[AndyJWest]

So what does this document tell us? "The condition of the Zeke 52 during test was good, so that significant comparative combat results were obtained, but certain airframe discrepancies prevented obtaining maximum speed and climb performance" - or in plain English, the Zeke tested was either underpowered, damaged, or both.

And what else do we learn? That this Zeke was slower in level flight than a P-51D, P-38J and P-47D. No surprise there. That it was more manoeuvrable at low speeds than the US fighters. Again, no surprise. But what do the dive tests tell us? That in the tests conducted, an underpowered/damaged Zeke can't out-accelerate the US fighters starting from 200 IAS or so. Zek vs P-51D, 10,000ft - after 27 seconds, when the Zeke reached 'red line' 325 IAS, the P-51D was 200 yards ahead. Not a lot, and presumably a 'good' Zeke would be doing better. Similar results with the P-38J. The P-47D out-dived this Zeke, but with less of a margin.

As for Blackberry's comments about vertical zooms, that is too ignorant to be worth commenting on.