FAA Role in the Pacific.?

[Graham Boak]

It is certainly untrue that the FAA Corsairs and Hellcats were thought unable to cope with Luftwaffe fighters. It is more the point that the US fighters were mainly used on the fleet carriers, and these saw few operations in Europe in the period (only very late in the war) when the US fighters were available in significant numbers. The few combats that did take place, mainly over Norway, suggest they managed perfectly well enough. USN Hellcats clashed successfully with Luftwaffe Fw 190s in operation Dragoon, the invasion of the south of France.

Personally, I would accept that the heavier USN fighters do seem to be slightly inferior to the Fw 190, if not the Bf 109G, but not sufficiently so as to make any great combat difference given average pilots on both sides.