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Re: 1/Lt T.J. Lynch 39th FS/35th FG 20 May 1942
"On 20 May, 15 Zeros led by Lieutenant Commander Nakajima Tadashi departed Lae
around 0800, and for this mission Nakajima mixed up the tactics. Rather than the normal low-level sweep, he took his time to climb to 30,000 feet in the hope of exploiting the altitude advantage.
"As the Zeros approached Moresby, their crews were amazed to see ten Airacobras ahead at the same altitude and both sides quickly engaged each other. Sakai Saburo later wrote that he was concerned about the sluggishness of the Zero's controls at such a height. However, the Japanese had yet to realise that the P-39s were an even poorer performer at altitude, as their superchargers worked only up to around 12,000 feet. On this occasion there were no losses to either side."
South Pacific Air War Volume 3, p.168,
Claringbould, Michael & Ingman, Peter,
Avonmore Books, 2019
Last edited by BruceMk11; 12th June 2023 at 21:01.
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