Best Fighter Aircraft of WW2?

What was the bets plane of WW2?

I vote the Hurricane series.

Me 262because of its jet technology.

To easy, the German Jet planes. Twice as faster as any other plane, it would probable win all air battle if it was produced later. Sadly(Or gratefully) it was produced in 1945, to late to do much.

There was a TV show "Top ten fighters" and Mustang won (becouse US won the war).
My personal favorite is FW-190. Many Japanese designes and British Hawker Tempests with radial engines were based on this plane. FW-190A was better than Spitfire V and as good as Spitfire IX - the most numerous Spit produced.
FW-190D and later Ta-152 could fight on equal terms with any allied WWII fighter exept Gloster Meteor.
I like the Gloster Meteor too. It was intercepting V1s, it was used in Korea, it has beaten a world speed record. Me-262 probably could do the same thing if equiped with British postwar jet engines, but Germans couldnt produce a realieble jet engine...
Gloster Meteor Jet "Britannia" Sets World Speed Record 1945

Yeah im with the jetplanes aswell its like comparing a Ferrari with a Fiat punto...

May i suggest something newbie? ive noticed that you allways have 100 diffrent choices in your "best of" threads, would be nice if you could keep it to fx 2x per country and leave all those unimportant vehicles/guns nobody knows anyway...

I agree.

SnuGGie wrote:
Yeah im with the jetplanes aswell its like comparing a Ferrari with a Fiat punto...

May i suggest something newbie? ive noticed that you allways have 100 diffrent choices in your "best of" threads, would be nice if you could keep it to fx 2x per country and leave all those unimportant vehicles/guns nobody knows anyway...

I like when I have a real choice but arent some of these planes prototypes. Not all of them were mass produced.
...and who will choose I-16 for the worlds best fighter.  :D

Paciat wrote:

SnuGGie wrote:
Yeah im with the jetplanes aswell its like comparing a Ferrari with a Fiat punto...

May i suggest something newbie? ive noticed that you allways have 100 diffrent choices in your "best of" threads, would be nice if you could keep it to fx 2x per country and leave all those unimportant vehicles/guns nobody knows anyway...

I like when I have a real choice but arent some of these planes prototypes. Not all of them were mass produced.
...and who will choose I-16 for the worlds best fighter.  :D

true. Newbie ill suggest that you find some worthy contestors when you make such a thread ... fx you filter those unimportant planes away. if you gather a couple of the best planes from each country that was used in the war i think it would be a little more interesting ... and please use units under same category, that actually have a chance competeing with the others ...

We should get rid of the Jet planes, its kinda unfair.

/agree

Aircraft technology changed so much over the course of WWII that it's pretty much impossible to narrow it down to one. Several of those were the best of their time but new technology phased them out. They also belong to different categories. For instance, the Jap zero was the best carrier-borne fighter at the time until the corsair was designed. The mosquito was a light bomber similar to a stuka wasn't it? Doesn't really fit in with the categories.

If I had to choose a favourite, I would say the noble hurricane (please edit your spelling). This was the plane that truly saved Britain and possibly all of Europe.

True story: My friend's family co-designed the mosquito.

Yep, the hurricane sure did save England. But if Germany had those fancy Jet planes do you think Germany would get the Air? Heck, they beat any plane in WW2. If they developed this plan in 1943 or even in early 1944 I think ww2 would be different then today.

The Battle of Britain took place in 1941, and the luftwaffe was demolished. Goering didn't push for the jet fighters hard enough, and even if they had arrived in 1943 the bombing raids would still have had the same impact when they were nighttime raids. Remember, the Germans didn't have radar which was the most important aerial development of the war. The Russians were an industrial superpower, so even if only a few allied raids got through on German infrastructure, the reds still would have overpowered Germany. Those experimentals that Hitler was buying time for would never have defeated the red tide.

EDIT: And I loled at Yaks being on the list.

Last edited August 22, 2010 at 4:16 AM by GodlikeDennis

Paciat wrote:
There was a TV show "Top ten fighters" and Mustang won (becouse US won the war).

Same with most others WWII , didnt the Sherman win that one ? Or was it the T-34 ? anyways Panther shouldve won , but I doubt it was even in the top 10.

I'm surprised that I was the only one who chose the heavily-armed, multi-role Messerschmitt Bf. 109... history's highest-scoring aces of all time flew in them (e.g. Erich Hartmann "The Blond Knight" with Karaya One), including non-German aces. The Allies had to constantly redesign their fighters (esp. during the Battle of Britain) in order to keep up with the competitive Bf. 109. Aside from being highly automated (and thus easy to use), they also provided a lot of safety precautions for the pilots who flew in them.

