Inari7 | 10 Jun 2012 7:38 a.m. PST |
Well lets give some love to WWII aircraft whats your top 5? B-17 Bomber
Spitfire
He-111
P-38 Lighting
Stuka
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Gennorm | 10 Jun 2012 7:48 a.m. PST |
De Havilland Mosquito fighter. De Havilland Mosquito bomber. De Havilland Mosquito night-fighter. De Havilland Mosquito photo recce. De Havilland Mosquito tank buster. |
Inari7 | 10 Jun 2012 7:50 a.m. PST |
I think I see a pattern
.. |
Tommy20 | 10 Jun 2012 7:51 a.m. PST |
Spitfire P-40 B-17 Zero Horsa |
Frederick | 10 Jun 2012 8:03 a.m. PST |
Spitfire - sleek, fast and pretty P-51 Mustang - the sports car of the skies – who do you love, baby? Zero - fast and hard-hitting – just hope they don't hit back! FW-90 "Butcher Bird" - the nick-name says it all Corsair - sleek, pretty and long-lasting |
David Miniature Armies | 10 Jun 2012 8:13 a.m. PST |
F4F Wildcat B-17 Hurricane Avenger P-40 |
Oddball | 10 Jun 2012 8:14 a.m. PST |
1) P-38 Lightning 2) Fw-190A6 3) Ki-61 Tony 4) F4F Wildcat (just a tough little bird) 5) MC 202 |
Grelber | 10 Jun 2012 8:40 a.m. PST |
F4F Wildcat P-51 Mustang Spitfire B-26 B-25 Grelber |
Rapier Miniatures | 10 Jun 2012 8:52 a.m. PST |
Any list without the Mosquito or Spitfire is invalid. They were THAT good. Spitfire Mosquito Lancaster Ju88 Zero |
Inari7 | 10 Jun 2012 9:10 a.m. PST |
Uh.. There is a Spitfire picture in the first post. |
John D Salt | 10 Jun 2012 9:47 a.m. PST |
Spitfire Mustang Mosquito Corsair Liberator All the best, John. |
Moonbeast | 10 Jun 2012 9:55 a.m. PST |
North American P-51 Mustang Messerschmitt ME-109 Fw-190/Ta-152 Focke Wulf Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Dornier Do 335 Runners up: Grumman F6F Hellcat Hawker Typhoon/Tempest A6M Zero |
Valator | 10 Jun 2012 10:10 a.m. PST |
I'm fond of the P-40 Warhawk and F6F Hellcat |
ming31 | 10 Jun 2012 10:17 a.m. PST |
Thunderbolt ---8 50 call mgs Stuka ---dive Bomber p38 lightning ---twon tail devil B17G f4U corsair --BAA BAA black sheep when I was a kid |
OldGrenadier | 10 Jun 2012 10:18 a.m. PST |
In no particular order: P-40 P-51 P-39 B-17 Shturmovik |
Klebert L Hall | 10 Jun 2012 10:29 a.m. PST |
Presuming this is just a "cool" list, and not a "best" list: Mavis Nell B-10 Catalina P-38 -Kle. |
Cufflink | 10 Jun 2012 10:34 a.m. PST |
Spitfire, Hawker Typhoon, P-51 Mustang, ME-109, Hurricane |
skippy0001 | 10 Jun 2012 12:16 p.m. PST |
P39 B25 gun nose-any I-16 HK1 Spruce Goose B17 |
Grand Duke Natokina | 10 Jun 2012 12:18 p.m. PST |
B17 Mosquito P47 Il-2m Corsair. |
redbanner4145 | 10 Jun 2012 3:15 p.m. PST |
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Calico Bill | 10 Jun 2012 3:17 p.m. PST |
Corsair B-17 Brewster Buffalo Mustang J7W1 Shinden |
Dentatus | 10 Jun 2012 3:39 p.m. PST |
Spitfire Mustang P-38 FW-190 Stuka |
Khusrau | 10 Jun 2012 5:26 p.m. PST |
Short Sunderland Bristol Paul Defiant Hurricane FW190 Wirraway |
goragrad | 10 Jun 2012 6:19 p.m. PST |
Jug Spitfire Mosquito FW 190 Stringbag PS – I believe it is the Boulton Paul Defiant. |
BW1959 | 10 Jun 2012 6:47 p.m. PST |
1) P-51 Mustang 2) Piper Cub [L-4] 3) DC-3 [C-47] 4) B-29 Superfortress 5) A-20 |
ancientsgamer | 10 Jun 2012 10:05 p.m. PST |
P-51 for shear performance, punch and range. Probably the best single engine prop plane ever built thanks to its design and the Roll Royce engine (thank you U.K.! So good that there is a company building civilian copies because they still perform so well (still see P-51s in air races to this day) P-47 for punch, ruggedness and range. Many a pilot chose to stick with the Thunderbolt rather than "upgrade" to the Mustang because the survivability of pilots in the P-47 was astoundingly high. Truly took a licking and gave a licking too boot! Shturmovik – the proverbial flying tank and tank buster; very feared by the Germans and rightly so. Mosquito – probably the most versatile aircraft to come out of the war and surprisingly extremely durable given its primarily wood construction. 