them. The Jug had nasty stall characteristics, but gave a LOT of warning as you got critical.
But, as Pop always said, the Luffberry's were for fun. I asked him once about getting into a turn fight in the P-47 and he cocked an eye at me and said "Why would you?" A very succinct answer that encompases the gist of aerial combat....maximise what you do best, avoid the other guy's envelope.
When he was serious he never turned enough to get into a lower energy state than his opponent. I asked him what he'd do if he was overrunning another plane and without hesitation he said "go vertical." He felt if he entered a fight with more speed he was unbeatable.
The -4's would employ a tactic against P-47D models that Pop's unit also had....they would let you get onto their tail, bank, and reef into a turn. As speed bled they would go vertical and outzoom the D model Jug. Very frustrating to Dad.
In the N model, the Jug not only outrolled the -4, but also out zoomed it. Dad said they would wave bye bye as they went past. The Corsair pilots would wave back with one finger. A good illustration of superior roll and zoom the N had over the D T-Bolt.
Dad said the N was a better plane than the D. More maneuverable (to my Dad that meant roll rate, acceleration, rudder authority, lightness on the controls more than Luffberry or sustained turn ability), faster at high altitudes, better zoom climb. He said the D sustained a climb MUCH better, but that didn't matter.
Pop looks at the Hellcat with disdain. He felt it was little better than a training plane. In his world, performance meant everything, and as we all know the Hellcat was, by wars end, a slow fighter compared to other US types. He felt he could smoke one at any altitude. I asked if he could outturn one and he shrugged. "What did that matter?"
Dad also flew the Mustang after the war when stationed in Japan. He loved his Jug, he truly did, but is blunt in saying the Mustang was a better plane.
We once went down the list of attributes one would want in a fighter. He'd say which plane, the P-47D or P-51, was better at each one. He answered "Mustang" to almost every one. The N went a bit farther, and was a bit faster at high altitudes, and he felt the 8 .50's was substantially better than 6.
Otherwise the Pony outrolled, outturned, out accelerated, out climbed, and outdove the Jug. I pressed him on the dive, and he said the Pony picked up speed so fast in a dive, it would get a big lead. After awhile the Jug would SLOOWLY walk up on it. Then the ground was coming up, and the Pony pulled out more quickly, and was much more controllable at those very very high speeds.
He did say that one put the nose of the P-47 down at full power and you KNEW you were going to be able to pull out. Total confidence. The Pony never gave you that feeling.
At about 25000 feet Dad says the two began to be very similar in speed. At about 30,000 feet the Jug was better. But, he said with the Mustang "you still had an airplane". He felt the P-47 ruled the skies above 30,000 feet.
Dad said flying the Pony was so much fun because at high speeds you were still very maneuverable, still able to joyride. Throw the stick over at 400 IAS and your head hit the opposite side of the canopy.
The P-47 was a "cadillac", all sorts of pilot comforts and such, very roomy. The P-51 was the "Spam Can" that you squeezed into. He said you "wore" the airplane. Wear gloves, or you cut your fingers on the unfinished metal surfaces. Actually a bit more leg room in the Mustang, but Dad was 5'11" and both had room for him to stretch out.
Dad said the K-14 was awesome. When you had it set right, the bullets went where the sight said they would. As you flew along, you would be fiddling with the K-14, the throttle, and the trim and flaps settings with your left hand. After awhile, you didn't think about it.
Dad said some guys used combat flaps in the Mustang, some guys never did. He did say that they made a big difference.
On a personal note, I've never seen any data on the effects of 10 degrees of combat flaps on the Mustang's turn performance. All our arguments assume a clean wing, yet the 10 degree setting was put in expressly to improve turning. Dad said that if you flew along with them down they had a fairly big performance hit, but you didn't do that. You'd use them judiciously, popping them down at that right moment when you needed to pull another 1/2 G, get the shot, and pop them back up. He said they went up and down with almost no delay. Anyway. We do arguments, discover that such and such a plane had a small advantage over the Pony in wing or power loading, and declare a winner. There is a huge, yawning chasm out there....how much DID the 10 degree flap setting help? My guess is that very often it DID get that P-51 pilot over the hump. I've never seen any data, just pilot's reports.
I asked Pop which plane had the best visibility. He said the Mustang had the best visibility of any prop plane he ever sat in. Easily.
All my Dad's opinion, fellas. Hellcat fans, remember this is a typical AAF pilot talking, and my Dad had his share of fighter pilot elan and ego. Take it with how many grains of salt you wish."