Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "Imperial War Museums" channel.

The latest issue of the NRA's American Rifleman magazine contests all claims that the MG42 was used to defend the beaches on D-Day, noting that no photographic record exists showing these weapons, while many images from that day do show a motley collection of German and captured Allied weapons dating as far back as WWI. This makes sense, given the nature of these static troops and the role of the MG-42 as a GPMP for infantry troops. This is not to say that the 42 wasn't used during D-Day and in the days and weeks that followed, but that it was not used by any of the fixed gun emplacements on the beaches. Heavy machine guns, in particular water-cooled models, were a more logical choice and were encountered in great numbers. The story of the "Beast of Omaha", a German soldier who claimed to have single-handedly killing as many or more men than actually died at Omaha Beach, has been largely debunked. The majority of these casualties was attributed to artillery which had been placed to fire across the beach (enfilade fire).
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@waveygravey9347 There are photos of the MG34 among the beach defenses at Normandy, though I don't know when the pictures were taken, but none of the MG42. The point raised by the NRA article is that no photographic record has been uncovered to prove the MG42 was ever deployed in the beach defense on 6 June 44. All the images show these guns in the hands of infantrymen further inland. The same can be said of the StG44. There is photographic proof they were in the hands of German troops in France in June 1944, but no evidence they were encountered in combat until the Ardennes Offensive in December. This does not mean they weren't used, but that strong supporting documentation is lacking.
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Well said.
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In the early 1980s I met General Adolf Galland, high scoring German ace and former chief of the Luftwaffe's fighter forces, and asked him which aircraft he considered the best fighter of WWII. Without hesitating he replied, "The P-51 Mustang. They could out climb us, out-turn us, out run us - and there were so goddamn many of them."
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The early war Zero had a top speed comparable to a Hawker Hurricane and Grumman Wildcat. It was slower than a P-40, P-39, Spitfire, and Messerschmidt 109. It could only outmaneuver these planes at slower airspeeds. Though it could easily out-climb most early war opponents, it lacked the service ceiling of many of them and could not out-dive any of them.
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