Let's have some fun. Lightning vs Mustang vs others. Which is the best.....

[Jroc]

Fighter plane of WWII?

Obviously most people on here probably weren't around back then much less piloting planes in WWII, but this is for fun. What is your favorite fighter plane of WWII or what do you think was the best fighter plane of WWII given an criteria you want to use?

A poll only gives you up to 10 options so I had to combine many planes into one options so you can just vote for that then tell your option in the thread if you'd like. It sucks, I know.


Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

Lockheed P-38 Lightning

North American Aviation P-51 Mustang

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

Grumman F6F Hellcat

Chance Vought F4U Corsair

Supermarine Spitfire

Messerschmitt Bf 109

Focke-Wulf FW 190

Messerschmitt Me 262

Yakovlev Yak-3

Lavochkin La-7

Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate

Noticeable mention that didn't make the list because it came too late to see combat in WWII.

Grumman F8F Bearcat

 

[Lycosa]

In terms of overall brute force, i think the me 262 was one of the better ones. The only difference is that it couldn't dogfight. I would have to go with that one. It wasn't the best in all around statistics, but I think it looked good and was fast enough so it didn't need to dogfight.

 

[xXGadfly09Xx]

In terms of overall brute force, i think the me 262 was one of the better ones. The only difference is that it couldn't dogfight. I would have to go with that one. It wasn't the best in all around statistics, but I think it looked good and was fast enough so it didn't need to dogfight.

ME 262

the best by far

 

[Novtec1]

P-47 it was WWII's A-10

but im a fan of a lot of those Aircraft posted....

 

[stangfreak]

No clue lol.

I was going to vote.....5.0 mustang with a twin turbo kit at 2lbs of boost.

 

[IShb3w]

Does anyone in here play War Thunder?

 

[Jroc]

I voted F6F Hellcat.

Reason why is because the U.S Navy fighters before the Hellcat weren't scoring nearly as good a kill ratio as they were after the Hellcat was introduced. The U.S Navy and Marines achieved a 19:1 kill ratio with it. It produced more U.S Aces than any other airplane in WWII with 305. It had 5,163 air to air kills for 270 air to air loses and produced over 56% of the air to air victories for the Navy/Marines.

 

[Stateguy]

While I have always liked the p-38 I grew up watching black sheep so the f4u corsair!

 

[Novtec1]

While I have always liked the p-38 I grew up watching black sheep so the f4u corsair!

damn i remember that show.....:banana:

 

[Rossco]

Spitfire of course.

Tally hoo old chap.

 

[CobraBob]

I've always loved both the P-40 Warhawk and the P-38!

 

[Emwun Garand]

The 262 engines were horrendously maintenance prone. You were lucky to get 15 hours of flight time before a full tear down.

Hellcat produced so many aces because the Japanese ran out of good pilots. They were shooting down Zero's with rookie pilots in a much better plane.

P-51D is arguably the best because of the extended range to cover the bombers and the performance vs German fighters. It needed a British engine to get to the top.

My personal favorite is the Corsair but it was very difficult to fly and even harder to takeoff/land on carriers in.

 

[5lightning0]

ME-262... The fear of the new jet engine fighting it's way into other pilots minds was intimidating to say the least! I've been told this first hand from a WWII veteran.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

Before people start voting Spitfire because thats the only airplane you know, check out Hawker Hurricane.
Hurricane did all the hard work, Spitfire got the glory.

My vote is Hawker Hurricane. An absolutley Superb aircraft, better than any other fighter of that era.

By the way, this is my cat. His name is Spitfire, after the aircraft
http://www.flickr.com/photos/109629286@N08/13058945383/

 

[91GT]

For some reason I always like the P-39, such an odd plane. Motor behind the pilot, door for the cockpit, big cannon, etc. The Russians loved it for tank fighting after the west had moved on.

The P-47 and FW-190 are notable mentions as well. So much firepower.

Then again, they were all awesome. I can only imagine what would have happened to allied air superiority if Hitler had not decided to make the 262 a bomber first.

 

[STAMPEDE3]

I love the F4U Corsair.

Always looked at the wings and though, no way that thing should fly. lol

 

[Jroc]

The 262 engines were horrendously maintenance prone. You were lucky to get 15 hours of flight time before a full tear down.

Hellcat produced so many aces because the Japanese ran out of good pilots. They were shooting down Zero's with rookie pilots in a much better plane.

P-51D is arguably the best because of the extended range to cover the bombers and the performance vs German fighters. It needed a British engine to get to the top.

My personal favorite is the Corsair but it was very difficult to fly and even harder to takeoff/land on carriers in.

While I'm no huge expert I don't necessarily agree with your assessment of the Hellcat. I mean sure as the war when on the Japanese pilots because less experienced, and "Green" so to speak because they were losing their experienced pilots, but the Hellcat was a part of the reason why. I don't necessarily think you can just chalk up it's win to loss ratio solely to good U.S pilots in a lesser aircraft beating up on poor Japanese pilots in a far superior aircraft as the F4F wasn't doing nearly as well in the hands of U.S pilots. :shrug:

I'm a Corsair fan also, and while they started seeing combat a few months before the Hellcat did, they both fought in the same theater against the same enemy, and both aircraft were flown by Navy and Marine pilots(even though the Hellcat was primarily used by the Navy and the Corsair the Marines) and the Corsairs kill to loss ratio in Air-to-Air combat was about 2/3's or so what the Hellcats was again fighting the same enemy.

U.S Navy/Marine Corsairs in WWII:
Air to air kill to loss ratio: 11:1
Claimed air to air victories: 2,140
Lost to enemy aircraft: 189

U.S Navy/Marine Hellcats in WWII:
Air to air kill to loss ratio: 19:1
Claimed air to air victories: 5,163
Lost to enemy aircraft: 270

I think sometime people get caught up in the sex appeal of the Corsair and deem the hellcat inferior because it didn't look as neat. The Corsair was faster and climbed a little better, while the Hellcat had better range, and both were very powerful, and maneuverable fighters that were a big step up from the old F4F Wildcat and the Hellcat just did an excellent job of killing Zero's.


This program claims that the Hellcat pretty much bettered or match the Zero in most performance aspects. IDK about lower speed as I think the Zero were suppose to perform really well at slower speeds, but again I'm no expert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc_P0EE7c10