5th for me is either the B-25 or FW-190 or the Hurricane. The B-25 because it was the best all around bomber of the war. The FW-190 because it was the king of the sky until the Mustang came along; in the hands of a good pilot, they dished out quite a lot of damage even to Mustangs. The Hurricane because of its armament and truly, it was the better compared to the Spitfire. The Spitfire gets a lot of credit for the Battle of Britain but the Hurricane was the real hero. The Zero was outclassed rather quickly and famously had no armor for the pilot. The Wildcats ate them up because they could withstand so much and dish out so much even though the Wildcat was not as fast or maneuverable. Interesting enough, the Zero was a direct copy of the Howard Hughes famous racer. I don't include the B-29. Although it was an awesome plane, it didn't do much other than drop the atomic bombs and didn't have the impact that other bombers did. Certainly had the most impact in post war jet age bomber designs. The P-38 did not live up to its promise of a multi-roll airplane well. It did have long range and did well in air to ground attacks but was outclassed in dog fights rather handily. The Corsair was made famous by Pappy but was dreadful to fly. It did well because of being sturdy and pilot protection. It just was not a great aircraft to fly. Kudos to the talented men that flew them but there were much better aircraft. I didn't include the B-17. Although it had lots of impact in the war, it wasn't as good as the B-25. Sure love all the machine guns she bore. The Stuka certainly had impact in the initial phases of the Blitzkrieg but it was really an inter-war plane as its performance, other than in a dive bomb, was atrocious. The Lancaster? Gads, one of the most inaccurate bombers of the war. Sure carried a hell of a payload though! The JU88 was a lovely and well performing plane. It did not have the impact that its numbers should have foretold. The ME-109 was a good aircraft but outflown by so many other airplanes. It is a testament to the talented German pilots that the plane had so many kills; not the plane itself. Produced in huge numbers, its statistics are colored by its production run. The FW-190 was a much better plane. |
Agesilaus | 10 Jun 2012 11:15 p.m. PST |
A6M Zero – Biggest surprise of the war. (Americans ordered not to dog fight with them.) C47 (DC2-DC3 Series) – Even built by our enemies. De Havilland Mosquito (Don't ever tell an old man he's senile because he's using technology from the last war. He might be a genius.) P47 – Because Willie Messerschmidt said a plane like that couldn't be designed. (First successful turbo-supercharged Fighter) B29 – Sci-Fi bomber in WWII. (Pressurized cabin, remote control defensive armament, Turbo-suppercharged engines, Nuclear payload, etc.) Cutest – P26 Peashooter Coolest Looking – Macchi 202 Most suicidal – Ohka flying bomb, of course, but the ME163 Rocket fighter is second. Explosive fuel, no landing gear. My favorite – J2M Raiden. Fanatical pilots flying a plane that just disintegrates sometimes for no reason, and it looks awesome. Toughest – Sturmovik |
BonzaiBob | 11 Jun 2012 12:05 a.m. PST |
P-51 Mustang B-17 Flying Fortress FW-190/Ta-152 DO-335 Arrow P-38 Lightning |
slugbalancer | 11 Jun 2012 7:13 a.m. PST |
Ta 152H Tempest V Beaufighter SM.79 Ki-84 |
ChicChocMtdRifles | 11 Jun 2012 7:30 a.m. PST |
Spitfire Messerschmit 109 Stuka Mustang Corsair Used to build these into squadrons that would dogfight all over my room. |
Saginaw | 11 Jun 2012 8:43 a.m. PST |
In no particular order: North American P-51D Mustang Grumman F4F Wildcat Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" Hawker Typhoon Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress |
richarDISNEY | 11 Jun 2012 9:01 a.m. PST |
P-38 Lightning
Do-334 Arrow
Vought XF5U Flying Flapjack
