Talk:F4F-4/@comment-174.111.200.191-20161120024313/@comment-25468567-20161120043445

"Which was enabled by superior logistics on the ground and in the air. It wasn't an accident, but the result of training to the Wildcat's strengths. If the Wildcat were not a match for the Zero, there would be no tactics that could bridge that gap. However, it was."

I never claimed it was indeed an accident, and I would argue that it was these tactics and training that saved the Wildcats. Pilots were trained to stick together and play of each others movements to exploit the A6Ms weakness and on the otherside Japanese pilots were taught little to nothing about the enemy's aircraft. The point I was trying to make here was that it took two Wildcats to one A6M, that is how the pilots were trained to approach the situation. A single Wildcat was a sitting duck to a competent A6M pilot.

"Not true. Japan was not able to sweep the skies of Wildcats over Guadalcanal when Henderson field was running on hope and duct tape. Once Wildcat tactics matured and the extreme skill of the early aviators was attrited, numbers were no proof against Wildcats."

First off, this is a hypothetical based on data I have collected, I'm not claiming it as a fact. Moving on, the reason for the loss is due to the fact that Japan had lost most of it's ace pilots in the preceeding Battle of Midway. Most of the Japanese pilots during the Guadalcanal campaign were under trainned as the standards for the airforce training was lack luster and at best producing only a handfull of adequate pilots. My point here was that if Japan had not lost these aces at Midway and if there was the same amount of Wildcats as there was A6Ms throughout the war with the same caliber of pilots it could have been a very different story.

In the end, my underlining point is that if you take a A6M and a Wildcat, both with pilots of equal skill at the same altitude that the A6M would win in the fight. It is only because the Wildcats strudy frame, sheer numbers, and lack of adequate pilots for the A6M that made the Wildcat be able to compete in the first place.