Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGrunch
Wikipedia says this...not the most reliable source I know.
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Yeah I edited that part there there..
Though keep in mind that the delivery list is for newly produced (Neubau) aircraft, but apparantly, most 601N Emils were retrofits of existing airframes. Just check the 1st January 1941 strenght breakdown on my site, linked above - 54 E-4s (compare to the 20+15 factory produced..), 16 E-1/N (none produced by factories as per the Delivery Plans..) etc.
The story is that 110s had absolute priority at first, so they put up with producing a Gruppe worth of E-4/Ns. I can see the reasoning... the upped 110s would be just as fast as Spits, and much faster than Hurris.. as opposed to upped 109s being... more faster than the Hurricanes.. wait.. they are already faster than Hurris!
That changed in around October, 109s got priority, but by then the E-7 was the new (and IIRC - sole production type, with the E-1/E-3 already stopped and the E-4 stopping, older ones being upgraded to E-7 standard. So most 109E-x/N types were E-7/N, plus a number of older types that were retrofitted.
Radinger's 109A-E book's Delivery/Lieferplan based list of E-7 production seem to suggest that all (452 E-7 production total of the top of my head) had 601N instead of, but I have some doubts about that, probably some confusion when converting the original Lieferplan into book-form. I recall Olivier (butch2k) also said that all E-7s got the DB 601Aa instead of the 'vanila' 601A-1, besides the ones that got 601N.
That being said, IMO it is undoubtedly true and I agree that the 601N power Emils
did not play a significant role the summer - quite simply just a handful were around. They were the highest performance fighters around, with speed I reckon in the order of 590-595 km/h. But the /N types did not become significant until towards the end of the year, and of course, the first half of 1941.
Hence why I believe an E-7/N would be a better choice, with an eye on forthcoming 1941 scenarios (Circuses and Rhubarbs and Africa, Greece, Barbarossa etc.). The E-7/N is simply a must for a late Emil that could be re-used in dozens of scenarios. Plus there would be no whining that Blue doesn't get da boosta variant.
Modelling an 50-odd production run like the E-4/N would be a waste of time.. for the same reason, I am a bit puzzled about the Spitifire Mark II's ... pretty much the same thing as the Mark I, in every respect. Same speed, same climb, same guns.. Oh, sorry, different engine starter!!!
as opposed to a Hurricane Mark II, that was significantly better than the Hurri Mk I..