ME-163
Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender
I love the 'oddball' planes. |
hurrahbro | 11 Jun 2012 11:58 a.m. PST |
Spitfire, the icon, and by all accounts the pilots choice, you never climb into a spitfire, you put one on! Curtis Hawk 75/MoHawk. It is one of those strange ones, almost forgotten, unloved but never hated like the Buffalo, just seems to be everywhere (France 1940, Finland, China, Thailand, Dutch east indies, Vichy France) and it definitely has charm, plus it was there holding the line until the better/newer stuff came along. Mosquito, the wooden wonder itself, technical brilliance from the old school! Fairey Swordfish, Yes its a throwback, but rugged, dependable, available, seemed to be able to carry almost anything not bigger than itself, the hero of Taranto, the stalwart of the Atlantic convoy Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, a gangly but charming runabout. Hon mentions: I15 and I16 series. Iconic, almost kooky looking bundles of fun from Russia Stormovik, the flying tank/proto A-10 warthog. CR42 Falco, another pilots delight Hurricane (did the workmans share of the work in the Battle of Britain) CAC Boomerang, you built what, with almost nothing! and it worked! |
taskforce58 | 11 Jun 2012 1:31 p.m. PST |
Spitfire F4U Corsair Beaufighter Fw-190D and finally the MiG-3 – such a hot rod looking plane, too bad it never found a worthwhile engine. |
Gennorm | 12 Jun 2012 3:16 p.m. PST |
I was playing cricket in the park last Saturday with my sons when we heard THAT sound coming. We looked up to see a Spitfire pass right overhead. Iconic scene or what? |
Dasher | 24 Jun 2012 9:34 p.m. PST |
Spitfire P-47 Thunderbolt P-38 Lightning P-51 Mustang B-17 Flying Fortress |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 03 Nov 2017 8:08 a.m. PST |
I would add Messerschmitt 262 and 163. |
Old Contemptibles | 03 Nov 2017 10:51 p.m. PST |
P-51 Mustang – Best fighter ever. Could do everything the Spitfire could do and do it over Berlin. Also served in Korea. B-29 Superfortress – The most advance bomber of the war and the plane that ended the war. Also served in Korea. F-4U Corsair – Maybe the 2nd best fighter of the war. Best Naval fighter of the war. Also served in Korea Me-262 – First Jet fighter in combat. Enough said. P-47 Thunderbolt – Most produced American Fighter. Served in every theater. Versatile as a fighter or ground attack. Honorable Mention – Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota. Could not have won the war without it. Also served in Korea. Honorable Mention – de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito. What couldn't it do? The Wooden Wonder. |
Old Contemptibles | 03 Nov 2017 11:17 p.m. PST |
OP from 10 Jun 2012??? Why was this re-posted? Should have just started a new one. |
Ferozopore | 05 Nov 2017 8:20 p.m. PST |
I'm going to speak for a neighbor who was a crewman on a PBM. In Dec 1944 he and his crew flew a 10 hr mission every day-300 hours. He'd proud of his squadron's record. |
Blutarski | 06 Nov 2017 4:19 p.m. PST |
Jug is not getting as much love here as it might, considering that (IIRC) it shot down more enemy a/c than the Mustang and "led the league" with the best per sortie survival rate. Just sayin' ….. Reporting from the precincts of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, my top five slick-looking, acrobatic aerial samurai -
A6M5-Model 21 Ki-43 Hayabusa Ki-44 Tojo Shiden-Kai G4M Betty B |
Wolfhag | 06 Nov 2017 7:50 p.m. PST |
