Warhawk vs. Oscar SHOWDOWN! | Curator on the Loose! 

Another great video - how cool is that!

A few years ago, our family visited the Museum of Flight. When we visited the WWII section, there was an elderly Chinese couple in absolute awe of the P40. At first I was puzzled. Then it hit me "They fought like tigers, Flying Tigers." They Warhawks were to the Chinese what the Hurricanes and Spitfires were to the British.

Don't dogfight an Oscar in a P-40...

One factor that throws this comparison toward the P-40 is logistics. Japan also had the rivalry between the Naval Air arm and the Army Air arm. Niether one flew the same model of aircraft, they had different requirements for sure, but think what a logistical nightmare it was to stock replacement parts. You also need to train personel to repair and maintain each model. I thought I once read that the Japanese had over 60 different models of aircraft in their inventory. I'm not sure how much this attributes to a comparison, but I don't think it can be ignored. Thank you for your efforts in bringing these videos to us.

My father flew P-40's in China with the 75th Fighter Squadron>Like some others, he flew a P-51 later but like most of his squadron mates, they loved the P-40- Their first love I guess. You can read about the exploits of the 75th Fighter Squadron in "Into the Teeth of the Tiger" by Don Lopez, a close friend of my fathers, went on to a career in the Air Force and a stint at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Deputy director. He was also an F-105 wing commander during the Vietnam War- Not far from his early days in south east China

The "Achilles Heel' for Japan was the lack of armor, resulting in the loss of their best trained & most experienced pilots.

Glad your still doing these videos, love the in depth explanations and background information. Also I like the visuals , pictures and videos you use to help explain the scenarios the planes went through. Keep up the great work! 👍

My Dad and Grandfather built P-36's, SBC's and P-40's during the war! My Grandfather joined Curtiss Wright during World War I and built Jenny's. My Dad join the firm in 1938. So I guess I must vote for the P-40!

The quality of the pilot was probably the telling factor. As the war ground on, the quality of the average Japanese pilot's training went down and down, while the American military churned out much more experienced, qualified pilots. While the Oscar and Zero did indeed perform superiorly to American fighters at the beginning of the war, new American tactics, new American aircraft, and a vast number of pilots to man them was the telling factor. Japan just never did come up with a really good improvement over the Oscar. Meanwhile, those Americans that started the war in P-40s and Wildcats were soon flying much improved Corsairs, Hellcats, Mustangs, Thunderbolts, etc. Nice video! Gotta get back to The Museum Of Flight someday!

"It's not the plane, it's the pilot." The AVG's primary adversary was the Hayabusa (called Oscar by the allies). Chennault, a tactician par-excellence, knew the P-40 couldn't fight head-to-head with the Japanese fighters, so he devised the diving, slashing, and zoom-climb tactics that took advantage of the P-40's heavier weight and higher diving speed, which made the Flying Tigers so successful.

Had the opportunity to visit the museum last month and what a place. Keep up the good work!

The P40 had to use different tactics than any of the Japanese fighters. Because of its speed, dive rate, armament, and armor protecting the pilot, engine, fuel tanks, etc, if flown to take advantage of its strengths, it could decimate the enemy. If P40 pilot tried to engage in a dog fight with a Japanese fighter on their level, the P40 would most likely lose. The Flying Tigers were the first to take advantage of the P40s strengths, which actually confused and frustrated the enemy. The kill rate for the Flying Tigers was incredible since the P40 was supposed to be an underrated fighter.

This series is fantastic - both informative and entertaining. One point worth making with regards to pilot numbers: the Japanese were training pilots exclusively for the PTO, while the Americans were training for a global war with (until VE Day) priority given to the ETO.

I wad here yesterday, this museum is one of the best flight museums I've ever been to. And seeing both these planes was pretty amazing.

The P-40 series was widely exported as well as United States use. Kept in production almost the entire war.

6:43 No ear protection whatsoever. Ahhh, the good old days. Thanks for the video!

Next time do the P39. My personal favorite plane of WWII. It was so far ahead of it’s time the Army Air Corp didn’t know What to do with it, and when they removed the supercharger it was relegated to low altitude fight and attack. It was faster then the P40, more nimble and had a canon in the nose that was highly accurate. it had a rear engine layout, putting the pilot farther forward which gave him better vision over the wing and below. The design also had a smaller nose than a front engine layout,reducing drag. Nowdays all jets share that configuration. Tests were even made with it having swept wings in a Navy Experiment. The late P63 was as fast if not a little faster than the P51 A.

Love this show.

