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"In combat, the Hayabusa was superior to any opposing fighter it encountered in the initial part of the war. The OSCAR remained formidable even as better Allied aircraft entered the fray."

and

"Although not well known compared to the A6M Zero fighter, the Ki-43 was a formidable aircraft, particularly during the early war years."

Hoof even goes on the say "An excellent fighter of the time, it was superior to the Zero in almost every regard except firepower." -- This statement alone seems to support applying the Zero bonus at least to the Oscar too.

ORIGINAL: TheElf

ORIGINAL: m10bob

The Oscar should be a match for most Allied planes early on.(I went into detail in another thread, which you(Elf) already are aware of).

http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/ai ... aoscar.htm

BTW, here is a good page where another gamer has taken aviation physics of WW2 planes and quantified the performance statistics for each, giving a fairly accurate comparison of the planes.

http://www.rdrop.com/users/hoofj/

Interesting sites. Hoof's site in particular speaks to me as his break down of aircraft performance reads like the BFM chapter in the Navy's Top Gun Manual.

What I found interesting is that both sites view the Oscar as "An excellent fighter for it's time" (Early War)

"In combat, the Hayabusa was superior to any opposing fighter it encountered in the initial part of the war. The OSCAR remained formidable even as better Allied aircraft entered the fray."

and

"Although not well known compared to the A6M Zero fighter, the Ki-43 was a formidable aircraft, particularly during the early war years."

Hoof even goes on the say "An excellent fighter of the time, it was superior to the Zero in almost every regard except firepower." -- This statement alone seems to support applying the Zero bonus at least to the Oscar too.

I'd wager that this post in this particular thread will be the only place you'd see those kinds of remarks about OUR Oscar.

ORIGINAL: ChezDaJez

"In combat, the Hayabusa was superior to any opposing fighter it encountered in the initial part of the war. The OSCAR remained formidable even as better Allied aircraft entered the fray."

and

"Although not well known compared to the A6M Zero fighter, the Ki-43 was a formidable aircraft, particularly during the early war years."

Hoof even goes on the say "An excellent fighter of the time, it was superior to the Zero in almost every regard except firepower." -- This statement alone seems to support applying the Zero bonus at least to the Oscar too.

And it was.... as far as maneuverability went. The Oscar was designed to dogfight Chinese biplanes and it could do that quite well. With its butterfly flaps, it could outturn a Zero. But what good is a plane that can get on your tail if it doesn't have the firepower to knock you down? Two 7.7mms aren't going to do much against enemy fighters sporting armor.

Perfect example of an airplane that can do everything asked of it in combat except shoot another plane down.

Chez

ORIGINAL: Feurer Krieg

Much better than Nates. I'm not too far into the game yet, but they seem to be reasonably useful in the early going, providing LRCAP to TFs cruising around Borneo/Singapore where the occasional small Martin/TIVa raid needs to be beaten back.

ORIGINAL: TheElf

Ok, I’ve skimmed the early war period covered in this book. Here is what I’ve found. These are going to be short and sweet, but keep in mind, the only certainty are the losses of the IJAAF units. Claims are claims and not to be taken at face value.

Opening day of war

64th Sentai escorts Heavy bombers to targets in Malayan Pen.1st Lts Tadao and Yohei & Yonesaku share a Blenheim. (this sharing will be a theme when it comes to Oscar kills. Oscars in numbers can combine firepower so a single ship doesn’t necessarily have to bring a more “Durable” Allied a/c down by himself) Five more A/C claimed dest. On ground.

11 Ki-43s of 59th Sen. Escort light Bombers to Kota Bharu. 15 Buffs enaged over Tanah Merah, Six claimed downed. no losses.

21 Dec

59 Sen. Claims 4 of 4 Buffs encountered over Kuala Lumpur. No losses.

22 Dec

59 Sen. Claims 4 more Buffs downed or damaged. By the end of Dec 59th claims11 kills, 13 destroyed on the ground for the loss of two pilots(in a mid-air collision)

64 Sen. Claims 11 Buffs downed over Kuala Lumpur. Only loss being Lt Tadao Takayama’s Ki-43 as it’s wings were seen to fold “like a butterfly”

8 Jan

Of interest here, a Ki-27 pilot from 77 Sentai Claimed a Catalina shot down near Sinora. Just a claim, the thing could’ve landed in the sea, but no more details on its condition.