Corsair Carrier fighter (various versions) Corsair F4U-4 Interceptor: Maximum speed was increased to 448 miles per hour (721 km/h) and climb rate to over 4,500 ft/min (1,180 m/min) as opposed to the 2,900 ft/min (884 m/min) of the F4U-1A Corsair AU-1 Ground Support (armored oil tanks)8x 5" rockets, 2x 1000lb bombs, napalm Corsair F4U-5N Nightfighter Corsair F4U-1P Photo Recon Corsair F4U-5 Post War: Maximum speed was 408 knots (470 mph) and max rate of climb at sea level 4,850 feet per minute. Last prop engine aircraft built by the US. 4x 20mm cannons could be fitted to the Corsair. Rough comparison (Mustang/Corsair) max speed in mph 437/446 rate of climb in feet per minute 3200/3870 range in miles 1650/1005 armament 6x .50cal with 1880 rounds/6x .50cal with 2400 rounds power v12 1720hp/ r18 2450hp wing loading in pounds per square inch 39lbs/ 46lbs empty weight in pounds 7635/8982 wing area in square feet 235/314 At 400mpoh the P-51 had a roll rate of 4.67 seconds (NACA- P-51B 77 deg/sec) the best of any American fighter. At 300mph plus in a sustained 3g turn to stall the Mustang would turn inside the Corsair by a wide margin. So it appears the Mustang could turn tighter but bled energy faster. This should give the Mustang an initial edge and long-term handicap. With a stall speed of just 81 knots the Corsair could eventually outfight the mustang in in a horizontal turning fight. Mustang has a slightly better advantage at higher altitudes and Corsair at lower. The best pilot wins. Yes, the Mustang had longer range using the fuselage tank but that made the plane unstable until it was used up. The Corsair had 2x 62-gallon wing tanks that were unprotected so not used and not needed. It could be converted to use 3x 160-gallon drop tanks but never was it was not needed. The Mustang was easier to control in long range flights. The Corsair is not at the very top of any of these categories but if you could only build one fighter model the Corsair would be a good choice. Wolfhag |
14th NJ Vol | 31 Dec 2017 6:16 p.m. PST |
1). P-51 2). Corsair 3). Mosquito 4). P-38 5). Martin PBM Mariner My favorite did not see combat in WW2. The F7F Tigercat is amazing. Four 20mm cannons & four 50 cal machine guns. Incredible firepower. The US Army Air corp should have adopted it as the A7F ground support aircraft. The Navy struggled to get it sorted out. Took far to long. |
Fatman | 02 Jan 2018 11:33 a.m. PST |
There are only three types of aircraft, Spitfires;other)fighters and targets: ;-) Therefor Spitfire V Spitfire IX Spitfire I Seafire Spitfire XIV Fatman |
Yellow Admiral | 04 Jan 2018 3:52 p.m. PST |
I guess I'm too much of a motorhead and techno-geek to have favorite planes. Instead, I often have a list of "current obsessions", which involves learning about the unique design features and operational characteristics of particular planes. I tend to see warplanes as engineering exercises, and I find the design decisions and compromises to get them to perform intended missions to be fascinating. Of course, I'm also an adrenaline junky and I love hot rods, so I tend to be automatically attracted to fast planes and powerful engines. :-) My WWII "favorites" lists are usually interesting matchups or see-saw air contests. I find the Wildcat vs. A6M2 Zero contest in 1942 to be endlessly fascinating to play, and over the last year I've come to feel the same about the Corsair vs. A6M5 Zero matchup. I'm currently obsessed by the 1942 Western Desert air contest, and especially with the lopsided P-40 vs. Bf-109 matchup, so I bought about a dozen each of 1/144 Kittyhawks and Bf-109s in desert cammo to try gaming this matchup later this year. I have an occasional mild interest in some really bizarre niche matchups too, like the anachronistic 1940-1941 contest between Fiat CR.42s and Gloster Gladiators over North Africa. In the endless arguments over the title of "best", I usually just roll my eyes. For example, just because the Mustang was best at long-range close-escort missions over Europe, doesn't make it "better" than the FW-190 or Corsair which didn't have to fly as far, or the P-47 which couldn't – just better adapted to its mission profile. The FW-190 and Corsair were frighteningly effective as interceptors, mid-range escorts and fighter-bombers, and the P-47 was a scary beast