One vital factor missing here is mention of the Ki-43's light armament. Many had just two .303 cal guns, not too likely to get a one ferreting hit. Some had a couple of (roughly) 50 calibers..not much better. Eventally, a select few toted cannons, but by then, most of the guys that could aim them were dead. In addition, the Ki-43 could out climb almost every fighter we had. That's more important than turning circle!

I'll take an energy fighter with a clear speed and armament advantage any day. However if I have an altitude advantage, which is pretty much any engagement I would like to initiate... I would take the Oscar.

America also rotated it's veteran pilots to train new pilots that were about to enter the theater.. Were in Japan,you flew until the war was over or you were dead .

So long as the P-40 pilot doesn’t get seduced into a turning dogfight I think the P-40 could win.

By the time the P-40N came out, the Japanese army was no longer flying the KI-43 at all. They were flying much faster aircraft. So his comparison is a bit off in that regard. He should compare to the P-40B, C and E.

I do have opinions on your decision. It was a very good opinion that I agree with

As far as looks go, the P40 wins hands down

Always enjoy your Podcast

a real nerd fact the ki-43 is the star of Japanese anime. called Kotobuki squadron. About an all girl squadron that fly off an airship.

Id like to see a match up to a Ki-61.

in Battle of Britain rookie pilots may have only about 25 hours trainings behind, before joining in the battle squadrons...

The winner of a dogfight depends on a few factors at the start of the match. If the P-40 is above the hayabusa then it can boom and zoom and outrun it. On the other hand if the P-40 decides to trunfight the hayabusa is basically guaranteed to win

The movie When The Wind blows by Studio Ghibli is a biopic of Hadeo.

As a long time docent (40+ years ongoing)at NASM's Flagship and Udvar-Hazy locations, I discuss WWII aircraft (all theaters) often. I use frequently when asked "How good is it (aircraft name goes here), the following: It almost always come down to the aviator, You could have a Bf-109 v. a P-51 in 1945, the German pilot has been flying his since 1937 (thousands of hours(!)) and knows all of it's secrets, where as the P-51 pilot (hundreds of hours(?)) is fresh out of flight school. German aviator should win (unless he does something stupid). Always enjoy your content. . .Looking forward to visit and see several NASM aircraft under your roof!

If the KI-43 shot down more aircraft than any other Japanese aircraft in the Pacific Theater, what airplane on the allies side shot down more enemy aircraft in the Pacific theater? I read that the P-38 shot down more enemy aircraft in the Pacific theater, while the Hellcat created the most aces. I don't know if this was actually the case though.

Always loved the P40. Built a few of them as a boy. The Zero. BF 109s. F4Us. And of course, Spits. Mark lls, Vs and IVs. The reason I cared not to build the F6Fs and P51s was because late war air combat was relegated to poorly trained Axis pilots. You can brag all you want. But the real work was done by early to mid WWll pilots. In their obsolete planes.

I think the weight of the catagories should have different values. Faster, more devastating armament, more "stick time" should make this contest a total win for the P-40. Climb rate, turning radius, and dive speed also play a huge roll in air combat. Experienced pilot vs a rookie pilot will influence the outcome significantly.

I'd love to hear a discussion of how important speed is in a dogfight and how it interacts with maneuverability. That's the big thing. I'd argue pilot quality was a sliding scale. At the time of Pearl Harbor, Japan was at the top of its game with plenty of experienced fighter pilots while US pilots were a lot greener. Point to Oscar at the start of the war. But as the video points out Japan really couldn't replace their losses while the US could. By the end of the war, the point would go to the Warhawk, which by then was mostly out of production and replaced by far deadlier US fighters.

Xp-31 is the one of the coolest looking aircraft 3:44.

while the p40 was behind in many areas of performance it had one very underestimated advantage. it was easy to fly for its performance level and in a war with combat stress and exhaustion that counted it was not prone to high speed stalls in tight turns and did not drop a wing and spin so stall recovery was easy and cost less altitude. i would sooner fight in an aircraft that did not punish small errors than have a small performance advantage. a pilot being confident in his aircraft counts

Australians put the P40 to good use in New Guinea before Americans even arrived. You didn't want to follow that Oscar in the vertical planning on a turning fight.

P-40 was a better plane if the pilot knew how to use it. The Oscar and Zero were similar, but the Japanese Army and Navy hated each other and couldn't cooperate to make a single design that would have been better than either.

Did my dude just pull the flap down on the Haybusa just like that? If I tried that the museum people would summarily execute me on the spot! 😬

Assuming a one-on-one air battle with pilots of equal skill, the P-40 cannot beat the Hayabusa or Zero. The U.S. Air Force would have strictly ordered P-40 pilots not to challenge dogfights alone and to swoop down and run away.

