Fighter Jet: Fighter Jet Wallpaper

Fighter Jet Wallpaper Biography
Major air combat during the war in the Pacific began with the entry of the Western Allies following Japan's attack against Pearl Harbor. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service primarily operating the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, and the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service flying the Nakajima Ki-27 and the Nakajima Ki-43, initially enjoyed great success, as these fighters generally had better range, maneuverability, speed and climb rates than their Allied counterparts.[10][11] Additionally, Japanese pilots had received excellent training and many were combat veterans from Japan's campaigns in China. They quickly gained air superiority over the Allies, who at this stage of the war were often disorganized, under-trained and poorly equipped, and Japanese air power contributed significantly to their successes in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, the Dutch East Indies and Burma.
Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat, early 1942
By mid-1942, the Allies began to regroup and while some Allied aircraft such as the Brewster Buffalo and the P-39 were hopelessly outclassed by fighters like Japan's Zero, others such as the Army's P-40 and the Navy's Wildcat possessed attributes such as superior firepower, ruggedness and dive speed, and the Allies soon developed tactics (such as the Thach weave) to take advantage of these strengths. These changes soon paid dividends, as the Allied ability to deny Japan air superiority was critical to their victories at Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal and New Guinea. In China, the Flying Tigers also used the same tactics with some success, although they were unable to stem the tide of Japanese advances there.
Captured Nakajima Ki-43-I under evaluation by the Allies
By 1943, the Allies began to gain the upper hand in the Pacific Campaign's air campaigns. Several factors contributed to this shift. First, second-generation Allied fighters such as the Hellcat and the P-38, and later the Corsair, the P-47 and the P-51, began arriving in numbers. These fighters outperformed Japanese fighters in all respects except maneuverability. Other problems with Japan's fighter aircraft also became apparent as the war progressed, such as their lack of armor and light armament, which made them inadequate as bomber interceptors or ground-attack planes—roles Allied fighters excelled at. Additionally, Japan's training program failed to provide enough well-trained pilots to replace losses. In contrast, the Allies improved both the quantity and quality of pilots graduating from their training programs.
Lockheed P-38 Lightnings in formation
By mid-1944, Allied fighters had gained air superiority throughout the theater, which would not be contested again during the war. The extent of Allied quantitative and qualitative superiority by this point in the war was demonstrated during Battle of the Philippine Sea, a lopsided Allied victory where Japanese fliers were downed in such numbers and with such ease that American fighter pilots likened it to a great turkey shoot.
Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats, May 1943
Late in the war, Japan did begin to produce new fighters such as the Nakajima Ki-84 and the Kawanishi N1K to replace the venerable Zero, but these were produced only in small numbers, and in any case by that time Japan lacked trained pilots or sufficient fuel to mount a sustained challenge to Allied fighters. During the closing stages of the war, Japan's fighter arm could not seriously challenge raids over Japan by American B-29s, and was largely relegated to Kamikaze tactics.
[edit]Technological innovations
Fighter technology advanced rapidly during the Second World War. Piston-engines, which powered the vast majority of World War II fighters, grew more powerful: at the beginning of the war fighters typically had engines producing between 1,000 hp (750 kW) and 1,400 hp (1,000 kW), while by the end of the war many could produce over 2,000 hp (1,500 kW). For example, the Spitfire, one of the few fighters in continuous production throughout the war, was in 1939 powered by a 1,030 hp (770 kW) Merlin II, while variants produced in 1945 were equipped with the 2,035 hp (1,517 kW) Griffon 61. Nevertheless, these fighters could only achieve modest increases in top speed due to problems of compressibility created as aircraft and their propellers approached the sound barrier, and it was apparent that propeller-driven aircraft were approaching the limits of their performance. German jet and rocket powered fighters entered combat in 1944, although too late to impact the war's outcome.

Fighter Jet Wallpaper

Fighter Jet

Friday 22 February 2013

Fighter Jet Wallpaper

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