Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurfürst
This is a transcript I saved from O. Lefebrve years ago, on a German tactical evaluation of a P 47 made by the Germans in June 44, pitting a Mustang, Fw 190A-8, 109G-6, 109G-6/AS against it.
They don’t seem to be impressed by its climb rate at all. Why would they, the P-47 was a six ton interceptor with undersized wings, and the machine was (unsurprisingly) gave a very sluggish impression at low medium altitudes.
"The Thunderbolt, flown close to the ground up to 2000m, makes an extremely worn and tired impression. Their speeds are below those of German fighters. Water injection was not used. (A new comparison will normally be flown). In the equally closed start with full power at 3000m, it lagged far behind the performance of the other 4 types. Even with an incline between 8-9000m, it lagged behind the performance of the Fw 190. In the curve at 4-6000m altitude it was superior to the normal Bf 109, in the fall it was a little faster than the Bf 109."
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This quote raises an entirely different line of inquiry. Were the reports made by Luftwaffe Technical Intelligence written for morale and propaganda purposes (to raise the confidence) of fighter pilots? It would seem to me that they would want to write honest reports, but apparently this was not the case. Everyone, literally everyone, who fought against the P-47 said to NEVER enter a dive when in combat against it because it was so much faster in a dive.
Bronc