Survey, what's your favorite WW2 fighter?

To pick a single engine plane, I liked the looks of the P-39. But my favorite would have been the P-38, but it's twin engined.

Here’s my 2 cents.

American,

#1 P47. There’s just something about that big bird. I was a great fighter as long as you didn’t give up your attitude and didn’t get into a turning fight, very tough. I heard a story once about a Fw 190 which exhausted it magazines trying to bring one down. I’m sure someone here knows that story true or false.

P51, great plane, very advanced, sounds awesome, I’m just tired of it’s popularity. There were several other fighters that could hold their own against them. I’ll bet if you switched pilots (American/British in say a Ki 84 Frank and Japanese in a Mustang) the outcome would be different.

#2 Corsair, cool looking plane, very fast (I’ve heard it could reach Mach 1 in a dive).

Hellcat, never cared for it.

British,

Spitfire, hands down. The English just made a great looking bird.

Soviet Union,

Mig 3, just don’t know enough about the Russian fighters (does anybody?).

Germany,

#1 Bf 109, I’ve always liked that plane. Even when I was a kid and liking German planes didn’t go over well (I had no idea why). The Fw 190 is a great plane, just can’t get past that small stabilizer.

Italy,

Macchi C.202 Folgore, Like the English, the Italians just knew how to build a sleek looking plane (I’m in love with the Fiat Cr 42 Falco)

Japan,

Probably my #1 of all.

Ki 84 Frank. If the engine was reliable and the Japanese had good fuel at the end of the war, that plane would have created havoc. It could reach the B29’s, was as fast as, and more maneuverable than, the P51 (According to the tests at Wright Field of a captured Frank). It carried Two 12.7 mm (0.50 cal) Ho-103 synchronized nose machine-guns, and Two wing-mounted 20 mm (0.79 in) Ho-5 cannons (later models had four cannons) and just had, in my opinion, very nice lines.

The reason I’m asking this question is, I wanted to start a Group Build of the FSM Fourm community favorite fighter, excluding the Bf 109 (starting in Jan) and the Fw 190 (finishing).

I will correlate the info and announce the GB to start probably in January (with the Bf 109, Star Wars, Demonstration Team, and probably a couple others), well maybe February then.

I’ll put out a feeler when I get enough information.

Thanks and keep it coming.

Steve

Interesting thread indeed...

US fighter vs the Japanese:

F4U1-A Corsair

F6-F Hellcat

US Fighter vs Luftwaffe

P-47 Thunderbolt

P-51 Mustang

UK -

Spitfire Mk.IXc

Hawker Hurricane

Hawker Typhoon

Russian/USSR

IL-2 Sturmovik

Mig-3

Yak-3

Luftwaffe :

Bf109

FW190

Dang GMorrison, I was reading through this and thinking I'd be the only person to pick the Wildcat.  It really is my favorite, or at least the history and accomplishments of its pilots.

I do think the Mustang was the war's best fighter, and no doubt it has a spot on my favorites list.

Other favorites I'd say Thunderbolt, Black Widow, Spitfire, Zero.

And then, well, everything else.

My favorite, and it was the most successful- the F4F

patrick206

There were so many types and versions of all, but not all were well thought of due to differing issues. Some of the Corsairs demonstrated atrocious handling characteristics, relative to the huge power plant and prop size. Some aircraft designs never resolved engine reliability issues, satisfactorily enough to enter significant service.

Many were fine airplanes, but very heavy and not particularly maneuverable, some were of lighter construction and not up to the demands of a combat role. In fairness, with a new design you really didn't know just how an airplane would fare, until it had the living hell flown out of it and it had been shot up a few times.

I think the Corsair is one potentially great war bird that kicked tail and had so much going for it, but the short coupled airframe and enormously powerful engine/prop combination made it more than a bit touchy, evidently leading to quite an accident history. Let's see what others might say, always interesting to learn of differing opinions.

I'veread that the controllability issues with the corsair were more based on the gull wings being a destabilizing factor at low speeds (takeoff and landing).  Regardless, she's still my favorite fighter of WWII followed by the P-51.  Both certainly withstood the test of time and served into Korea even in the jet era.

I think the Bf-109 would have to be my favorite German fighter, mainly due to the camoflage patterns.

Japanese, I would have loved to fly the Zero, but I would never want to fight in one, no armor which proved to be a major downfall.

British, I've always been partial to the spit/seafire.

Othrs-never really paid a ton of attention.

Groot

plasticjunkie

Texgunner

what's your favorite WW2 fighter?

My favorite fighter of World War Two, as in the one I like the best?  The Me-262, perhaps my favorite warplane of all-time too. 

Gary

 

 

Good choice Gary. I was originally going to mention it in my post  but left it out. Wasn't the 262's swept wing design the inspiration for the F-86 ? 