"The Messer was a very well designed plane. First, it had an engine of an inverted type, so it could not be knocked out from below. It also had two water radiators with a cut-off system: if one radiator leaked you could fly on the second or close both down and fly at least five minutes more. The pilot was protected by armour-plate from the back, and the fuel tank was also behind armour. Our planes had fuel tanks in the centre of their wings: that's why our pilot got burnt. What else did I like about the Messer? It was highly automatic and thus easy to fly. It also employed an electrical pitch regulator, which our planes didn't have. Our propeller system, with variable pitch was hydraulic, making it impossible to change pitch without engine running. If, God forbid, you turned off the engine at high pitch, it was impossible to turn the propeller and was very hard to start the engine again. Finally, the German ammo counter was also a great thing." - Soviet aircraft machine-gun technician Viktor M. Sinaisky

Last edited August 22, 2010 at 2:27 PM by Werwolf

Suprised noones chosen the excellent Mitusbishi Zero Fighter..

---

Post Merge: [time]1282494433[/time]

---

Snug wrote:
Yeah im with the jetplanes aswell its like comparing a Ferrari with a Fiat punto...

May i suggest something newbie? ive noticed that you allways have 100 diffrent choices in your "best of" threads, would be nice if you could keep it to fx 2x per country and leave all those unimportant vehicles/guns nobody knows anyway...

53 accturly, ;P, But i'll keep that in mind with my next best of poll, Probs Best of WW2 Fighteer Bombers, Best of WW2, maybe i should jsut sum it up with 'Who made the best stuff of WW2'

Last edited August 22, 2010 at 4:27 PM by Newbie.

Thats an easy answer too, Germany. Its just they couldn't mass produce it of it somehow failed. How about "Who made the best Navel ships in WW2? Or you could break it down to Submarines, Battleships, etc.

Mustangs, because they later in the war had the ability to escort bombers into germany. (a huge distance not previously possible for fighters).

Seeme wrote:
Thats an easy answer too, Germany. Its just they couldn't mass produce it of it somehow failed. How about "Who made the best Navel ships in WW2? Or you could break it down to Submarines, Battleships, etc.

I'd be a tie between ger And Americca, US would have the Awesome Air-craft Carriers like USS Lexus, Germany would have the Bismark and the U-Boat, and Japan, would have like.. Don't get me started ;P

to me the best fighter plane was P51 Mustang
fast plane with a big armmament and could have nice range (2,755 km) with external tanks

Maybe you should just take out the prototype planes.

i just basically got a list of Planes used in WW2, Copied it. Knew a few of course, but,

Thats bad, you shouldn't make topics if you don't know all the Planes.

That's bad, you shouldn't vote if you don't know all the planes.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this poll. And newbie I did actually mention the zero in my post earlier.

Seeme wrote:
Thats bad, you shouldn't make topics if you don't know all the Planes.

I think this topic was fun.
Good work Newbie, even if there are some planes on it that were used best when ramming german bombers (I-16).

Godlikedennis always seems to try to correct me whatever I say, maybe he dosent like me. :'(

Oh and BTW I know most of the planes here, stop assuming.

But not all. That's not my point at all anyway. You were being a bit rude to poor Newbie.

It's not that I don't like you, but I do often disagree with what you say. If I actually didn't like you, you would know it. AdmV0rl0n is such an example.

Anyway, we should stop hijacking Newbie's thread.

I wasn't trying to be rude the my Airborne commander, sorry Newbie.

It's ok, nothing taken. Honestly, who would know the Type 146... Honestly.

Heh ;D

Did I start this monster of "Best of" threads?

Well there fun. ;)

HyperSniper999 wrote:
Did I start this monster of "Best of" threads?

Looks ;ike it,.

sis you make a best SMG thread yet , I cant find one.

Akalonor wrote:
sis you make a best SMG thread yet , I cant find one.

Theres a Best SMG of Ww2 Thread

IT has to be the Me-262.
-One: It had jet technology, which made it a driving force in today's modern fighter craft. Also, it could simply run away from the enemy if it needed to.
-two: Armaments: It had 4 30mm cannons, could carry 24 55mm rockets, which made it very effective against bombers, as it was designed to do.
-three: It was well armored as it was with most German jets.
And finally, there is nothing better than to hear aces from both sides saying it flew really smooth and was like an angel in the air.

P51 Mustang by far. It changed the course of the Air War and won it for the allies. It featured the best combination of reliability/speed/manuverability/firepower/range/operational ceiling/payload/visibility/sturdiness

And the Hellcat if we're talking pacific.

Both of the above achieved the highest kill ratio of any other WW2 airplane and won both air wars.That's what makes them the best, undeniably the best combat records. No point having a flying saucer if doesn't win the war for you or talking about what could have happened, but didn't happen.
You can either judge a war machine on its contribution to the war, or by its technical merits.

Last edited February 19, 2011 at 11:43 AM by Zerstörer

Zerstörer wrote:And the Hellcat if we're talking pacific.

