Best Fighter aircraft of WW2

[Ringel05]

You can't mistake the sound of those Spitfire Merlin engines, music to one's ears, there's usually one or two at the WWII airshows.

 

[Firehorse]

I was going to start a tread for tactical bombers ... Stuka, Sturmovik, Mosquito ... All planes of infamy ... But it seems the the British Mosquito is already getting votes.

Heard a story about the mosquito that Hitler based all later bomber designs on the mosquito in an effort to find the secret of it mysterious speed and agility. But his designers could never figure it out ... They were building their prototypes of metal and so it's weight kept it from matching the mosquitoes performance ... They couldn't believe that the plane that was confounding them so all throught the war was in fact a wooden plane

 

[Ringel05]

Supposedly the last German aircraft shot down over Europe was a Fleischer Storch and it was shot down by the pilot of an American Piper L4 Grasshopper using his sidearm.
Both were spotter planes.

The Storch

The Grasshopper

 

[Ringel05]

I was going to start a tread for tactical bombers ... Stuka, Sturmovik, Mosquito ... All planes of infamy ... But it seems the the British Mosquito is already getting votes.

Heard a story about the mosquito that Hitler based all later bomber designs on the mosquito in an effort to find the secret of it mysterious speed and agility. But his designers could never figure it out ... They were building their prototypes of metal and so it's weight kept it from matching the mosquitoes performance ... They couldn't believe that the plane that was confounding them so all throught the war was in fact a wooden plane

The Mosquito was arguably the quintessential all around multi-purpose war plane built during WWII and to think it was made mostly out of balsa and plywood. Unfortunately because of that most did not survive to this day.

 

[Oddball]

You can't mistake the sound of those Spitfire Merlin engines, music to one's ears, there's usually one or two at the WWII airshows.

Gimmie the roar of an R-2800 any day of the week.

 

[Oddball]

If we could possibly regain formation, gentlemen.

For me it'll always be the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane (the latter of which was the workhorse of the Battle of Britain, while the former's lasting elegance and legend stole the show). But it would be wrong not to give credit where credit's due. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Spitfire's equal and superior in so many ways, and it duly struck terror into the hearts of RAF pilots. A match made in heaven and hell, if you will. The P-51 debuted later, but she swooped into the fray in the nick of time.

But let's not focus too much of our attention on the machines themselves, but rather the heroes (on both sides) who had the honour of flying them.

My grandfather flew the de-Havilland Mosquito in the Mediterranean theatre. His old flying boots and escape & evasion equipment were donated to the Imperial War Museum, where they still rest.

The Mosquito was largely a tac bomber and recon plane...It's deployment as an air-to-air platform was rather limited.

The P-51 changed the nature of daylight bombing....For that it deserves its props.

Had scores of 262s not been wasted on offensive bombing missions for which they were ill suited, the P-51 may well have been an historical footnote, as daylight bombing could not have continued even in its presence in large numbers....Force a stalemate in the west and there's no telling how the east would've turned out.

Like so many other implements of the German military machine; superior weapon, inferior deployment.

 

[westwall]

You can't mistake the sound of those Spitfire Merlin engines, music to one's ears, there's usually one or two at the WWII airshows.

Gimmie the roar of an R-2800 any day of the week.

If you want a roar you need a R 3350 or R 4360

 

[Ringel05]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9MA4PRsZ5c]Me 262 flying at Airshow !!! - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W-QQimJq7U&feature=related]Me 109_One Summer - Two Messerschmitts - 4/9 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSSI2WdSAP8]Spitfire Flight Demonstration- Big V-12 Engine Sound ! - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNJ8rIEPLOo]De Haviland Mosquitos and Supermarine Spitfires 2006-merlins - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkWnHma45fk&feature=related]Focke Wulf 190 Flugwerk A8/N AWESOME SOUND !!! - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Firehorse]

262 entered battle for the first time in June of '44.

The writting was on the wall.

Eastern Front: Russian army has retaken everthing lost and is at this point at the pre-war border of Poland and Romania. More and more Russian tanks roll into battle at Germans hold on resorces dwendles

Southern Front: Anzio has just completed, breaking the stalemate in central Italy, Africa is a pipe dream from almost two years ago.

Western Front: By late June, when the 262 first deployed, the beaches in France were secured and transport ships were such that you could almost walk across the channel

Three fronts, Germans retreating on all three fronts ... It would have taken the A-bomb to stop what was happening to Germanys dream

 

[Oddball]

Me 262 flying at Airshow !!! - YouTube

Visited the facility in Seattle where that one was built.

 

[westwall]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmR-A-yJknw]Oh My God Spitfire Pass - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Dragon]

I disagree with the speculation about a changed situation arising from changed German tactics. The only thing that could have changed the situation would have been a lot more 262s to work with, plus more pilots to fly them.

World War II has been called the ultimate war of attrition. Compared to today's versions, tanks, airplanes, and just about everything else except capital ships were cheap and quick to build. Today there are no wars of attrition. Wars are decided by quality of equipment, personnel, and strategy/tactics/logistics. But the Axis was beaten by being overwhelmed by huge numbers of enemies.

