US Fighter Aircraft 1940

[ian hunt]

Hi all
I know some people dislike ‘what if’ posts as being a bit pointless, but I was wondering: If the US had had to fight the Battle of Britain in 1940 using the a/c that it had then (or if the RAF only had American a/c to use then), what would those a/c have been and how might they have got on?
Thoughts?
Ian

[MW Giles]

I dislike counterfactuals too, the US was not facing invasion from anyone in 1940, but in September/October 1940 they only had the following:

1PS - P-36
3PS - P-26
6PS - P-26, P-36
17PS - P-26, P-35
18PS - P-36
19PS - P-26, P-36
20PS - P-26, P-36
21PS - P-36
22PS - P-36
23PS - P-36
24PS - P-36
27PS - P-35, P-36
28PS - P-26
29PS - P-36
30PS - P-26, P-40
31PS - P-26
32PS - P-36
33PS - P-36, P-40
34PS - P-36
35PS - P-36, P-40
36PS - P-36, P-40
39PS - P-35, P-36
40PS - unk
41PS - P-35
43PS - P-36
55PS - P-36
77PS - P-36, P-40
78PS - P-36
79PS - P-36, P-40
94PS - P-35, P-36, P-40

Maurer and Maurer are not very good with exact dates, so this is what those squadrons were equipped with in 1940

A large number of additional squadrons were constituted in December 1940, but only started forming in 1941.

30 squadrons of Peashooters, Severskys and Hawks are not going to frighten the Lw

someone else can look up the USN

Martin

[ian hunt]

Thanks Martin. I wasn’t really thinking about numbers, merely the types of planes. Very interesting.
Ian

[Alex Smart]

Very interesting , of the aircraft listed it would look like the French didn't have a chance right from the start even with the American imports.
So assuming that Germany attacked the USA( not possible) the US was unprepared for war.