Ki-84 Video Poll Take 2
OK, I'm sorry, have to do this again because I said Sea Fury III, I meant SEAFIRE III.
What planes would you like to see compared to the Ki-84 in the upcoming video. For example, the Corsair is going to be in there, no question about that, but which Corsair? The 1944 war F4U-1 with water injection at 60" is a monster and was common in 44 and 45. This was the Corsair most often facing the Franks. The F4U-4 was out there in the Pacific, with quite a bit more performance but was far less common. Had the invasion of Japan happened, this probably would have been the version up against the Franks. I'll be including most of these planes to some degree, but I need to get the list down to 3. Also, I know a lot of you want the plane compared to the Shinden Kai, but I really need to cover that plane itself first.
I'm looking at very late war stuff that did, or could have faced the Hayate under realistically possible scenarios. It has to be a plane that was there in combat in 1945.
A semi spoiler alert, one of the Hayate's strengths is that planes that can catch it, will have a tough time fighting it. Two of the planes on the list can't come anywhere near catching it. One is about the same in terms of speed. Three are faster, two of which will have a really tough time with it in a dogfight. All these planes will be in there to some extent, but which would like me to focus on?
Comments (19)
I'm sticking with the P-47N.
It is not listed but I'd be curious to see how it compares to the other another Japanese late war fighter, the N1K2-J Shiden Kai.
I considered that, but as I haven't covered the Shinden Kai before, it would just add way too much to the video's length. It makes more sense to make a Shinden Kai video later and compare it to the Hayate and whatever else Patreon members want at that time.
Greg, about the comment in the video about the guns that planes carried being out of your wheelhouse: The Machine Gun by George Morgan Chinn is the source for all things shooty relating to airplanes up to a bit after the Viet-Nam war. It's available as a .pdf online with 5 volumes, each volume having a different focus.
I'm happy to see the Thunderbolt is leading (by a nose at the moment). I'd like to think it was the best escort for the B-29s that would be used to soften up Japanese defenses before an invasion.
I guess the XP-82 is a non contender here (no chance in a dogfight?+late introduction), as is the P-51H. I chose againgst my favorite only because I tied the poll between 2 of the very best :)
I'm sticking with planes that saw combat during the war, so the 82 and 51H are out.
The most common US pacific fighter, and certainly the most common US Navy fighter had to be the Hellcat. I’d really like to see how it would have faired late-war.
The Hellcat was a terror, but up against late war land based planes, it's got it's work cut out for it.
Clarke, I suspect the F8F would have been more of a CAP specialist during Downfall - short legs and extremely high climb rate pretty much dictate it isn't going to be doing much else (and culling huge numbers of suicide planes in the process) IMO, - I am assuming the Ki-84s are going to be playing more defense over the home islands where they'd be less likely to encounter those F8Fs...so I like the P-47N/Late F4U/P-51 to benchmark against the Franks in a Downfall scenario. F6Fs were going to run into them, but they were increasingly being deployed as VBF, so their primary roles would be shifted to bombing, with Corsair escorts ideally . Seafires also had the short legs issue.
Jim, I agree on all points. There is one scenario to consider. Once the Allies began to take ground they will occupy and use airfields on land. That means they must defend those airfields from Japanese air attack. I think it's's very conceivable that the Bearcat becomes a ground based interceptor much like the F4F had to do at Guadalcanal since it would have the best performance of any Allied aircraft at that moment for such a role. This in the scenario I see with the highest likelihood of bringing the Ki-84 and F8F into conflict with one another.
Greg, I agree with another poster. Had the invasion of Japan happened the Ki-84 would have met swarms of P-51s. In reality it did anyway, I believe. There fore, aside from the F6F-5/F4U-1, I think the most common opponent on the US side would be the P-47N/P-51D. I have a sneaky feeling the F4U-1D or F4U-4 would have supplanted the F6F rather quickly though. On that note I don't think I would do too much "what-if-ing", but if I did the F8F would be the top comparison for me since we know they were literally being shipped to the theater when the war ended.
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 was the battle of the pacific and it was excellent. Of the Japanese aircraft, I remembered the George because it had a 4 blade propeller and devastating cannons. I’ve been wondering when I’d see this and so I had to finally look it up and I guess that is the mentioned, Shiden Kai. So… here is my vote for that standalone video! John
Now I’m curious to see how a late war P-38L would stack up against a Frank…
F4u-1 with water injection is closest to an apples-to-apples comparison, though arguments could be made for the -4. I’ll take the -1, though others would make for interesting videos. It seems likely that the Franks would have faced swarms of P-51s over Japan had the war gone on.
If we’re talking about Operation Downfall, it would be fun to include the Soviets flying P-63 King Cobras!
I think the F4U-1 and Hellcat would be the most apt comparisons as it's the most real world of the options, so the most interesting in my opinion. Could always throw a note in when the performance of the F4U-4 would deserve a special mention in context.
I really enjoyed the Corsair video last year. I must admit I want more!
C’mon, peeps! We get plenty of Army Air Force content. Let Greg stretch his sea legs a bit!