Talk:F4F-4/@comment-174.111.200.191-20161120024313/@comment-213.47.206.213-20161120233316

No idea if someone already said it, but the wildcats true problem was it's engine stalling at certain high. The Zero's on the other hand could easily climb that way so they used a their signature maneuver against them.

They basically tricked the Wildcat pilots by rapidly climbing high in a spiral where the follwing wildcat's engine would stall at some point. Later they would appeard behind the Wildcat and shoot it down. - Sadly I forgot the name of that maneuver.

The Hellcat on the other hand could take that that ascension easily and probably resulted in very surprised Zero pilots when they wanted to appear behind a target that wasn't there. - In one documentation a former flight instructor even said he thought the guy in the Zero was a total newbie and only learned that he was actually an ace that used the very same maneuver against dozens of wildcats in the past.