Hi gang, real world crud is keeping me busy but I had to contribute to the 46 build, so, excuse the rush job in the odd minutes of the last
week, and the simplicity, but here goes.
With the delaying of "The Bomb", Japanese under ground factories had time to build, and forces time to train. Ki 84 Franks, Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden, and the D4Y Judy attack aircraft were produced along with the Ohka Cherry bomb, rocket propelled anti ship suicide craft. The latter became a real pain once things were organised.
The U.S. countered with the Lockheed P80S Wavestar. A ship borne version of the classic P80. (Please feel free to build one.)
Brittian went with the Sea meteor. Folding wings, direction finder (Use only allowed with permission of the carrier commander if the fleet Cmdr will allow it due to giving away the fleets position.) navy radio fit and of course a hook allowed meteors to operate from HMS Implacable from
June '46. HMCS Maple leaf also operated them, the two carriers taking turns to support the fleet and withdraw for refueling and replenishment etc.
Two RN and two RCN squadrons each had sixteen aircraft, the two units flew along side three other sixteen aircraft squadrons, two of F4Us
and one of Barracudas on their respective ships.
The meteor totally outclassed the Ohka, racking up enough kills once in theater to help keep all but two of 276 launched at the British task force off the ships. Many being lost to causes other than the meteor of course.
Many other Japanese aircraft were brought down by the RN & RCN meteor pilots, mostly by hit and run tactics.
Once hostilities ceased however, all sea meteors were land based due to certain flaws. The worst was the slow engine response to throttle movements. More meteors were lost trying to land on than in combat. When crossing the round down to land the pilot needed a crystal ball
to counter the wind sheer effects. Asymmetric landings were almost impossible unless the sea was a dead calm.
A bad sea would keep the meteors on deck long before the same needed to be applied to the F4Us.
Churchill wanted the sea meteor to be obviously Not the American P80, while fitting in with current fleet colours and markings. Also, in an
attempt to stop allied (or Brit for that matter) flack from making a blue on blue, the navy went for the old black and white underside that
proved so successful (not) in the BoB.
And as for the kite itself;
