Somebody else said it first, "full scale planes often have no relationship to our models".

Almost all of the successful fighters of WWII were successful because of their engines. Nothing more, nothing less. The P51 sucked until it got the Merlin. The Corsair started out good and got better simply from a good powerful engine that was improved as it went. The Airacobra and P40 never made the top of the charts because they never put decent engines in them. In actual fact, the P40 did have a couple of brushes with decent engines but the powers that make those decisions decided they didn't want to bother.

And the P40 actually was an excellent fighter in the Pacific when used by the NewZealanders and Aussies. The drill was to use them with other types, with each type responsible for different altitudes. The P40s took the low altitudes, needless to say. The Corsairs would fly the higher altitudes and the P38s often had the top (when they were used at all). And at the altitudes they were used, the P40s had excellent kill ratios.

now....... back to the topic