D3A "Val" Fighter plane???

[Cadillac_of_the_Sky]

Hello everyone! Its been a few crazy months, moving and such. I'm all set and glad to be back... nuf said about that.

Ok, so I was reading in a book the other day about the "Val" dive-bomber. One thing stuck me as funny. They mentioned that untill about 1943, the "Val" was an effective dogfighter after releasing its bombs! I was just strange to me know that the "Val", only having a max speed of 240 or so, could pull this off. Especially with those big 'ol feet! Has anyone ever heard of this? Or heard how many kills were claimed by "Val" pilots? Thanks guys!

COTS

[Abbott]

I too have herd the Val was a good dogfighter. I guess like most Japanese planes of the times, it must have had good manouverability...Remember too that the early A6M`s top speed was`nt all that fast either. Dont know the stats as far as kills.

[SaxMan]

I imagine the Val, like the Zero had very light wing loading, which made them very maneuverable.

By the same token, the SBD Dauntless was a pretty fair dogfighter based on its maneuverability, but with a top speed of about 250 mph, it wasn't a match for the Zero. In the Coral Sea battle, one SBD crew (IIRC pilot had the last name of Leppla, his gunner's last name was Liska) were credited with four enemy planes downed...two to the pilot and two to the gunner.

[David_Aiken]

http://groups.msn.com/japanesemodelaircraft/pearlharboraircraft.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=2083

http://groups.msn.com/japanesemodelaircraft/pearlharboraircraft.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=2121
Note difference between the BI-211 artwork and these scans.

[Rob S]

I believe Hans Ulrich Rudel also had a few fighter kills in his STUKA.

[Andy in West Oz]

In the Coral Sea battle, one SBD crew (IIRC pilot had the last name of Leppla, his gunner's last name was Liska) were credited with four enemy planes downed...two to the pilot and two to the gunner.[/quote]

I think the gunner put a few holes in the tailplane as well whilst keeping the Zeroes at bay.

Cheers

Andy

[Jack Cook]

In the Coral Sea battle, one SBD crew (IIRC pilot had the last name of Leppla, his gunner's last name was Liska) were credited with four enemy planes downed...two to the pilot and two to the gunner.

I think the gunner put a few holes in the tailplane as well whilst keeping the Zeroes at bay.

[/quote]

Ens. John Leepla shot down 4 Japanese planes ( 3 Zeros and a floatplane) while his gunner John Liska downed 3 Zerons while flying with VS-2 on the Lexington. Has with the other successful SBD pilots Leppla switched to fighters and joined VF-10. He scored his 5th kill on 10-26-42 during the Santa Cruz battle but was KIA shortly after. Liska scored a 4th kill later in the war in a SB2C.