Oscar win if he can bait a turn, other than that not so much. But based on my war thunder knowledge the warhawk pilot will definitely join the turnfighting

Early in the war the Ki-43 definitely had a huge advantage in that the American pilots were still being trained to dogfight a lighter, more maneuverable aircraft and that was a big mistake, regardless of how good of a pilot they were. After Pearl Harbor, when pilots from the AVG returned to active duty they were able to teach other pilots how to defeat the Oscars maneuverability advantage by using the bigger, heavier, more powerful American fighters higher speed, especially in a dive, to make firing passes at Oscars and Zekes, then "Zoom" climb back to an altitude advantage. Once the proper tactics were used the P-40 definitely had the advantage, especially with the armor plating and self sealing fuel tanks it was equipped with.

The Hayabusa had a chance against the early allied fighters, Hurricane, Buffalo, P-40 etc. But it was already obsolete upon entering service. First version Ki43-1 had a top speed of 305 MPH. In early 1942 when this came out the 400 MPH Focke-Wulf 190 was a year in service.

It would be great if you d display the metric measurements for everyone outside us Great video bythe way

A P-40 pilot could pick his fight. Dogfighting with an Oscar was sure fire way to get shot down. Strength on strength the P40 wins

I think it should be noted the Oscar like the Zero were highly maneuverable dogfighters and against an other pilot that used this tactic it was very successful but this requires more training and the airplanes are fragile and somewhat slower but are easy targets for slash and dash techniques for which it really it has no alternatives where the P-40 just had to avoid dogfights it became obsolete in Europe but was effective against Japanese fighters for most of the war

From a purely aesthetic point of view the P40 is one of my favorite WW2 era aircraft.

Discounting the guy in the seat, this is an easy call. The 40 can use it's superior speed and dive speed (not mentioned in this video, but one of the best of *any* WWII fighter) to dictate the terms of the fight. The Ki pilot wants a low speed turning fight? Tough noogies. I'm keeping the balls to the wall and fight a high speed energy fight. Between the speed, armor, and firepower, I'd take the 40 if it was my life on the line.

Let's talk kill ratios, (don't want to harsh your buzz, dude), and how the P-40 pilots were taught to fight the Oscar and Zero. No contest in thiw match-up, the P-40 will (DID) zoom and boom the Oscar all day long.

Many high-scoring American aces died in scraps with Oscars.

@ 2:24, Why do some people call it a “joystick” as my instructor of aircraft flying controls said “it IS a CONTROL COLUMN, a joystick is between your legs”, and in all my 24 years of service I never called it anything but a control column or control yoke, except when working on helicopters, then it is the “cyclic stick or collective lever” pronounced LEE-ver not Le-ver. @ 7:31 There is no such thing as bulletproof glass, or at least not during WWII, bullet resistant yes, proof no. I don’t know if anyone has manufactured a truly bulletproof glass or composite transparent pane yet, but if not I am sure someone will. Comparing the two flying training systems of the USA and Japan is an obvious parameter to use, however it is not very accurate in my opinion, the RAF pilots enlisted after the start of WWII and especially during the Battle of Britain 🇬🇧 had considerably less than either the American or Japanese pilots, completely out of necessity but not ideal by anyone’s measure, and without doing any research I can confidently say that a good percentage of them were shot down early on, but those that were not killed went on to become one of “The Few”, my point is that there does not have to be a direct coloration between training hours and having a pilot who made the grade in combat, having said that I do believe that in general quality will always beat quantity. I am not sure about the technical quality of either aircraft, but I have to say that purely on aesthetics the P-40 WARHAWK is the winner, and the same can be said about many allied aircraft of the era, they were so pleasing on the eye and, luckily, they were mostly better or as good technically as any of the axis aircraft. The Oscar obviously won the battle of “kills” but by the time the P-40 entered service against Japan (excluding the flying tigers and allied forces) in the knockdown battle for victory the weakness of the Oscar in the armament and armour categories, and Kamikaze use, sealed its fate to become a very very rare type. Thanks for another excellent episode, and for sharing your knowledge and insight with all us viewers. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸🇺🇦

The P-40 flown well will beat the Oscar. The P-40 can engage and disengage at will, and has no need to slow down or turn with the Oscar.

An area of interest... Production: In terms of cost and ease... You glossed over turn characteristics but it would be nice to hear the pilot perspective of how each handled... Much is made of Spitfires etc and how flying them was epic... Just a thought or 2😎

Yeah, the P-40

Really was an even match. Good end decision. We have too much "Well my Grandpa said" going on in this in the world.