Yes, I believe that when North American engineers gained access to Dr. Adoph Buseman's swept-wing data (presented back in 1935 at a Volta Conference meeting in Italy), the straight-winged design, XP-86,  evolved into the swept-wing F-86 Sabre we know today.

1) Fw190 

UK:- Spitfire (If it was on the list, the Tempest)

US:- P-51

Soviet Union:- Yak-3

Italy:- G.55

Japan:- Zero

A shame that the Sea Fury just missed the action! 

Steve - Great question and responses, not easy to answer though. From an OVERALL efficiency, reliability, handling and performance standpoint, I'd rate thusly:

Best all around: P-51-D

American:  P-51- D

German: 190 or 109 (Toss a coin.)

Japanese: Zero

British: Spitfire

There were so many types and versions of all, but not all were well thought of due to differing issues. Some of the Corsairs demonstrated atrocious handling characteristics, relative to the huge power plant and prop size. Some aircraft designs never resolved engine reliability issues, satisfactorily enough to enter significant service.

Many were fine airplanes, but very heavy and not particularly maneuverable, some were of lighter construction and not up to the demands of a combat role. In fairness, with a new design you really didn't know just how an airplane would fare, until it had the living hell flown out of it and it had been shot up a few times.

I think the Corsair is one potentially great war bird that kicked tail and had so much going for it, but the short coupled airframe and enormously powerful engine/prop combination made it more than a bit touchy, evidently leading to quite an accident history. Let's see what others might say, always interesting to learn of differing opinions.

Thanks for posting this, Steve.

Patrick

Texgunner

what's your favorite WW2 fighter?

My favorite fighter of World War Two, as in the one I like the best?  The Me-262, perhaps my favorite warplane of all-time too. 

Gary

wing_nut

Good answer Tom.  All I have to do now is agree with you.  Only thing I would change would be the order.... the D-9 on top.  I have to add the Me-109F as a close 2nd as best in breed.  A technologic advancement over the E but before the clutter on the G/K.

what's your favorite WW2 fighter?

My favorite fighter of World War Two, as in the one I like the best?  The Me-262, perhaps my favorite warplane of all-time too.  It looks sinister and yet elegant at the same time, with two sleek engine pods slung under its swept wings and the shark-like fuselage.  Not to mention its revolutionary turbo-jet design which ushered in a whole new era in flight.  It may not have been the best, most effective fighter of the war but that wasn't the thread title's question.  I think its effectiveness was hindered by the limits of its still-developing technology but it truly was revolutionary and rendered all its opposition and even sister German planes, obsolete as designs and created a whole new paradigm.  ymmv...

Gary

Interesting discussion indeed.

I think for the US the Mustang has to be my favorite. All I read about it is that is was a winner at just about anything a plane could do and do it better. The sleek clean design is very appealing not to mention tons of colorful schemes it wore.

As to the German designs, I have a tough time choosing between the Butcher Bird and the 109. Both had their good and bad but as mentioned before, the camo schemes are just too many and eye catching. I lean toward the late war designs of the G and K 109 series and the Dora variant of the FW line.

Night fighters as not mentioned but like the P-38M. It looks deadly in that black paint.

Japan's George, Frank and Tojo  are all great looking modeling subjects but I lean more on the George for its robust design and superior performance.

For the Brits I go with the Spitfire, a beautiful looking and graceful design that gave the Luftwaffe a run for their money. I do like the looks of the Typhoon as it looks massive and deadly.

The Russian subjects never attracted my attention and have no interest in them.

The Italians had some neat looking designs but never quite caught my interest.

Good answer Tom.  All I have to do now is agree with you.  Only thing I would change would be the order.... the D-9 on top.  I have to add the Me-109F as a close 2nd as best in breed.  A technologic advancement over the E but before the clutter on the G/K.

P-51.

The laminar flow wing, which through moving the center of lift a bit aft, used what would normally be drag along the wing chord and created more lift. This is how it got a 7 hour endurance, if managed properly, as well as tremendous performance. And of course, the Merlin.

FW190D-9

Great design. Probably the best performing piston the Germans had. I read somewhere once that the elevator was designed too small to fully take advantage of potential cornering, otherwise it would have been outstanding.

Spitfire.

Would have been better if it had had more range.

The Germans had the best camo, which attracts me to build them more. They were very revolutionary in this, as they had to be. I imagine it was pretty hard to spot them on the ground, or down low, at times.

I think the best all round fighter of WW2 was the P-51. If ever one machine turned a campaign, that was it.

As for favourites, I would say P-47 and Me 109. I can't really say I have a favourite British one and not paid much attention to the other nations.

For the USA in WW2 my favorite fighters are:

1. Carrier Fighter -- F4U "Corsair"

2. Land day fighter -- P-51 "Mustang"

3. Night Fighter -- P-61 "Black Widow"

British:

Hawker Hurricane

Fulmar

Luftwaffel

Fw-190

Soviet Union

La-2

La-5