Germany tried to fight a war of quality, having generally better troops and equipment than the enemy (tank vs. tank in the Soviet Union being one of the rare exceptions when the enemy equipment outclassed them, and even then the Germans had better tank crews and tactics and could hold their own against the superior Soviet tanks). As long as they were fighting an enemy that could be taken out quickly, the Germans could win, but two enemies couldn't be defeated that way: Great Britain because it was on an island and had a superior navy, and the Soviet Union because it was just too friggin' big and stubborn. Forced to fight a war of attrition, WAY out of their weight, the Germans had no way to win. They lost the war when they failed to knock the USSR out in 1941. After that, nothing could save them.

 

[code1211]

Just a note in passing...

I'm at best a hobbyist on almost all topics. As a student, lazy, but interested in the "bright, shiny objects" of the lessons.

Any topic on this board seems to find a lively debate and/or discussion and reveals more info and views concisely distilled than can be found by a lazy student elsewhere.

Just a quick "thank you" for the effort and insights.

 

[westwall]

I disagree with the speculation about a changed situation arising from changed German tactics. The only thing that could have changed the situation would have been a lot more 262s to work with, plus more pilots to fly them.

World War II has been called the ultimate war of attrition. Compared to today's versions, tanks, airplanes, and just about everything else except capital ships were cheap and quick to build. Today there are no wars of attrition. Wars are decided by quality of equipment, personnel, and strategy/tactics/logistics. But the Axis was beaten by being overwhelmed by huge numbers of enemies.

Germany tried to fight a war of quality, having generally better troops and equipment than the enemy (tank vs. tank in the Soviet Union being one of the rare exceptions when the enemy equipment outclassed them, and even then the Germans had better tank crews and tactics and could hold their own against the superior Soviet tanks). As long as they were fighting an enemy that could be taken out quickly, the Germans could win, but two enemies couldn't be defeated that way: Great Britain because it was on an island and had a superior navy, and the Soviet Union because it was just too friggin' big and stubborn. Forced to fight a war of attrition, WAY out of their weight, the Germans had no way to win. They lost the war when they failed to knock the USSR out in 1941. After that, nothing could save them.

A war of atriton AND a war of material. The Germans never came close to the US or the USSR is quantity of war material produced. One reason why they had so few pilots is they lacked the fuel to train them. One reason why the jet engines on the 262 had such a low life expectancy is they lacked the superior metals that would allow them to last longer, etc. etc. etc.

A study of the German industrial complex is replete with examples of failure to enact processes that would maximize production. The didn't enter full war production until 1945 the US on the other hand was CANCELLING contracts in late 1943, we entered full war production for less then three years and produced more then the rest of the combatants combined.

 

[konradv]

The F4U Corsair has a pretty colorful history. The gull wing plane was developed as a Carrier plane but novice Navy pilots had trouble seeing past the nose and crashes were not uncommon. Marines used the power and speed of the well built plane effectively amd the legendary Black Sheep flew Corsairs. The plane was so strong that a Corsair chasing a flimsy Japanese fighter at extreme high altitude had it's guns jam due to the cold and flew close enough to the Japanese plane to cut it's tail off with the powerful Corsair prop. The Japanese plane went down and the Corsair lost about 4 inches off the prop ans flew back to base.

My favorite. They just looked cool!

 

[Skull Pilot]

Dogfights — History.com Videos

great CGI dog fights

 

[mawlarky]

If we could possibly regain formation, gentlemen.

For me it'll always be the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane (the latter of which was the workhorse of the Battle of Britain, while the former's lasting elegance and legend stole the show). But it would be wrong not to give credit where credit's due. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Spitfire's equal and superior in so many ways, and it duly struck terror into the hearts of RAF pilots. A match made in heaven and hell, if you will. The P-51 debuted later, but she swooped into the fray in the nick of time.

But let's not focus too much of our attention on the machines themselves, but rather the heroes (on both sides) who had the honour of flying them.

My grandfather flew the de-Havilland Mosquito in the Mediterranean theatre. His old flying boots and escape & evasion equipment were donated to the Imperial War Museum, where they still rest.

My Grandfather also flew in Mosquitos as part of the pathfinders taking photographs before and after bombing raids over Germany, the Germans had nothing fast enough to catch them, he also flew in Sunderlands out of Lough Erne in Ireland on the Atlantic patrols helping to locate and sink german U boats.
For me the plane of the war has to be the Spitfire and the Merlin engine which was also used in the P51 mustang to give the plane its speed, the Hurricane is a close second since it could take a lot of punisment and still get the pilot back home safe which the Spitfire could not. The Mosquito has to be the best all round twin enginned plane from the war which agin could take a lot of punishment and keep flying as well as being damn pretty and sounding superb with twin Merlins.

 

[cooky]

Most assuredley, The best fighter in service during WWII was the Grumman F8F Bearcat Although it didn't see combat, VF-19 became operational on May 21. The design of the F8F was inspired by the Kurt Tanks Fw-190. With a top speed of ~423 mph the F8F was almost as fast as the mustang yet the F8F has TWICE THE RATE OF CLIMB (3300 f/s vs 6300 f/s) of the p-51d. Whats more it could out turn mk IX spitfire. With four 20mm cannons and a R2800 engine the bearcat could both dish it out and get home with damage. The bearcat is probably the best piston engine fighter every built. Hands down a better dog fighter than the mustang... better looking too!

 

[mawlarky]

Not forgetting the Gloster Meteor which was the only Allied jet fighter to see action in WW2 and were successful in bringing down 13 V1 flying bombs during attacks on London. The mark 3 meteor was more of a match for the German 262 and was much more reliable due to its superior engines. Sadly politics keep the aircraft way from air to air combat.
Gloster Meteor during the Second World War