Comments:

The early Hurricane had a fixed-pitch two blade propellor that really inhibited its performance. Coupled with the use of 87 octane fuel and a RAF policy of converging its guns at an overly optimistic 400 yards, I feel the 4F5 is more than amply justified. Later Hurricanes had a variable-pitch three blade propellor that greatly improved its performance despite a slight weight gain, switched to 100 octane fuel, and reduced the convergance range to a more realistic 200 yards based on experience gained in France. I plan on converting all 4F5 Hurris to 5F5 on July I 40 as the newer propellor is fielded in quantity and the lessons of France are learned.

The Brewster F2A Buffalo fighter has been rather unjustly maligned over the years. While certainly not a world-beater, it was a decent performer for its era. It's misfortune was to encounter a supremely maneuverable aircraft, the Zero, when its own maneuverability was severely impaired by a 25% weight gain with no corresponding increase in wing area. In short it turned like a lead brick. This was not a recipe for success when flown by inexperienced pilots who hadn't the time to figure out the proper tactics to fight against the Zero as had the Flying Tigers in their P-40s. Coupled with the combat-experienced, elite pilots of the IJN and usually flying out-numbered, it's understandable why the Buffalo earned its reputation.

The Finns flew the earliest version of the F2A and had a remarkable record of something like 38 victories for every loss. Such a record is among the highest ever recorded for any type of fighter and is extraordinary even give the advantageous conditions operated under by the Finns. Look at the weight figures for the later versions of the F2A and the B-339 and you can see that they are faster than the F2A-1, but almost a thousand pounds heavier. This extra weight increased the wing-loading significantly to the detriment of its maneuverablility. Most of the Finnish pilots had flown in the Winter War and most of their opponents were seriously inexperienced which greatly increased their victory ratio. The speed of the later versions of the Buffalo argued for a base 5F5, just like the late Hurri 1, but the high wing-loading vitiated against it. So by my lights all the versions of the Buffalo differ only in their ranges.

A 3F2 rating is identical to the B.534 and is patently ludicrous. A B.534, with about an 80 mph inferiority in speed would be hard pressed to even close to within firing range, unless the Buffalo pilot was caught totally unawares, as the Buffalo could simply firewall the throttle and outrun the pesky biplane. If my understanding of the Zero's 6F5 rating is correct, my proposed 4F4 rating should will still leave the loss ratios strongly in the Zero's favor. To correct a few misapprehensions that have been published, only the British called it the Buffalo. The French never ordered it; their need for carrier-capable fighters was to be met by 81 Wildcats.

The Re 2000 is a strange case as its performance would easily justify a 5F5 except for its crummy armament. 2x 12.7mm machineguns is weak and the Italian Breda-SAFAT 12.7mm weapon is easily the worst fielded by a major combatant of that class with a slow rate of fire and low muzzle velocity. The combination is bad enough to drop its attack factor by two. The Hungarians built a version under license as the H�ja-M with a lighter and more powerful engine and regunned it with a pair of Gebauer-Danuvia guns that may well have been the best weapon of their class fielded by anyone. But even their 2000 rpm rate of fire doesn't bring the attack factor up by more than one. Performance figures for these aircraft were often contradictory and I find the climbing numbers particularly suspect. To equate this fighter with the CR.42 is very peculiar.

The Curtiss H75 Hawks were the predecessor of the famed P-40 and sold widely in a plethora of varieties in the late Thirties. Most of the export models had no direct US parallel and cannot use a P-36 series designation except the ex-Norwegian H75A-8s impounded as P-36Gs. The H75M was a fixed undercarriage model sold to China with the similar H75N and O models going to Thailand and Argentina respectively. Performance was suprisingly close to that of the D. XXI, also equipped with a fixed undercarriage, despite the former's much greater weight. A 3F4 might be arguable, but it was decently armed for the period and I cannot justify that in my own mind. A 2F3 is ridiculous.

The French series of H75A-1/4 aircraft are annoying in that complete data simply isn't available for each variant. The change in armament between the H75A-1 and A-2 would be nice to reflect in their ratings, but I cannot do that without dropping the former to a 3F4 and I don't think that's reasonable.

The P.24F has almost identical performance with the CR.42 and only the former's heavy armament jusftifies the 4F3 and the TBF.

I think that somebody misread kilometers for miles when rating the IAR 80 series. That's the only way I can figure the initial range of 13. The IAR 80A has performance almost identical to all later versions though some should have a TBF. The IAR 80 deserves a 4F5 as it was the initial production version that was somewhat slower due to less horsepower and a lighter armament of only 4 machineguns.

The Finns used the MS.406 for train-busting on the Murmansk RR and my rating reflects that. The French didn't use it in the ground attack mode at all to my knowledge.

The addition of 20mm cannon for the MB.152 made it very tempting to raise the attack factor to 5, but the ruggedness of the aircraft dictated that it be the defense that was raised. The limited supply of rounds (only 1 drum of 60) helped sway my decision.

The extra speed of the FM-2 as compared to the F4F-4 helps to compensate for the lighter armament in my opinion. I see no need to reduce its attack factor.

The HF designation is usually used for two seat fighters and I see no need to treat the Fulmar any differently. The Fulmar II had a more powerful engine but I cannot find stats for it and so cannot rate it. One account says that the extra power was mostly offset by the increased weight and drag.

Jason Long

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