Talk:F4F/@comment-107.184.201.220-20170301045647

The Wildcat fought the Zero to a near draw which the P-39 and P-40 generally failed to do in the first year. It didn't have the brick wall at 15,000' like Allison powered fighters. Also, the radial was better able to sustain damage than an inline engine. In addition, the USN pilots had more deflection training in their shooting than the USAAF. Certainly the Zero outclassed US fighters in range, acceleration, climb and turn. So, they learned not to fight his fight. Keep the speed and altitude using vertical tactics. All 3 of these fighters had a dive speed aproaching 500 mph! The Zero and Oscar were much inferior on this point.

It's amazing how well the Wilcat did in kill ratio when the FM model is included!

It may still be slow but it was right up there with the rest in victories.

Maybe it was on defense and faced more bombers, while the Corsairs were offensive and faced more high performance fighters. Or am I making excuses?

The F4F did the early heavy lifting. The F6F already had it made by mid-war. The enemy pilots were mostly green now.