Best fighter of ww2?

I am still a F4U guy.

 

These are all very good citings of aircraft stats/facts/numbers. This could go on and on, but remember that an aircraft was most effective for what the pilots needed it for. For example, the Bell Airacobra was a horrible fighter, but the Soviets loved it for ground support.
If we want to talk about dual roles, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that this effectively rules out the BF-109.


How about the Fiesler Storck?

 

That is why the F4U Corsair was so great...it could accomplish many roles!
perfect as a fighter <heavily armed and armored...as well as agile and fast>
perfect as a fighter bomber. <could deliver an impressive bomb load in support of troops and after dropping it's bombs/rockets/napalm could engage in a dogfight>
was multi purpose. <could be used land based and carrier based>

 

The F4U was a great fighter. "Pappy" Boyington had what? 27 kills? Major Ira Bong had over 40 kills. Not too bad for a gawky bird.

 

I always liked the ME-262. Wasnt there a squadron of those that were flown that had Adolf Galland flying in it?

 

Adolf Galland commanded a squadron of them at wars end.

 

Surely, the Ju-87 in the AT role but surely the Fw-190A/8 in the Air to air scenario...

 

Dear Ryan, I definately agree. Trouble is, is I like my favorites as the best, but-Dont we all

 

1) Messerschmitt 262 - Most advanced
2) Mustang - Best all round
3) Focke Wulf 190
4) Spitfire
5) Messerschmitt 109
6) Hurricane
7) Zero

Chris Ray

 

While the Corsair has long been one of my favourite WW II birds. there is no record to compare for dogfighting at high altitude. How would the Corsair have faired at 30,000 feet over Europe against luftwaffe fighters?
I'm not trying to belittle the Corsairs name
maybe it would have eaten them and smiled, but we'll never know.
I have another name to enter into the fray, maybe not the best, but certainly one of them, The Hawker Tempest. It was very fast(used to intercept V 1's) tough, manouverable
,and hard hitting armed with 4 20 mm cannon.
What do you think, worthy of consideration?

 

Actually, that makes sence. The F4U's against MEs and FWs, I think that the Germans would have wasted the Corsairs, but its also fortunate tthat we had the P-38s and P-51s.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by C.Evans:
The F4U was a great fighter. "Pappy" Boyington had what? 27 kills? Major Ira Bong had over 40 kills. Not too bad for a gawky bird.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think Ira Bong was an Army guy, flying a p-38.

 

I think it was Richard Bong ,and yes he was USAAF, perhaps he was thinking of Ira Kepford, a USN ace who shot down 16 aircraft. If I'm not mistaken he flew a Corsair

 

Bong did indeed fly a P38 with a picture of his wife painted on the side. I can't remember the name he gave his aircraft, but he was credited with shooting down the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto.

Chris Ray

 

You are right, he did fly a Lightning. Darn shame he died in a test flight accident he would be added to my list of people to talk to.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chris Ray:
Bong did indeed fly a P38 with a picture of his wife painted on the side. I can't remember the name he gave his aircraft, but he was credited with shooting down the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto.

Chris Ray<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No he did not shoot down Yamamoto. He was not even in the battle. However, it is true that P-38s shot down the admiral.

Bong died test flying the Lockheed P-80 shooting Star in August(?) 1945.

 

For shooting down Yamamoto //In all actuality it was friend Lt. Rex T. Barber of the 339th fighter Squadron. Rex lives on the other side of the Cascades from me in Oregon.
A handy reference about this mission is Carroll V. Glines work : Attack on Yamamoto

All for now

E

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by C.Evans:
Actually, that makes sence. The F4U's against MEs and FWs, I think that the Germans would have wasted the Corsairs, but its also fortunate tthat we had the P-38s and P-51s.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Why do you think the Corsairs would have been wasted by Me's amd FW's? I think the opposite. The Corsair was faster than the 109 by far...and maybe about 20-30 mph faster than the 190. Plus i think the Coursair would have handled about as well as the p-47 did at high altitudes.
Personally i think the Coursair would have faired quite well in Europe.

 

Best Fighter? What criteria? Here is a monkey wrench to toss into the discussion. (Not because I want to derail it, but just add another criteria to the discussion.)
If we are going to measure the merit of a particular aircraft above others dedicated to roughly the same mission, what better criteria than the number of kills recorded for each airframe built? That is how manuy kills for each aircraft completed by the factory. That seems a fair criterion to me.
If so, the winner hands down is the Brewster F2A in all its variants.
Not many built, correct. Lots of kills for each airframe completed however, more so than any other fighter plane ever built.

 

For Ron and Popeyesays:

Ron, the problems a Corsair had were: Not as manoverable as the Zeke, and the Messerschmitt and FW-190s both were both very manoverable. The Corsair poliot would have to learn all the weaknesses of the aircraft, and in the process, lose a good many pilots.

Another problem a Corsair had that took time to over come was, that its nose was a bit too long. Ultimately, it would depend on the pilots flying against each-other. By all means though, the Corsair is one of my favorite ww2 aircraft. It like the Brewster Buffalo, were tough birds.

For Popeyesays: The Brewster Buffalo was a good reliable bird, but was slow. I think that that was its only bad drawback.

Also just think about all the experiance the German pilots already had. I think they would have given those Allied pilots alot more hell, had we had the Corsairs and Buffalos to fight with, instead of the sleek P-51 Mustang (my all-time favorite ww2 bird) and the P-38 Lightning.