Over Singapore
“The 59th and 64th Sen, which had now moved to ipoh, also took part in the Attacks on Singapore from 12 Jan onwards, the 64th claiming 39 victories over the island, whilst the 59th also enjoyed some successes in the 3 days commencing 18 Jan, claiming 15 victories over Kuntan and other locations.” No losses mention in this passage

“The next objective following the Fall of Malaya and the investment of Singers, were the Sumatran Oil fields at Palembang. On 6 Feb the 59th and 64th moved to Kluan for ops over this target, sweeping over the area ion the 7th and 8th, when the 59th claimed 16 shot down and the 64th claimed 7, air superiority over the area thus being achieved. This allowed paratroop dropsto be made in the Palembang area on the 13th and 14th, escorted by Ki-43s of the 64th Sen.” -- Unfortunately no mention of their opponents is made. The assumption being they were Dutch Buffalos and Demons

East Indies
“The last stand in the East Indies was made on Java, and in order to extend control in the air over the western part of this island, the 59th and 64th Sen flew in to Plaembang on 18 Feb, claiming 33 kills between them during the period 19-25 Feb.”

“During the recent fightingthe 59th Sentai had suffered the loss of 9 pilots; its mainstay being a number of highly experienced NCO pilots, the pre-eminent amongst them Sgt Maj. Hiroshi Onozaki, their top-scorer with 10 victories”

This covers the start of the war to the end of the East indies campaign. I’ll post some more where the opponents are more modern fighters and heavy bombers later

I want everyone to appreciate that I typed all this crap myself. No copy and paste here baby!

The A2A champion over Malaya and Sumatra during the early stages of the war was not the A6M.....it was the Ki-43

The Ki-43 was, in some ways, more dangerous to deal with than the A6M, chiefly
because it had a better rate of roll and was armed with two 12.7mm machineguns.
The P-40 driver with a Zero on his tail could usually break the contact with
an aileron roll. This was much less likely with the Ki-43. The Oscar boy
could plant himself behind the P-40 and stay there no matter what the Curtiss
driver did, all the while hammering .50 cal nails that could do some real
damage.
In contrast, the Zero pilot, even if he couldn't be shaken, was doing most of
his firing with rifle caliber mgs which did less damage (although enough of
them in the right places could do the job). The 20mms generally didn't come
into play unless the Zero was in point blank range. A way to stay out of
point blank range was to execute a series of violent aileron turns; this would
allow the P-40 pilot to gradually pull away from the Zero. Once he had
extended sufficiently, he could go into a fast, shallow climb and leave the
Zero behind.
The best bet for the P-40 driver was to have sufficient altitude to dive away
from either the Oscar or Zero, but that wasn't always the situation.
The Ki-43 had better wing loading and power loading than the Zero, had superior
initial acceleration, a better roll rate and a tighter turning circle. It also
had a substantially better rate of climb. That made it an awesome aerobatic
fighter that you absolutely, positively did not dare engage in a dogfight. It
also meant that if you bounced an Oscar and the pilot spotted you, he was
probably going to escape scott free because, should he choose to turn, he could
roll into a tight turn faster than you could follow, whereas if you bounced a
Zero, should he choose to turn, you could follow him, outrolling him and
staying with him for a considerable portion of his turn, often enough to do him
in. (In practice, Oscar and Zero drivers both generally preferred to snap up
into tight loops when bounced, leaving the P-40 driver the option of blowing on
by and clearing the vicinity or sticking around to get a Nip on his six.)
In a typical scenario early in the game, P-40s could be flying top cover for
B-26s flying at 9,000 ft. that were attacking an airstrip, note Oscars taking
off below, make a turn away from the B-26s to position themselves up-sun to
dive on the Oscars once they approached the bombers, turn and come back, taking
less than three minutes for the entire maneuver, and find the B-26s already
under attack from those Oscars they had seen just taking off. Amazing little
buggers.

As it was, it was simply way undergunned even when upgraded to two 12.7mms

GF Mark I just got laid off

Too many tasks....too few hours in the day.....