Allied air superiority in 1944: P-47 D Razorback decided it?

[GuerraCivil]

It is true that P-51 was better fighter than P-47 in many respects - I guess that from today´s point of view we could add even the advantage of less Co2 emissions (slim Mustang consumed less fossile fuel per flying hour than heavy Jug).

But as Ruy Horta suspects in this thread: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...ight=P-47+p-51 - I have also the feeling that everyone loved P-51 because it was prettier, cheaper, faster etc. than the poor Razorback. The one became the swan and the other remained as ugly duckling.

I still think that P-47 was what was needed and was available when there were teething problems with P-38 and improved P-51 not ready to take in combat in great numbers. The tide had turned against LW dayfighter force before the elegant bubbletop P-51 D stole the show (more credit should be given also to earlier P-51 models).

I have not complete data but I believe that it will show the downward spiral of LW dayfighter force and growing losses at accelerating speed as soon as Thunderbolts entered in the picture. Of course Spitfire IX´s played also a part in balancing the scales vs. FW 190 and Bf 109 but less than Thunderbolts I guess.

For comparison lets take the Pacific War: there is no doubt that Hellcat and Corsair were better performing fighters than Wildcat, but during the critical period of 1942 the Wildcat was which bore the brunt of combat (together with P-40) and it was good enough to stop Japanese triumph.

By the time when Hellcat, Corsair and P-38 made their combat debut at the Pacific, the Japanese fighter force was already decisively weakened. The downward spiral of Japanese air forces had already started and Hellcat & Co. just accelerated it.