Arguably, the greatest demonstration of that special relationship was during the Second World War, when the two nations pooled their manpower and industrial might as part of the Allies against the Axis of Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. This was largely due to the lack of a very basic ingredient.
So then, between the Lightning and the Mosquito, which one was the truly "better" fighter? Simple Flying will now attempt to tackle this debate. Learn more about Skunk Works. Meanwhile, the de Havilland DH. Unlike the P, which was designed as a fighter from the ground up bad pun intended , the Mosquito was initially conceived as a light bomber, tracing those roots back to , when the British Air Ministry issued Specification P. The Mosquito performed daylight bombing raids over German-occupied Europe.
But to quote a favorite saying from my high school social studies teacher, Mr. Mike Gallagher, "There are three kinds of lies in the world: lies, damn lies, and statistics. Air Force records, Lightnings shot down more Japanese aircraft than any other Allied fighter.
He was closely followed by another Lightning pilot, Major Thomas McGuire [August 1, β January 7, ], who scored thirty-eight kills in the Pacific. Lightning drivers in the Pacific Theatre of Operations downed more than 1, Imperial Japanese aircraft, with more than of its pilots attaining ace status. The fighter also pulled off arguably the most strategically significant individual shootdown of that theater of the war, the killing of Imperial Japanese Navy supreme commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto , a morale deathblow from which the IJN never truly recovered somewhat analogous to the morale blow that the Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia received from the death of Gen.
We examine how it revolutionized aerial combat. As for the "Mossie," though its own aerial kill tally wasn't quite as impressive as the Lightning's, it was certainly no slouch either. To cite the Cooke book not to be confused with a cookbook again:. By all accounts, the P did quite well as a fighter-bomber and tactical bomber. As Lockheed Martin's official info page on the warbird says:.