The P-40 had the Chinese. Seriously. The peasant radio network the Tigers used gave them early warning capabilities with distance and bearing, allowing them to get position above the enemy to ambush them with zoom and boom tactics.

The P-40, while under-powered, especially the early models, was faster than the Oscar. Oscar could turn much, much better but the P-40 pilots quickly learned to use boom and zoom energy tactics. The Oscar was slow and lightweight, that combo makes for poor energy fighting tactics. If the P-40 built up speed, with its heavier weight it could build up a lot more energy. Turning too much burned off that energy quickly, which is why P-40 pilots didn't turn it or even attempt to turn it with an Oscar. If a P-40 got too slow against Oscar, Oscar won. But P-40 won because only a stupid P-40 pilot tried to turn very hard.

Wouldn't the winner be how many kills each had against the other?

I believe that at the period when P40'were used in combat, that is, in the early part of the we war. The Japanese pilot would have been better trained because of the exacting protocol of their program at the é beginning of the war.

Nice haircut! Looks nice on you.

What was the horsepower of the Ki-43's engine?

"Early War" (Dec 1941 thru Aug 1942) most Japanese pilots had either fought in China or their superiors had. And although for the main part their opponents weren't skilled and/or flying obsolescent airplanes, and/or using the wrong tactics, the main key was ALL Of Those Extra Flight Hours of Experience! -- -- BUT. -- -- By the time the Warhawk version arrived the Oscar with two 7.7mm (.303) machineguns and the occasional variant with two 12.7mm (.50) machineguns had basically ran out of experienced pilots who often were put into more modern aircraft... >> So for the most part, the P-40s had better pilots!!!

Another great talk, youve had a haircut, whats goin on man

I know it is shallow of me but I prefer Matthew's shorter haircut

P -40 , with tactics.

What was the kill ratio between the two, there's your answer.!

BFM nonwithstanding, I choose the Oscar.

P-40 had a 25 to 1 kill ratio.

The quality of the box matters little. Success depends upon the man who sits in it. Manfred von Richthofen

As long as a pilot understands his own aircraft he is prepared. If he understands his opponent’s aircraft at the same time, he will win. The American doctrine of providing survivable aircraft and even advanced search and rescue was far superior to the Japanese practices.

The faster fighter can engage or disengage pretty much at will...so the P40 is the winner.

Pilot why bother bringing it into the conversation 😏

materials warhawk win, technology and brain oscar win

Nice use of archival footage and photos 🤓

How is it a tie if the P-40 is winning by 3-2 ? 😁🇺🇸

0:28 It's not K I 43, it ki43 ki as in key. There is no I or K in the Japanese alphabet. If you can't get that simple part right what else did you get wrong?

bro japanese training before war was way harder than american and even by end of the war america never produced as good top aces as japan had. but ofc when you have very hard and long training while having limited supply and manpower you cant supply enough pilots in longer war.

Finally got a hair cut.

1:1 and same pilot quality the highly more maneuvarable Oscar will be invincible, but it can hardly threaten an e-fighting P-40.

According to the aviation historian, William Greene, the P-40 out classed the Ki-43.

It was not the fighter quality and design that dictated the results of the Pacific war. It was the quantity of the bombers. Money won the war. The P-40 had no chance of shooting down a Ki-43 with an experienced pilot. A P-40 pilot in an altitude disadvantage, on the other hand, was in deep trouble. The same with a P-38 or P-51 pilot. And it is not pronounced kay eye, its pronounced ki, from the Japanese kitai or airframe 機体.

The Ki 43 Hayabussa (Allied codename Oscar) actually had two major flaws. It lacked armour plate and self sealing fuel tanks in order to increase maneuverability. Rarely did a P-40 Warhawk ever tangle with a Ki- 43 Hayabussa in a turning dogfight. Most P-40 Warhawk pilots used boom and zoom tactics against the Oscar.

Matthew was way better before he grew his hair

Oscar would eat the 40 alive 1 on 1 with same pilots..

P 40 wins definitely

ki-43.....5 p-40.....0

American made. American Best 🇺🇸

Would still take on either flying an F6F Hellcat. Wasted comparison, no involvement between the two had a major impact upon the end result of the war. Your Curator has too much time and no real connection to history that would make this video worth considering. Sad that you consider yourself a source of historical evidence.

Comparing the Ki-43 to a late model P-40 like the N, isn't really fair. It's more competitive with the earlier models.