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Originally Posted by copeab
The much-maligned P-40 was actually a good match against the Zero as long as the Allied pilot didn't engage in a low-speed turning dogfight or try to out-climb the Zero.
(At high speeds, the P-40 could actually out-turn the Zero).
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The P-40 had a slow climb rate and an inferior turn rate to the Zero, but it was actually as fast as the Spitfire 1A and Bf-109E and was slightly quicker than the Zero. The Zero was more maneuverable than the P-40 but it was more maneuverable than every other fighter in 1940/41. The P-40 had good armor, firepower, roll rate, and dive speed, and the Japanese rated it as their most dangerous opponent at low altitude. The P-40 actually had a very good air-to-air combat record, particularly with Chennault Flying Tigers in China against the Japanese, the 325th Fighter Group in Italy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force and was still in use with American forces at the end of the war.
Quote:
Originally Posted by copeab
While their tanks had thing armor and weak guns, they were reliable and had good cross-country performance. The main problem was that fighting the Chinese had taught the Japanese the wrong lessons about tank warfare.
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The main problem with the Japanese is that they didn't learn any lessons about tank warfare.
In 1939 the Russian army gave them such a hammering in northern China that Japan refused to even think about attacking Russia even after the German invasion. The Japanese Army continued to use the same outdated tactics and type of weapons throughout the war against the Allies instead of learning how to fight against modern mechanised armies. Little or no attempt was made to ask the German army for their very experienced and competant advice in how to counter Soviet or Western mechanised armies and tactics, or to even license producing modern German tanks to give themselves a fighting chance when they went up against modern Allied tanks. The result was a one sided slaughter and led to the biggest military defeat in the history of the Japanese Army when Stalin send the Red Army back into China in August 1945.