ORIGINAL: Commander Stormwolf
one other note.. actually B-26s armed with a pair of British Mark XII torpedoes would have been pretty excellent
instead of 4, have 40 on midway, with decent fighter escort
but historycally,the lack of good torpedoes forced the USAAF to improvise anti-ship tactics (skip-bmbing),
fortunately they were profficient at it in time for the battle of the bismarck sea
japanese had excellent torpedoes but by 1943 had no way to deliver them to their targets
(the betties were relegated to night torpedo missions, and except for sinking the cruiser chicago, had no major success)
japanese torpedo planes were simply too slow and vulnerable, and their fighter escorts were worn down by the
attritional fighting above rabaul
what was required was either a heavily armored torpedo plane that could defend itself from enemy fighters
or a fast torpedo plane that could reduce the time available for interception
Apparently the Japanese agreed with you - which is why they bought the Francis - and not long afterwards - adopted
the Army Peggy. Peggy was truly remarkable, aside from being torpedo armed, in that it was jointly operated, often
on the same mission, and spectacularly successful. So much so it was a deep secret - and the reason we improvised
plans to invade Iwo Jima - which otherwise would have been ignored. That refueling base permitted attacks on B-29
bases - amazingly timed so they always caught the bombers armed and fueled just before take-off. We did not know
until after the war how they knew when? Not that those were torpedo attacks, nor daylight, fighter escorted attacks - but
Peggy was up to that as well.