Yes, very good fighter, I saw many videos and documentaries about it. :)

ME262 is hands down.  Designed at the same time as the other top vote getters(P-51, Spitfire, FW-190, Meteor, Etc...) under constant bombardment which interupted production of all material.  The quality of their jet engine technology was lacking due to metal failures in the hot section.  That Jumo design is the basis for modern aircraft engines of today.  It would have been in production sooner, but Hitler wanted it used as a bomber(dumb idea, imo), then changed his mind again to finally use it as a fighter.  P-51 was excellent, but simple advantage of overwhelming numbers made it unstoppable.  Brits won battle of Britain because the Germans quit bombing their airfields, they where within a couple weeks of knocking the RAF out, even with obsolete aircraft like JU-87, HE-111.  They had numbers on their side early in the war.  Hitler changed strategy to bomb London(stupid).  In combat the only good fighter aircraft is the one with the good wingman.  Fly alone, die alone.

If we're talking just about the machines themselves, from those that were actually built and tested Horten Ho229 was by far the best as far as jets go

Also, everyone knows about the German jest...but few about the soviet jets!
1/3- Secret Russian Aircraft of WWII

Last edited February 19, 2011 at 5:14 PM by Zerstörer

The flying wing design is the future, but the problem they all(Northrup's also) had early on was vertical instability.  All modern fighters use some of the aspects of the flying wing.  Most built in the last 40 years have some form of blended wing/fuselage design.  They are un-flyable without modern computer control systems. None of the many great fighters from WW2 are worth a dime if there are no pilots available.  If the Me262 would have been produced as originally scheduled, when Germany still had some of their experienced pilots alive the carnage would have been bad for allied bombers, even with escorts.  However, the end result of the war would be the same(imho).  Industrial capacity trumps everything in conflict.

redtail666 wrote:
The flying wing design is the future, but the problem they all (Northrup's also) had early on was vertical instability.

A lot fo German fanboys mention Ho229. Nice to see someone that understands that most wunderwaffe (including V-2 rockets and super heavy tanks) was crap.

That's bullshit, the Ho 229 proved to be very maneuverable and stable on the few flights it had. Comparing it with modern fighter jet designs is also very naive. They are designed to be unstable to improve their maneuverability and they can because we now have the computer and engine power to level that out. That's simply bias you're displaying (Paciat) and that when you're decrying it in others...

But for the record, I'm not saying the Ho 229 was the be all and end all of WW2 jets as there's no data to justify that. What can be said however is that it was a groundbreaking and revolutionary design, regardless of whether or not it was actually a workable solution. And the V1 and 2, whether you like it or not were also huge leaps in their respective fields and the V2 especially proved to be a priceless source of information for the allies. But if you're saying they were a strategic blunder, then yes you're right. They are great inventions, but for winning or fighting a war they were useless and the resources used in producing them could have better been used elsewhere.

Test flights of a protype dont prove it's abilities.  The Ho 229 concept was the foundation for the future of aviation, that's a fact.  You wouldn't consider the Arado 234 the best bomber of WW2 just because it had many good ideas in it's design.  The Me 262 incorporated conventional and new design ideas for the time, got it produced and into the fight.  Showed what I could do against the enemy if placed in the hands of veteran pilots.  The design was just a baby step in the evolution of the warplane(20% increase in speed), but it seemed like a quantum leap at the time.  Politics play a bigger role in delivery of most concept weaponry than we realize.  If those who write the check for it dont understand it, it can be delayed forever.  Especially during wartime.

actually i am an avid fan of IL-2 1946
it is an awesome WW2 flightsimulator.
I  know how to handle most planes in it and i am very good with the german Messerschmitt-109 which is a good allround plane with fearsome armaments (MK-108 ftw)
but i never understood the stupid jet planes...what is so good about them? yeah they kill Bombers in nothing flat but they have such a low turning rate and maneuvrability. Besides the engine goes up in flames for no reason in mid-air...
I am usually not such a fanboy of Nazi-tech (cause i hate them) but my vote goes to the BF-109 G version introduced late 1943
i blazed all my mates with it in the same LAN game about  a dozen times in a row...made myself a multiple ACE
they flew far more modern planes by all acounts like the MIG-9 or the later Mustangs but i still won cause the BF-109 is such a beauty

PS: Paciat you should underestimate the I-16, it sure was outdated in 1941 but in the spanish civil war it was feared by the legion condor (the nazi support troops germany send there) they nicknamed it Fliege (fly) cause it was so nimble. it has weak armaments and bad diving capabilities but if you are in for a recon mission or a litte strafing run its low speed becomes an advantage and it can even carry a few heavy bombs. with its sound maneuvrability you can dodge the Messerschmitts and hopefully make it away...well hopefully
Epic long post...

Last edited February 21, 2011 at 10:45 AM by Pauly3