[horseback]

First, if there were any pilots with a higher level of training and expertise than the IJN pilots in 1942, it was the prewar trained US Naval aviators (both Marines and Navy wore the same wings and had the same training). Even so, they needed to depend on close teamwork and good radio comms (which the average Japanese fighter pilot did not enjoy until late in the war, if ever) in order to survive, much less prevail as the actual US fighter pilots did. In an offline campaign, you do not enjoy those advantages over the ai while flying the Wildcat, and you do not have even the dive acceleration advantage or the improved high speed maneuverability vs the Japanese early war fighters. The ai will always dive faster than you can at first; you won't catch up as quickly as the real US fighters could because the only 'advantage' you have is terminal speed (and I'm still a bit dubious about that vs the ai, if not against human opponents online).

Additionally, the ai will enjoy closer teamwork than you can with your ai wingman, and they will not be limited at higher speeds the way the actual Japanese Naval aviator was (he was about 5 ft 2 inches tall or approx. 160cm, and weighed about 120 lbs or 55kg, 6 inches/16cm shorter and about 35 lbs or 15kg lighter than the US average and US pilots evaluating the Zero stated that it had very high stick forces above about 200 knots; it follows that the smaller Japanese would not be as physically strong as his American counterpart, what with the superior Allied logistics and better diet from nearly Day One, so that factor should be more significant than it appears to be in-game against the Wildcat, which emphatically did NOT suffer a similar handicap). Even so, the best course is to stay as high and as fast as you can and be a good shot. Stay in the F4F-3 as long as you can; it is lighter and quicker, plus it has more firing time than the folding wing -4.

Good sources for tactics would be Barrett Tillman's Wildcat in WWII and both volumes of John Lundstrom's The First Team, which cover Pearl harbor to Guadalcanal, and the Guadalcanal campaigns. Both are very good in terms of historical accuracy and are very well written (at least in English), and I have re-read them several times over the years, both for information and entertainment. Tillman also wrote similar books about the Corsair, the Hellcat and the SBD, covering their wartime use and development as well, and you may find them useful as well.

cheers

horseback