Duel 102 - P-40E Warhawk vs A6M2 Zero-sen. East Indies and Darwin 1942 (2020).pdf

(12669 KB) Pobierz
P-40E WARHAWK
A6M2 ZERO-SEN
East Indies and Darwin 1942
PETER INGMAN
P-40E WARHAWK
A6M2 ZERO-SEN
East Indies and Darwin 1942
PETER INGMAN
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chronology
Design and Development
Technical Specifications
The Strategic Situation
The Combatants
Combat
Statistics and Analysis
Aftermath
Further Reading
Index
4
7
9
15
20
26
41
74
77
79
80
INTRODUCTION
The Curtiss P-40E Warhawk and the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero were two classic World
War II fighter types. Both were in service at the start of the Pacific War, and they saw
extensive use during the first 12 months of that conflict. The P-40E saw widespread
employment beyond the Pacific too, serving in just about every theater during the
course of the war.
While the Zero-sen is remembered as being a first-class fighting machine that swept
all before it, the P-40E never achieved the same status. Indeed, some military historians
are apt to include the American fighter in a “basket” of early war “obsolete” fighter
types and, in such a generalist way, use this as an explanation as to why the Zero-sen
achieved such stunning victories over the Curtiss “pursuit” in the early months of the
campaign. However, such reasoning is both simplistic and disingenuous. The P-40E
was a modern fighter at the start of the Pacific War, and it shared the same performance
envelope as the A6M2. Indeed, it was a full generation beyond 1930s’ fighter types
such as the Hawk 75, from which it was derived.
To fully understand how both the P-40E and the Zero-sen compared requires a full
survey of a wide variety of qualitative factors. This is best undertaken within a study
of the 1942 air campaign fought over the East Indies and Darwin. Warhawks were
rushed to Java, in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), from the USA (via Australia),
where they conducted a last-ditch defense of the island alongside a miscellany of
Dutch and British types. While this campaign was short-lived, many of the American
pilots made full use of their experience in the subsequent defense of Darwin in 1942,
where 49th Fighter Group (FG) P-40Es engaged A6M2s of the 3rd Kokutai as the
latter escorted Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) bombers. These types
repeatedly met in large numbers, with several mass engagements taking place that
involved as many as 50 to 80 aircraft from both sides.
4
Elsewhere, Zero-sens came up against P-40B/Cs during the Pearl Harbor attack
and both P-40B and Es in the Philippines. In New Guinea, Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF) P-40Es – christened Kittyhawk IAs in Australian service – also saw intense
combat against A6M2s, especially in March 1942 when No. 75 Sqn was the sole Allied
fighter unit in-theater. Later that year the 49th FG moved to New Guinea with its
P-40Es, and some of these aircraft remained in frontline service into the first half of
1943. Further afield, E-model Warhawks of the USAAF’s Eleventh Air Force briefly
fought against carrier-based Zero-sens in the Aleutians. Details of these campaigns can
be found in
Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 38 – Tomahawk and Kittyhawk Aces of the RAF
and Commonwealth
by Andrew Thomas,
Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 55 – P-40 Warhawk
Aces of the Pacific
by Carl Molesworth and
Osprey Aviation Elite Units – 49th Fighter
Group
by William N Hess.
Both the USAAF and the Republic of China Air Force operated P-40Es in China
during 1942–43 before they were replaced by more modern Warhawk variants
(which served in the frontline through to war’s end) and newer types such as the
P-51 Mustang. None of these P-40Es likely experienced combat with Zero-sens,
however, as the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (as opposed to the IJNAF, which
was, of course, the sole operator of the A6M) had responsibility for aerial operations
in China after December 1941. The campaign fought by later model Warhawks in
China-Burma-India is detailed in
Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 35 – P-40 Warhawk Aces
of the CBI
and
Osprey Duel 8 – P-40 Warhawk vs Ki-43
Oscar, both by Carl
Molesworth.
So, except for the March 1942 combat between RAAF Kittyhawk IAs and
Zero-sens over New Guinea, the East Indies and Darwin campaign in that same year
are the best examples of sustained combat between the P-40E and the A6M.
Two four-aircraft flights of P-40Es
from the 7th PS fly over typical
northern Australian terrain in April
1942. This unit was the first of
the 49th PG’s trio of squadrons to
see action during a brief
deployment to Horn Island in
March 1942. By the following
month it had rejoined the
remainder of the group at airfields
just south of Darwin. (Michael
Claringbould)
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin