Focke-Wulf 190
Heavy Metal
- Thread starter amazinblue82
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Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
Northrup P61 Black Widow
67newport
Old Man with a Hat
Forging the chain for the Titanic's anchor
With its 8 .50 Brownings, the P-47 had the hardest "punch" of any US Fighter. However, the A-26 Invader, with 16 forward firing .50s was harder still! It was the last plane to shot down an enemy in air-to-air compact in Europe. Me109s were the victims. Oh my! Flew in Korea and Vietnam as well.
But what was the best fighter? That is certainly debatable, and the answers will be quite subjective. But, one historical fact declares the plane for me. Here it is: What is the only WWII Fighter, of any country, that was still being manufactured during the Korean War? (Of course, German planes were exempt, as were Japanese, for obvious reasons.) The answer to that question I think gives us the best WWII fighter.
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
Some of my favorites...
B-17 is still a beautiful plane!
With that P-51 had a red tail. First one to shoot down a ME-262 was a Tuskegee Airman!
With that P-51 had a red tail. First one to shoot down a ME-262 was a Tuskegee Airman!
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
A couple of more WWII fighters - a Vought F4U Corsair and a Grumman F8F Bearcat.
I believe the answer to the question is the Vought F4U .... right? It did see Korean War duty -- even in the age of jets by then.
If so, your official vote is for that one?
if not, what is the one WWII plane that get's your nod?
You are correct sir!!I believe the answer to the question is the Vought F4U ....
If so, your official vote is for that one?
if not, what is the one WWII plane that get's your nod?
But my favorite is the one I already said, ME 262.
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
F4U and P51 are my picks, far as any-era fighter aircraft goes.
Favorite bomber is the B-17G!
But, as a retired E-3 crewdawg, my favorite jet is that!
Favorite bomber is the B-17G!
But, as a retired E-3 crewdawg, my favorite jet is that!
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just checkin boss .. lotta good choices for us aerophiles. i am sticking with P-51 Mustang ..but the P-61 Black Widow was one we added that I had a soft-spot for for years ...
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Gloster Meteor
The British had a jet in WWII. Limited duty in that conflict, but available nonetheless.
Never heard of it until today. Doesn't change my "vote" but its place in military history should be mentioned I think.
source: Gloster Meteor - Wikipedia
"The Gloster Meteor is a fighter aircraft that was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to achieve combat operations during World War II.
The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936.
The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No. 616 Squadron RAF ... saw limited action in the Second World War. "
The British had a jet in WWII. Limited duty in that conflict, but available nonetheless.
Never heard of it until today. Doesn't change my "vote" but its place in military history should be mentioned I think.
source: Gloster Meteor - Wikipedia
"The Gloster Meteor is a fighter aircraft that was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to achieve combat operations during World War II.
The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936.
The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No. 616 Squadron RAF ... saw limited action in the Second World War. "
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
Germans had jets ... British had jets I find out.
What was "Uncle Sam" doing? Working on jets. Never heard of it till today...
Limited duty in WWII but still it was available for the fight. Straight-winged, but soon obsoleted by "swept wing" jobs....
Some other military have WWII-era jets -- since its apparent I was living under a rock past 60 years? Spain? Tibet? Madagascar?
source Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star - Wikipedia
"The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II.
Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of the design process, production models were flying, and two pre-production models did see very limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II.
Designed with straight wings, the type saw extensive combat in Korea with the United States Air Force (USAF) as the F-80."
Germans had jets ... British had jets I find out.
What was "Uncle Sam" doing? Working on jets. Never heard of it till today...
Limited duty in WWII but still it was available for the fight. Straight-winged, but soon obsoleted by "swept wing" jobs....
Some other military have WWII-era jets -- since its apparent I was living under a rock past 60 years? Spain? Tibet? Madagascar?
source Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star - Wikipedia
"The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II.
Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of the design process, production models were flying, and two pre-production models did see very limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II.
Designed with straight wings, the type saw extensive combat in Korea with the United States Air Force (USAF) as the F-80."
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patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
Which gave way to the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star in 1948 as the primary USAF and USN jet trainer. In fact, Boeing just retired the last two flying T-33s in existence about a year or so ago. They
were chase airplanes for Boeing for many years, and were retired in December 2020.
Boeing retires its T-33 chaseplanes.
were chase airplanes for Boeing for many years, and were retired in December 2020.
Boeing retires its T-33 chaseplanes.
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Recall the objective is not to "debate" what the best WWII fighter plane was. Just the one we subjectively "liked" the best.
Our particular picks may/may not actually be the "best", but folks ("experts") with time/energy/knowledge studied them (in case that wasn't any one of our expertise) and have opinions.
"Experts" will disagree too .. but many of them invest lots of time in actual data (i.e., more than a casual follower like many of us may be) to help inform their judgements.
I am putting a link below and a studied ranking somebody came up with for the top 25 WWII fighters. Again, not to debate, but if you wanna learn/confirm more from detailed aircraft comparisons, its there.
Maybe something you forgt about will come to mind, or you can find your favorite and see what comparative data this "expert" collected on the rig.
No plane appears to be the best at everything, but some where better than most at a lot of performance attributes.
source: https://www.thetoptens.com/fighter-planes-world-war-ii/
"Best Fighter Planes of World War II
If you were a fighter pilot during WWII and you're going to fly over Europe and the Pacific, you will be in dog fights.
You will act as an escort for bombers over Europe, and air to ground support in both theatres. You will also strafe ground targets and ships.
Which plane would you want to fly?
Things to consider:
TOP 25
1. Supermarine Spitfire
2. North American P-51D Mustang
3. Focke-Wulf FW 190
4. Messerschmitt bf 109K
5. Vought F4U Corsair
6. Mitsubishi Zero
7. Grumman F6F Hellcat
8. Messerschmitt Me 262
9. Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
10. Hawker Hurricane
11. Lockheed P-38 Lightning
12. Fiat G.55 Centauro ("Axis" plane from Italy)
13. Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden
14. Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russia)
15. Blohm & Voss BV-238 (Germany)
16. Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
17. Heinkel He 280 (a jet, lost out to Me 262)
18. Bell P-39 Airacobra
19. Macchi M.C. 205V Veltro (Italy)
20. Hawker Typhoon
21. Junkers Ju 87
22. Lockheed P-38J Lightning
23. Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H-1
24. Nakajima ki-87
25. IAR 80 (Romania)
Our particular picks may/may not actually be the "best", but folks ("experts") with time/energy/knowledge studied them (in case that wasn't any one of our expertise) and have opinions.
"Experts" will disagree too .. but many of them invest lots of time in actual data (i.e., more than a casual follower like many of us may be) to help inform their judgements.
I am putting a link below and a studied ranking somebody came up with for the top 25 WWII fighters. Again, not to debate, but if you wanna learn/confirm more from detailed aircraft comparisons, its there.
Maybe something you forgt about will come to mind, or you can find your favorite and see what comparative data this "expert" collected on the rig.
No plane appears to be the best at everything, but some where better than most at a lot of performance attributes.
source: https://www.thetoptens.com/fighter-planes-world-war-ii/
"Best Fighter Planes of World War II
If you were a fighter pilot during WWII and you're going to fly over Europe and the Pacific, you will be in dog fights.
You will act as an escort for bombers over Europe, and air to ground support in both theatres. You will also strafe ground targets and ships.
Which plane would you want to fly?
Things to consider:
- Top speed & maneuverability (at high and low altitudes)
- Durability
- Visibility (from the cockpit)
- Safety
- Armament
- Range
- Overall flying performance
- Kill Ratio vs. Opponents
TOP 25
1. Supermarine Spitfire
2. North American P-51D Mustang
3. Focke-Wulf FW 190
4. Messerschmitt bf 109K
5. Vought F4U Corsair
6. Mitsubishi Zero
7. Grumman F6F Hellcat
8. Messerschmitt Me 262
9. Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
10. Hawker Hurricane
11. Lockheed P-38 Lightning
12. Fiat G.55 Centauro ("Axis" plane from Italy)
13. Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden
14. Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russia)
15. Blohm & Voss BV-238 (Germany)
16. Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
17. Heinkel He 280 (a jet, lost out to Me 262)
18. Bell P-39 Airacobra
19. Macchi M.C. 205V Veltro (Italy)
20. Hawker Typhoon
21. Junkers Ju 87
22. Lockheed P-38J Lightning
23. Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H-1
24. Nakajima ki-87
25. IAR 80 (Romania)
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Thought exercise for fun ... I ran across an article investigating these WWII planes:
Like you may, I believed I knew the answer without reading the article. I was "right" bit still learned something new anyway -- and I digress -- like what President Eisenhower lamented, in 1960 in a then-secret report, about the Me 262 back in March 1945 in last days WWII over Berlin.
Anyway, if you know the answer, and/or don't wanna spend 15 mins reading the article, the best planes (even the jets of the era), assuming ace pilots at the sticks from their respective era, get obliterated in a fight with modern jet.
More influenced by the air-tp-air missile weaponry/threat sensing technologies of modern aircraft -- they can kill a WWII plane without ever even laying eyes on it.
Stated another way, the WWII plane would not even know what hit it -- the "kill shot" from the modern jet would seem like it came outta nowhere.
BUT, the "old iron" in a 'dogfight" (i.e., aerial fighting within bullet range at lower speeds, depicted above in WWI art) might be able to hold its own for a bit .. depending on speed/altitude conditions and inherent advantages of prop propulsion vs jet propulsion.
Still, the dogfight with a modern jet (with NONE of the disadvantages of the earlest jets) would NOT last very long at all either .. only difference the WWII ace could see the face of his killer.
source: How Would a Modern Jet Fare Against Propeller Planes in WW2?
Like you may, I believed I knew the answer without reading the article. I was "right" bit still learned something new anyway -- and I digress -- like what President Eisenhower lamented, in 1960 in a then-secret report, about the Me 262 back in March 1945 in last days WWII over Berlin.
Anyway, if you know the answer, and/or don't wanna spend 15 mins reading the article, the best planes (even the jets of the era), assuming ace pilots at the sticks from their respective era, get obliterated in a fight with modern jet.
More influenced by the air-tp-air missile weaponry/threat sensing technologies of modern aircraft -- they can kill a WWII plane without ever even laying eyes on it.
Stated another way, the WWII plane would not even know what hit it -- the "kill shot" from the modern jet would seem like it came outta nowhere.
BUT, the "old iron" in a 'dogfight" (i.e., aerial fighting within bullet range at lower speeds, depicted above in WWI art) might be able to hold its own for a bit .. depending on speed/altitude conditions and inherent advantages of prop propulsion vs jet propulsion.
Still, the dogfight with a modern jet (with NONE of the disadvantages of the earlest jets) would NOT last very long at all either .. only difference the WWII ace could see the face of his killer.
source: How Would a Modern Jet Fare Against Propeller Planes in WW2?
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
With data links, sensors, and other tools the modern fighter has, they can launch their missile(s) beyond visual range (BVR)...fire and forget. Nothing from the pre-Vietnam era would have a chance. Even the jets like F-4 Phantoms that are still used by several nations (Turkey and Iran come to mind) along with the known upgrades to them, would still be a cakewalk for a modern fighter like an F-35 or F-22.
