[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Nonny

Just as a big WI is the choice of the Me109 over the He112, how would the BOB have faired without the Spitfire eg if Mitchell had not gone for the elliptical wing etc, resulting in no performance improvement over the Hurricane & it not going into production?

The Hurricane was good enough to prevent the Germans from gaining air superiority over England in 1940, with or without the Spitfires. If the Spits never went into production, I can think of two possible consequences:

1) With no Spitfires, the lesser speed and agility of the Hurricane might cause RAF Fighter Command to cancel their unnecessary and very costly offensive of 1941, saving many planes and pilots. The RAF could afford to play it safe for another year, and let the Luftwaffe take the biggest risks.

2) There would be serious pressure for faster development of the Merlin engine, Griffon engine, and the P-51. In 1942, Mustangs and Hurricanes might be powered by very high-boost Merlins, or better yet, Griffons.

Originally Posted by Nonny

the Hurricane won the BOB, could hold its own against a Me109 and had bags of development potential. But would it have been enough to take on the Fw190 in 1942?

If local air defense over the UK was the main task, then souped-up Hurricanes would be sufficient until the RAF could get Mustangs and Typhoons.

BTW, what if the FW-190 never went into production?