US fighters in the PTO

Hello all,

I have a question about US fighter aircraft in the PTO. At the outbreak of the war, our main fighter was the F4F... right? And it was inferior to the Zero. But by '43, we were beginning to produce models that were superior to the Zero... right?

This summarizes everything I think I know about the subject...

My questions:

1) What new fighters appeared in the PTO between Midway and the end of 1943, and when?

2) How did these new models compare to the Zero?

3) I understand that Japan finished the war with pretty much the same plane models that she started with... and that these went from 'cutting edge' in December '41 to 'second rate' by late '43 or early '44 to 'obsolete' by mid '45. Correct?

4) Is there any truth at all to the rumor that the US got a technological step up from examining a Zero that crashed in the Aleutians in '42?

I realize these questions show my abysmal ignorance of the topic, but hey, showing ignorance is what Usenet is for, right?

cheers,

Doug M.

Yes. The Zero was attempting to make an emergency landing and flipped over on its back killing the pilot.The damaged Zero was crated up and sent to NAS North Island in San Diego where it was repaired and test flown.

Tim Crick