to encounter in a dogfight or a road column. All planes have advantages and disadvantages relative to their opponents, and what's most interesting to me is to read about how these were exploited by good pilots. I do tend to give a nod to planes which were fanatically loved by their pilots, especially pilots who flew multiple airplane types at the edge of the performance envelope, but I like reading their complaints too. The B-24 and B-17 were equivalently effective in combat, despite the pilots' preferences for the latter; I enjoy reading about both. Sometimes I get really interested in airplanes that were only temporarily "best". The Ki-43 Oscar is actually a really interesting plane design; the engineers approached it like a racing vehicle, building it as light as possible to maximize performance. It tended to disintegrate under fire, early versions suffered structural failures in high-G maneuvers, and it was underarmed from day one, but it's superb maneuverability made it a dangerous opponent in a dogfight (when competently manned) right until the end of the war. And it only weighed 2000 kg! That's a pretty impressive statistic. Other times I get interested in planes that were never best at anything, but endured through a lot of roles and theaters, like the Bf-110, which turned out to be an inadequate escort fighter, but a pretty good jabo, bomber-killer, and night fighter. It's "replacement" the Me-210/410 has a pretty interesting story too. - Ix |
NKL AeroTom | 08 Jan 2018 7:59 p.m. PST |
FW-189 "uhu" (owl)
Feiseler Fi-156 "Storch" (Stork)
(I like bulbous and unusual canopy shapes…) Macchi MC.202 Folgore (Thunderbolt)
Blackburn Skua
(I quite like 2-seaters, especially naval ones and "Skua" is a great name for a plane) Yak-3
…is a very nice aircraft |
PVT641 | 10 Jan 2018 12:16 p.m. PST |
A6M2 Zero P-40 Warhawk SM79 B5N Kate JU87 Stuka |
deadhead | 10 Jan 2018 4:00 p.m. PST |
Stress this is a visiting Napoleonic fan P40 in any mark (but Nationalist Chinese does work for me) even though I know how much better was the P51 After that, respect for the guys who flew some of these planes however rubbish; B-P Defiant in daylight use (my first wife's father, he survived as a pilot in B of B, until his later Boston crashed on take off, but he still got out as only survivor, or else we would never have met) Fairey Battle…young lad from my school, got the VC, did not make it, and we held a parade every year, outside the school gates in cadet uniform in Norf London. B25. Even the film could not spoil it. How do you get that off a relatively small carrier, esp as first off, with no catapult and no obvious home base? The Spitfires in Nolan's Dunkirk (however brilliant the air sequences truly are). Several minutes after one has run out of fuel it is still gliding like a sailplane. It lands and burns out with no sign of a RR engine, just collapses like firewood. The other one ditches in the Channel and it floats for ages…oh sure! Tell that to Paddy Finucaine. The RR engine means it sinks head first like a stone…. I could have added anything in Finnish markings. (Incredible what they did, with what were deathtraps in less experienced hands abroad). Anyone who climbed into an Me 163…… Chap I worked with very briefly, who flew Swordfish off Escort Carriers in N Atlantic. Became a consultant Oncologist, but, just before his retirement, told me how they could take off vertically, even backwards (seriously) in a strong wind, when the RN Avengers were "grounded" by the weather. VTOL long before modern helicopters or the Kestrel/Harrier. I think I will add Swordfish to replace obvious Spitfires. |
EnclavedMicrostate | 13 Jan 2018 3:46 p.m. PST |
Hawker Tempest Focke-Wulf Fw190D Avro Lancaster Supermarine Spitfire North American P-51 Mustang |
kevanG | 30 Jan 2018 12:15 p.m. PST |
gladiator walrus Val Breguet 521 Bizerte Arado 196 seems I like fixed undercarriage & floats! |