Why the USAAF gave up on the A-36 in favour of the P-47.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by tcolvin

Nick, it was you I believe, who evidenced the Spitfire IX/XVI to rebut my statement that 2TAF operated retired air-superiority fighters for the sake of convenience.

Surely Clostermann's statement that Spitfire IX/XVIs were powerless, because they lacked the speed necessary to enforce air superiority, revealed the truth they were well past their sell-by date as air-superiority fighters in 1945.

Their manoeuverability was such, however, that faster German fighters left them alone, but that is a different point …
Tony

But what I actually said — and you have not refuted — was that the Spitfire IX remained a viable combat aircraft from its introduction through to the end of the war.

If faster German fighters left them alone, then so much the better: the Spitfires were free to strafe and bomb German targets. What good were "superior" machines doing the German cause if they avoided the most numerous combat type on the British side?